Little Bird Unbakery

Attention Little Bird Organics and The Unbakery lovers, the HYPE is real… Little Bird Unbakery is now open for dinner!

At last year’s Taste of Auckland, the festival’s first dedicated vegan restaurant, Little Bird Organics, announced they were trialling out four dishes which could potentially go on the menu of their new dinner offering at their Ponsonby Unbakery! Think Smoked Watermelon Sashimi, Hemp Tacos with BBQ Cauliflower and Kimchee Slider with Gochujang Black Bean Patty. Yum!

Fast forward to two weeks ago, Little Bird Unbakery opened for dinners, and I can see it becoming a very popular place! It is somewhere where you can enjoy a wholesome plant-based delicious meal… and feel great afterwards.

The idea of their new dinner offering is to showcase seasonal organic bites, meals and desserts (all dairy-free, gluten-free and vegan), paired with an all-natural wine list, organic cocktails and craft beer. The menu will change and grow over the coming weeks, depending on the seasonal produce available and feedback from the public.

Little Bird Unbakery have only just obtained their liquor license this week, so the natural wines I was hoping for were not available. Instead, they are serving non-alcoholic cocktails made with Ecology & Co. alcohol free spirits. I loved their ‘G&T’ with lemon and tonic. Also on offer non-alcoholic wise is kombucha, cold pressed juices, tea and coffee.

We ordered quite a feast, mainly because we wanted to try a range of dishes. The menu is split into four sections, including starters, fresh and light dishes, warm and comforting meals and desserts. All of the dishes we ordered had fresh and seasonal ingredients, and were well plated. Below is what we ate:

Pakoras – six pakoras filled with a cauliflower and chickpea filling (plus broccoli inside which was a lovely surprise), fried in a light batter and served with a tamarind and coriander mint chutney – YUM! ($12).

BBQ Cauliflower – one of the highlights of the night! Beautiful BBQ’d cauliflower in the most delicious tomato based sauce. You can either get half a portion ($12) or a quarter portion ($8).

Grilled Eggplant with sumac, spiced puy lentils, baby spinach, fresh herbs and pomegranate ($18). This was our least favourite dish of the night as it was not as flavourful as we thought it would be. The eggplant was also undercooked.

Summer Bird Bowl ($22). Another highlight of our night. This beautiful and colourful dish consisted of slow roasted tomatoes, Kelmana greens, marinated fennel salad, courgette pasta, avocado, and ricotta stuffed courgette flower. The only glitch about this dish was when it arrived, there was an empty space on the plate – no courgette flower! When we told the staff, they quickly rushed to the kitchen and these were brought out in no time. Note you can also order the courgette flowers as a starter – highly recommend you do.

Kimchee Burger ($22). Served with cashew mozzarella, sweet chili sauce, tomatoes and bread and butter pickles, this was my main dish and it did not disappoint! There is no bread, so the bun is lettuce… which is great because it does not fill you up as much! The patty was delicious, brownie points because there is kimchi(!!!) and loved the kale chips – could eat these for days!

Finally, dessert. Do not leave without trying their Salted Caramel Ice Cream Sandwich ($14). This was HEAVENLY. DIVINE. MELT IN YOUR MOUTH. All those things in one. Literally died and went to heaven. Their ice cream is made with cashews and coconut, and sandwiched between a chocolate biscuit base, dipped in chocolate and rolled in activated nuts. This dessert is raw, vegan, dairy and gluten free, but honestly one of the best things I have put in my mouth this year. Highly recommend!