Woodpecker Hill

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Woodpecker Hill is an Oriental Smokehouse & Whiskey Works in Auckland, Parnell, where modern Asian meets Kentucky wood-smoked BBQ. East meets West at its mouth-watering best.

I loved Woodpecker Hill with it's amazing Asian street food flavours. The soft shell crab dish was unlike anything I'd ever tried before and the short ribs my partner had were also delicious. We also shared the mushroom dumplings and bok choi. Woodpecker Hill makes it's own White Lightning cocktails to share which are fruity and very drinkable. The mango desert with all sorts of goodies in it made the perfect ending to our meal.

My 2nd visit at Woodpecker Hill was being treated by my friend. I love revisiting places and getting to have a totally different experience the next time to that of the first. The first time I dined with 9 other friends at a regular table but this time with just the 2 of us we got to sit at the Chefs bar on comfy fur covered bar stools. I love to watch the action, smell the aromas and experience it first-hand. The only problem is then you want to try everything you see getting made that you didn’t order. One of those things is the Papaya salad, it looked so extremely tasty and pretty in a bowl.

So being that I am a real foodie and love to try everything for fair of missing out. We ordered the Salt & Pepper school of prawns (which you eat whole in their shell), the chilli red curry pork, bok choy and the crispy eggplant with tamarind sauce. Oh wow what great flavours!

For dessert we shared the Sticky black rice pudding with coconut ice cream, honey comb and dark chocolate.

Next time I want to sit at one of the fur covered booth tables and have that Papaya salad. I highly recommend Woodpecker Hill, I love the warm log cabin feel and would be back again soon.

The latest venture from the team who brought us Blue Breeze Inn, Chop Chop and, before that, MooChowChow - all of them on Ponsonby Rd, but this gem is in Parnell would you believe. It’s about time something cool came back to liven up Parnell.
A crazy mash-up of styles from Bali to the US. Giant clamshell lampshades and fleecy brown New Zealand sheepskins on the booth seating. And it works! The space is divided cleverly into different dining areas, it has a bar and a section overlooking the kitchen and, as is the trademark of this group, diners are crammed in. So service Friday night from the bar was not too quick.
Che Barrington's menu combines the best - a mix of Asian street food.

Brisket is slow-cooked for 14 hours, resulting in beautiful slabs of fall-apart meat paired with pickled papaya slaw. The "burnt end" offcuts of the brisket are lovingly tossed together with lemongrass, fried shallots and a glorious medley of fresh Vietnamese herbs and another offering on the menu that I ordered.

The batons of fried eggplant served with sweet-sharp tamarind, plenty of chilli, sesame and coriander to produce what was the favourite dish of the night. The smoked duck jungle curry was another dish for our table.

This place is definitely for sharing much like its other counterparts. So I suggest getting the entire menu and putting it in the middle as any one dish is too much for one person and you don’t get to try all the different flavours.

I had heard all about the toilets and how amazing they are, well it’s just as well I plan to go back to this place as I forgot to go and check them out.