Odettes Eatery

After suffering from a dreaded lurgi of a tummy bug I was in dire need of some substantial sustenance. Enter stage right Odettes, situated in the über cool City Works Depot with heaps of (paid) parking and next door to Ugly Bagels .
I went for a coconut Bircher with chia and roasted pineapple, a green juice and my usual long black. Pretty good if I may say, muesli was a good sized portion and came with gold kiwi fruit, blueberries and passion fruit (?). Green juice was ok, although I felt like I could make it at home and couldn’t see the beans they used for coffee .
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again the burgeoning Auckland café scene has truly upped their game on crockery and cutlery, and Odettes is no slacker in this department. With pastel bowls and plates and pretty uniforms for the front of house it’s all here. I felt it would be hard to compare Odettes to any other café in New York or Melbourne as what they’re achieving is original and very fashion forward .
And while my mind wasn’t entirely blown away probably due to my awful tummy bug, I’ll definitely recommend Odettes for a 3^rd date /​family brunch /​coffee after gym or want to impress the boss kind of place.

4
Spent a gorgeous Saturday morning brunching at Odettes Eatery, located right in the heart of the hip City Works Depot space at the bottom of Wellesley Street. Although I’m never one for heading into the CBD on non work days, I couldn’t resist the lure of Odettes after seeing countless IG photos showcasing their beautiful dishes. The restaurant venue itself oozes new age cool, with drop down exposed lighting and plenty of indoor/​outdoor seating. Featured below is their «crushed mango» bowl from their breakfast menu consisting of (you guessed it!) crushed mango, buckwheat and walnut yoghurt and a chia seed shard. The serving of yoghurt was generous and the mango ample for the portion, but I found the addition of micro greens (of some sort) on top odd to say the least. To me, they seemed like an intrusive garnish that I couldn’t quite pick off. Aside from that, though, I quite enjoyed the dish. The service was notably excellent too. Not too shabby Odettes

Odettes is in the exciting City Works Depot in the Victoria Quarter precinct of Auckland. It’s a former municipal depot and for a long time was derelict but is now a thriving space for funky eateries, cool boutiques and hip start-​ups.
As for Odettes, it fits right in. The décor is on trend, staff are efficient and menu surprises with interesting food choices. I went for pork belly dumplings which were delicious!

Dined here for dinner recently and was blown away by the service and food.
There were three of us and we shared six plate between us, we chose them from the menu and the waiter said he would bring them out in three courses. That wasn’t what we had planned but it worked really well.
Inside the café it’s quite large, decorated fancy and is quite open. I would recommend asking for a booth as those seats are the comfiest!
The presentation of the food was SO amazing — and they tasted pretty great too! I will definitely be back because I their menu is full of amazing options.

Seriously impressive food!
We had the Wild Mushrooms, Pork Belly, Handcut chips and Lamb shoulder — all of it was excellent. The mushroom were incredible!
Most of the dishes are reasonably priced and service was excellent. We only had to wait ~7 minutes per dish. However lighting is a little on the dim side.
Definitely returning soon.

The food was delicious and I would go back for sure. Yummy spinach scrambled eggs. The orange juice is also incredibly fresh and delicious.
The ambience was nice with glass ceilings and open atmosphere.

Wow wow wow very impressed that’s the words. First the service was out of the world. So fun, caring and with tones of advises. And when the food arrived it was purely devine. Dumplings so tasty with the coconut sauce, the mushrooms and donuts dish was full of flavors, and the tuna salad the same. On top the restaurant is really nicely done. way to go ! Will definitely be Back

The best dining experience of our lives!
The food was spectacular, our waiter Tom was THE BEST and the atmosphere is unmatched. This place is a must and might be worth a flight back to NZ!

The food rocked! The playlist of ambient music, that rocked too. They played without realising it some of my favourite hip hop. Mos Def, Pete Rock… It was like they were channeling my musical tastes. So that was massive positive to start.
Right well this isn’t a music shop, or concert. It is a restaurant! Food, food is what you want to know about!
What you want when you eat at a restaurant is to have food you’ve never experienced at home, or would never try to cook in your home kitchen. The gang here, well they definitely delivered that in spades!
My family and I went to celebrate mums 65^th birthday, this was mums choice, so we went there full of hope and happiness.
Mum loves the sliders at depot, so when we saw that they had a slider, safe to say we all dug in. The taste was nothing short of sublime! Soft shell crab marinated, a some form of pickled something, a mayo for creaminess and then micro coriander. This pre dinner snack was great!
We then had shared a starter each, descriptions of what we had are in my photos. But going back to what I said about trying something you wouldn’t normally have at home. Amongst the wild mushrooms were these doughnuts, doughnuts don’t belong with wild mushrooms, right? Well they do if the dough contained freeze dried mushroom powder done in house. That is some Heston Blumenthal shite right there!
My main course was probably my only letdown. Snapper probably my favourite fish, it was overcooked. It was dry and chewy. But that didn’t matter because paired with it and probably something that saved then from losing a star was another clever food experience. Coconut cream braised leek. There it was, hidden underneath my snapper, leek that had taken on the sweetness of the coconut!!! Never had I experienced a sweet leek. I had always used it for its oniony taste. It was completely transformed.
Finally dessert. The pumpkin spice custard was gorgeous! So smooth, it was only lifted even higher with the caramel & popcorn. Each individual part, not so good. Together… Amazeballs as the kids say.
Top marks Oddettes. The biggest compliment is that mum would definitely go back. High praise indeed. You know what, I would probably go back too.

I went to Odettes for the first time for brunch last weekend and I can’t wait to go back. I had heard Odettes was popular so we decided to meet at 9.30am but even then it was an hour wait! We opted to eat outside as it wasn’t THAT cold and they did have heaters but luckily for us a small table opened up. There were a couple of large groups (10+) so I’ve filed it away as a good place for large brunch groups. The brunch menu was different and exciting and I was torn between a few dishes. I finally decided on the Merguez Sausage (Eggplant Chutney, Harissa, Spiced Crêpe, Poached Egg) and my dining companions the Heirloom Tomato (Il Casaro Burrata, Israeli Couscous, Saffron & Rose Vinaigrette), Spinach Scrambled Eggs (Persian Feta, Eggplant Rouille, Bacon on Grilled Ciabatta) and Wild Mushrooms (Whipped Persian Feta, Donuts, Basil). I was extremely happy with my choice and yet at the same time envious of the wild mushrooms. The merguez sausage was a big crêpe folded over into a stack with a delicious, spicy sausage inside, eggplant chutney and a poached egg on top and spicy tomato sauce on the side. The dish was so full of flavour and not like anything else I had before for brunch. The wild mushroms were a range of fried mushrooms served with savoury donuts (ya-​huh!) and the most amazing whipped persian feta. I didn’t try the spinach scrambled eggs but it got good feedback. The heirloom tomatoes was the only dish that didn’t recieve rave reviews from the table. Maybe because it was a cold summery dish ordered on a cold wintry day it just didn’t go down as well. The saffron and rose vinaigrette was very acidic and overpowered all of the other flavours in the dish. I’m already fighting an internal dilemma about what to order next time the Foul Medammes and the Pork Hock Rillettes both sound amazing too.

We spent this rather dreary Sunday morning at Odette’s and it was wonderful. I fell in love with the décor and now want to buy a house just to install warm timber walls and gorgeous hanging light bulbs! The service and the ambience were warm and bustling — the perfect place to be on a horrible Winter’s day. We started with coffee which was passed over the bar to us super quick, and enabled me to feel like a decent human before moving to our table and browsing the menu. We chose two dishes to share since we both agreed that everything on the menu looked divine. I had the wild mushrooms first, with whipped feta and savoury donuts. It was magical. The mushrooms were so earthy and decadent, the whipped feta creamy and rich. Perhaps it would have been overwhelming if I’d had the whole dish, so on this occasion I was more than happy to share! Our second dish was the lamb merguez sausage with savoury crêpe and harissa. This was completely different to the mushrooms, but no less awesome. We split the poached egg on top and let its yolk coat the meal — this was something very different and very special for a Sunday morning!
Trading notes with diners around us it’s certain we’ll be back — my only regret was not buying one of the amazing looking cakes on the bar for some afternoon tea!

If you’re one who appreciates décor and styling, Odettes is a must. It’s like a Simon James showroom. Natural timber paired with soft teal and navy… and those tiles! They’ve used three different kinds — sea foam green rectangular numbers behind the bar, light and dark blue scale beneath the bar and geometric white on the floor. You’d think it’d look OTT but it doesn’t, not at all! Also those ombré glass pendant lights… so beautiful, if only I could have them in my kitchen!
Anyway, enough about the décor, the food is also delicious. On my latest visit I had their goat curd dumplings with porcini and leek. These weren’t your traditional dumplings but instead mini crepes that had been stuffed with goats curd and a good squeeze of lemon, folded and fried, and served crispy with a light drizzle of sage butter. Served atop beautifully charred leeks and the sautéed mushrooms, it was rich but also well-​balanced.
I feel I must mention that the size of the dishes at Odettes aren’t huge. Personally, I prefer it. It means you can get a couple and share and also that you don’t leave feeling like you need a 2 hour nap before you carry on with your day!
Open for lunch, dinner and all-​day brunch in the weekends, Odettes is the perfect relaxed dining addition to an already thriving CWD!

I just adore the blue theme of Odettes– it’s everywhere but simply done and it’s stunning in the summer sun, reminiscent of white sand beaches and island holidays. Especially with their huge photo on the back wall of a beautiful resort.
It’s fancy here with their beautiful stemless wine glasses with their O for Odettes and imprinted tumblers and blue-​themed napkins. They have indoor as well as outdoor seating and were kind enough to sit us along the side wall with their couch wall with geometric and plain blue cushions in the cornered table. Loved their huge wooden slat walls, clean wooden floors and adjustable large lampshades. They have a gorgeous wooden cupboard in the back corner to store their darling eating-​ware and a display of exquisitely coloured pottery around. A huge fan of their glass blown light fixtures that hang from the ceiling like tear drops or artistic blobs. As well as their cracked aquamarine tiles like fish scales and black/​white tiles. Beautiful bathrooms– interestingly enough– unisex.
Got juices to start– had to have their Summer breeze which was deliciously refreshing with it’s unique mix of orange, lime, lemon, pear and basil. Friend got the Odette’s smoothie– they were nice enough to take out the spinach that she didn’t quite like the sound of. Waiters were wonderful.
We were intrigued by the donuts in the Wild Mushroom dish– which came with persian feta and baby basil. It was wee, not-​too sweet baby donuts and worked well with the vegetables. We spied a waiter walking past with the Soft Shell Crab Sliders and we got one each as well. Came with big pieces of crab skewered with cucumber, carrot, gremolata, saffron aioli in wee little brioche finger buns. Yum. Got the Harmony BBQ Pork Belly Chermoula with crunchy crackle and aioli like a spread dish.
Loved being able to sit in the holiday-​atmosphere of this new restaurant with excellent food. They were great about splitting in half at the end as well.
Must come back to try more of their amazing food and allow my friends to experience O.

So whom is Odette? She’s the ‘it girl’ that you just might want to marry. Sure she flunked English, as you can tell from the apostrophe she left off her signboard, but she’s pretty cool dressed in azure and she has a penchant for glass baubles that light the night like a sky full of stars. What she can do in the kitchen is eclectic and often surprising. As she settles you in with warm focaccia, your tongue tingles with the unique flavour of apple butter. Beef cheek croquettes, olives, asparagus slaw and feta/​savory doughnuts tempt you with European chic. Subtly sweet saffron tortellini, pork belly and wild mushrooms with coconut accompany you further on an imaginary Asian honeymoon. Salted caramel pears and a chocolate brownie dessert may taste better in the bedroom. But then, perhaps, that’s where all dreams come to an end…

Had Friday night dinner here with friends on a rare warm summer night. I like how they’ve designed the space, those hand blown Parisian glass lights are very pricey, but worth it. Because we couldn’t choose just ‘one’ dish, we ordered a selection from the menu. Some unusual things — wild mushrooms, feta and doughnuts (yes, doughnuts, but a more savoury type) and wood fire focaccia with apple butter, yum! Tried the marinated olives, duck pastrami, beef cheek fritters, bbq pork belly, asparagus slaw and saffron tortellini (there were three of us!). All really good and worth trying. We also ordered two desserts and have to be honest, they are not up to the same standard as the rest of the menu. Dessert warning aside, you should go here.

Odettes is red-​hot: appearing in Denzien, Metro and recently Vogue Living Australia. The aesthetics are pure eye-​candy to patrons: carefully selected mosaic tiles, European-​style seating, exquisite art hanging on the wall, with intimate lights to drool over. I have been here for coffee and lunch/​brunch a few times. Service is excellent and the wait staff are very attentive. Food is orgasmic: salmon salad for a healthy option, or decadent crepes (with blueberries) for a sweet choice. Full bar. Good wine list, I had Miners Daughter by the glass– great. Loos are shared by both men and women which proved an interesting experience. Nothing feels rushed or onerous. Beautiful place for a meeting, celebration or utter indulgence. Try the crab sliders, if you dare.

Odettes Eatery is like a breath of oasis to the industrial grind atmosphere of Shed 5. Whilst the previous motorbike café was interesting, the location didn’t give it the spotlight it deserved. As experienced owners of Zomer café in Takapuna, they have completely transformed the space into a bright but elegant dining space.
As I stepped in, the décor of cushiony sofas and overhanging lights was warm and inviting. Thanks to the high ceiling and the light streaming in from outside, Odettes could fit in quite a few tables without making it feel claustrophobic. It was buzzing on a Saturday afternoon, and luckily we got a table for 2.
I didn’t have high expectations for the food. For me, brunch food was just the norm — eggs, bacon, sausages. Quite heavy food that would quite often send me into a food coma for the rest of the afternoon. I even opted for the haloumi variation in the hope that my friend would help me finish the dish. The chorizo was sweetly glazed and cooked in the same sauce the mushroom was in. The chunky pieces of haloumi didn’t add to a heavy bloated feeling but because it had a little bit of everything, the whole dish was just so satisfying as you sampled your way across the dish.
The lemon and blueberry crepes were just right — fluffy and light. Although I’m not normally a fan of blueberries, the sweetness offset the tart lemony flavour. To be honest, if I had it myself as a brunch choice I would probably be craving something more. But as a shared one, it was a thumbs up!
With such a soothing space decked in turquoise and warm wooden hues but most importantly — top-​notch food, I’d recommend Odettes as a priority to try out. I’d easily go back to try more of the menu — like the soft shell crab sliders!

Firstly this is a beautiful restaurant that has grown elegantly from the more rustic motorbike enthusiast Shed 5 Café. It oozes ambience. That’s the positives, the negatives are unfortunately for me are the food. A confused Mediterranean, pacific, tapas style menu that while many of the dishes sound beautifully are left needing something of a lift, something to take them to the next level. The chef has erred on the side of caution with the most basic of food needs «seasoning». The one saving grace is the lamb shoulder which is wonderfully tender. This is just week three for Auckland newest eatery and it deserves a chance to get things right. Let’s hope it does.

Tried Odettes last night for the first time, the restaurant it’s self is beautiful the whole placed is filled with soft lighting.
We had the home made bread which was yum! The king fish, buffalo mozzarella, and olives as starters, these were all pleasant but nothing special.
For my main I had the saffron tortellini, this was absolutely Devine, incredibly rich and it packed a real punch with a beautiful after taste.
The service was average, dishes were cleared to early with out asking and abrupt questions such as whose is this?! Were asked a few times,
Over all I was impressed by my main and all they need to do is lift the staffs performance and perhaps refine the menu a little.

Odettes opened its doors today — headed by the same owners of Zomer on the shore. The moment we walked in we were already impressed. It looked like a set up straight out of IKEA, just like how you want your dining room to be — wooden tables, large tumblers, heavy cutlery and plates. The best thing was the comfy sofa benches and chairs lined with cushions. The whole place looked very modern and fresh.
We ordered a soft shell crab slider each ($ 8). The price is steep for the size of it but it was superb. Everyone loved it and wanted more (keep in mind we are hard to impress being fans of Depot’s sliders).
Asparagus — surprisingly well done, the sauce was delicious.
Wild mushrooms — we enjoyed the mushrooms a lot and the feta was creamy and smooth. The dish came with mini donuts which were interesting and slightly strange. The donuts are tasteless, sort of like having mushrooms on toast but very dense toast.
Scallops — this was a refreshing dish with great accompaniments to the scallops.
Hand cut fries — a bit too much for me, and for some odd reason the mayo accompanying it is placed on the bottom so you can’t really get to it.
Beef cheek fritters — fairly standard dish that was outshone by the others.
Summer Breeze smoothie — so so immensely tasty with just the right amount of citrus in it.
They are open for dinner also so we will most definitely be back. My favourite things were the Summer Breeze smoothie and the sliders. Highly recommend!