The Kimchi Project

Cafes key icon.
Cafes key icon.

MondayClosed.

Tuesday11:30 am – 2:30 pm, 5:00 – 8:30 pm.

Wednesday11:30 am – 2:30 pm, 5:00 – 8:30 pm.

Thursday11:30 am – 2:30 pm, 5:00 – 8:30 pm.

Friday11:30 am – 2:30 pm, 5:00 – 8:30 pm.

Saturday11:30 am – 2:30 pm, 5:00 – 8:30 pm.

Sunday11:30 am – 2:30 pm, 5:00 – 8:30 pm.

20 Lorne St, Auckland

021 222 7172

This is possibly the most wonderful cafe/restaurant you will go to this year. The Kimchi Project offers Korean inspired breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner with a menu full of delicious surprises (without forgetting more classic meals for the dedicated conservative).

Re-imagine food- ‘waffle fries’ = pan-fried kimchi, sriacha yogurt and bacon, or experiment with classic Korean desserts- red bean puree, vanilla and lychee. Crab buns, mushroom buns, tempura chicken buns and off course- pork buns. They also offer a kids menu with some less daring options.

The restaurant looks like a small CBD cafe from the entrance, and there are a number of tables in the front in a café style layout serving delicious Red Rabbit coffee, smoothies, matcha lattes, and Noble and Savage tea. But if you venture further, you’ll find a courtyard out the back with an open glass roof and walls covered with foliage with an air of an oriental paradise.

You’ll be looking for any excuse to get taken to Kimchi- work functions, birthday parties, quiet dates, coffee catch ups, breakfasts, anniversaries, desserts, cocktails. Tuatara beer, Garage Project cans, Asahi on tap, and a range of wines and cocktails are available in the beautiful courtyard bar.

The perfect spot for those trying to uptake the intake of probiotics- there’s a million ways to eat kimchi here- and the spicy delicious fermented cabbage is sprinkled all over the menu. But don’t fear if that’s not your appeal- there are many other Asian fusion dishes on the menu. Worth the trip downtown for those dwelling in the suburbs (you may find yourself coming from as far as Orewa)- there isn’t anything like this in Auckland. No one can get enough of Kimchi.

Words by Abigail Egden & Photography by Sable Heath

Information not correct? Report an error

Location

20 Lorne St, Auckland

Nearby Places

Zambesi

The store.
Place Auckland
Fashion key icon.

A New Zealand fashion icon whose name has been synonymous with edgy fashion for as long as we can remember.

Swings

Birds eye view of food and coffee from Swings.
Place Auckland
Restaurants key icon.

Tastebuds at the ready, the Korean cuisine legends behind OCKHEE have opened up their new venture on Kitchener Street; Swings.

Culprit

Plates of food next to a menu that sees 'Culprit' in black and white.
Place Auckland
Restaurants key icon.

Tucked away up a narrow central Auckland staircase lies Culprit, a trendy and sophisticated inner city hideout serving nostalgic New Zealand cuisine with a modern global edge.

Auckland Art Gallery Toi O Tamaki

An entrance to the gallery.
Place Auckland Editor's Pick
Galleries and museum key icon.

Open all day every day, you can count on the gallery as a sojourn from the bustling city.

Similar Places

Crave

The cafe interior.
Place Auckland
Cafes key icon.

A café/social enterprise that give all of their profits back to the community.

Homestead Café

A flatlay of food.
Place Auckland
Cafes key icon.

From the people who brought you Ceremony Café comes Homestead, a gallery-come-café servicing the ‘burbs with great coffee and food.

The Raw Kitchen

Raw slice.
Place Auckland
Cafes key icon.

A lovely escape from the sometimes hectic concrete jungle.

Tanuki's Cave

A packed restaurant on a dark night.
Place Auckland
Restaurants key icon.

Tucked away on Queen Street (in the middle of Auckland’s arts precinct) lies Tanuki’s Cave: a not-so-secret, gem of a yakitori bar.