Huami — Restaurant in Waitematā

Oozing Eastern class, Huami in the Skycity complex promises by appearances a luxury chinese dining experience, and by and large delivers. Arriving for a birthday occasion, we received a warm welcome and began by enjoying cocktails in the bar, watching the dapper mixologists and making ourselves comfortable for a proper eating experience ahead.

We were shortly ushered through to the restaurant proper, past tanks of live seafood and seated with a prime view of the open kitchen proceedings. Our waitress asked if we had dined at Huami before, and gave us some advice regarding how many dishes to order.

As we quickly discovered, the food comes ‘as ready’ so definitely works better if you all plan on sharing rather than a dish each; my choice of starter, Boiled Chicken, Chilli Oil & Bean Sauce arrived far, far in advance of my companions who had both ordered a version of dumplings. The flavors in each were an absolute knockout, my chicken packed with the oil and heat I had anticipated, and the dumplings beautifully made and generously filled.

While this was going on, we ordered green tea to enjoy with our meal for the three of us and I do praise how attentively the staff were in making sure our cups and the pot were kept full, although sometimes crossed into over-eagerness.

We shared a variety of dishes for our main; the signature duck pancakes came first, really very succulent and definitely king of any version of this dish I have tried before. Sharing was difficult for the simple fact that I could easily have devoured a whole serving of these all to myself! The other two dishes - Braised Pork Belly with mini Buns, and Wok-Fried Vermicelli with Shrimp - were a step down for the night. Very tasty, but hard to see a difference in what I could get at a local takeout for half the price. Coming in after all the rest were our order of vegetables, which were delicious but would have been appreciated to arrive to enjoy a lot earlier.

The night wasn’t complete without a dessert, and we went all in. My waitress was particularly careful to make sure I was absolutely sure I wanted the Chinese Herb Jelly with Manuka Honey, warning me the flavor was ‘quite strong’. An adventurer at heart, I am so glad I persevered. It was delicious, a deep ruby red and the flavor closer to a mulled wine than anything else I could compare it to. Winners too the Rose Syrup Financier and the Sesame Banana Beignet. Pretty as a picture and full of texture, technique and fun. Everything a modern dessert should be.

And finally we were treated to a special birthday plate for the birthday boy, all written in chocolate with a candle and ice cream. A personal touch that was classy in its delivery. No birthday song! But definitely well appreciated and a memory made.

Overall we rated this chinese very highly and a return visit when splashing out in...

When one fancies oneself a "high end" restaurant, with that ambiance and those prices, one has made for themselves a high bar. Huamis doesn't go over that bar; not even close. (a) the service is fast; too fast; and incompetent. We ordered three dishes: a soup, an appetizer, and a main corse. They all came at once. When I mentioned that each course should wait till I'm done with the previous one, the waiter had a hard time figuring that out, then looked at me as if I had two heads. (b) fried squid appetizer. Well, I guess I made a mistake ordering that. It was fried like your local Chinese take-out. And a mediocre sweet-sour sauce. Too little of it. The waiter again had a hard time with me asking for more sauce, as if he was gonna charge me for a little more sauce.. (c) The fish entree came out. It was tasty, but not for the price. The fish was served on a plate with nothing else. No vegetables, no rice. Nothing. Just fish in a sauce. When I asked for rice (something to accompany the fish. Anything at all,) the waiter mentioned the simple bowl of Chinese-take-out rice would cost extra (!!.) (d) I love Chiese food. The dishes and the cooking can be full of different flavors and inventive. Not so the desserts. Never liked Chinese desserts; they should learn from the West what a good dessert is. Huami hasn't learned. They're in a Western city (Auckland,) pretending to be high-end, charging high end prices, serving poor, boring, Chinese-leechee nut desserts.

Overall, a real disappointment. Incompetent young men with no knowledge and no confidence serving average food at high-end prices. Save your money. There are many inexpensive Asian restarants in the area serving good food at 1/3 to...

Went for family (2adult 1 baby) yum cha. The setting was great, service superb, food was great. The food is a high class version of yum cha which was pretty sweet experience and ingrediants and skill was high but it is quite different to what a 'normal, yum cha is. The style is different e.g. dumpling often bit dry, bit that is from a normal expectation of the style of food so if u dont know yum cha you wont know the difference and can more appreciate the higher level of food. Imo i prefer the normal style, i find it more satisfying. Their spare ribs was a miss tho, its my signature dish that i try at every yum cha. It looked a little dry, and was, but the let down was they marinated with baking soda i think which softens and tenderizes meat. This changes the texture and makes it less meaty and ruins it. Flavour was average on the spare ribs too. Plus, i did not expect there to be a need to tenderize the meat as i expected high class ingrediants. Price was doubled e.g. har gau (shrimp dumpling) was 9$ but it had truffle so was special. This was similar for most of the dishes, had that high class touch to it. If thats what u like, all good. The avacado dessert dumpling was amazing. The fried duck wonton was great. No CheungFun, my 2nd fav, me sad lol

Overall, taking price, expectation and taste it is definately good meal but not something i can frequent at that price ($128 for us, we order tonnes cause we had vouchers too, and we fatty's lol) Want to go back and try more as they do have some special things that looks good to try. Again wouldnt consider as much if it wasnt for vouchers so if u go, go with...