Review Bun Hut - Auckland Central

Excellent quality and decent price. Always a good meal at Bun Hut. The pancake with cripsies is a must try!

Lovely spot for eastern Chinese food. Went with someone from the region. Don't let the exterior stop you from eating here.

Spacious eating area, friendly owner, clean environment. Very affordable for the value of the food. 24dollars for a couple and couldn't finish. Highly recommended for casual lunches!

Good place for authentic Tianjin buns and noodles etc, not too busy and easy atmosphere.

We tried their Jianbiang few weeks ago. It was quite nice.I have tried this in Tianjin, China.

Traditional north China breakfast. So nice. Will come back for sure.

Authentic Chinese breakfast food. Great value and very delicious. The buns taste amazing and I can't believe how cheap it was.

Great authentic Chinese food, including some great street food. We had breakfast and I felt like I was home again. Helpful and kind staff, though a little bare in terms of atmosphere

Mean as spot, has nice little bao for a good price which are good for lunch or a snack. Res bean cakes slap aswell

A soft steamy gem nestled amongst the concrete jungle, Bun Hut always keeps me coming back for more. You taught me the way of Chinese breakfast and now there’s no going back. The fennel egg bun! The jiang bing! The yellow sign! Very dear to my Bun Heart.

Can never go wrong with their dumplings and wonton soup. The savory customizable pancakes are delicious 😋

It’s probably the most authentic Tianjin style Jian Bing Guo Zi in central Auckland, the baozi (or pork bun) is pretty good too. Don’t expect much service from there, it’s non existent.

Beef noodle soup with pork buns and hot tea. Cheap and delicious

Staff dont really speak English but they kinda understand what you wana order so it's ok. I ordered the pork buns and Jian Bing, both was nice and hot and cheap to.

Lots of locals tend to visit this place and overall I'm really satisfied with Bun Hutt as its a great place for cheap Chinese food. Although I may be biased as I used to come here often with my dad for breakfast, I've never as of yet had any real complaints.<br/><br/>When we came we would typically get the gruel soup, pork buns, dumplings or Chinese pancake. The soup is actually quite decent but nothing too stand out, the pork buns and dumplings was also pretty good as they were soft and really juicy but tbh you can't really go wrong with these staple foods anyway and for $8 for 10 and $12 for 20 respectively you can't really complain as its quite decent value.<br/><br/>The Chinese pancakes however is really amazing and tasty, exactly what you'd want in one 😋.<br/><br/>Unfortunately I never really took any photos and I'm really upset with myself about it. I did however manage to find this one photo I randomly took last time when I had their dumplings so this is all I got.<br/><br/>All in all I'm not too fussed about the customer service so I never really noticed until I read the reviews anyways but what matters the most is that this place always fills my craving casual Chinese dining and I would definitely recommend 🙂.

I read some reviews here and people complained about bad service so I went there with no expectation. Turned out that I got really good service from the lady. Maybe because I went in the morning of weekday. I ordered pancake and pork buns for takeaway. They were good when you eat them hot!

I really love the chinese pancakes from here, it’s always made fresh to order and it’s cheap too! Great place to stop by for a quick breakfast with a variety of chinese breakfast foods and drinks

Not many places in Auckland to get a traditional Chinese breakfast, I'm glad I found one. Lots of options of traditional breakfast food. They don't have table service, you order at the counter, but the food comes fast and it's cheap. There is not much atmosphere in the restaurant, and the service is non-existent, but it does a good job at satisfying any cravings for Chinese breakfast foods.

Updated 12/10/19<br/>Went for breakfast. Staff were super rude when we asked for takeaway paper bags. Probably won’t visit this brunch again...<br/><br/>**<br/>Best spot for some Chinese traditional breakfast.<br/>Cozy eating environment, semi clean.<br/><br/>Their pancake are super delicious, moist on the outer but crispy on the inside. They have amazing steam buns as well, soft on the skin and very flavorful on the inside. I don’t usually eat buns or dumplings at restaurants but this place makes the exception. <br/><br/>The rice roll with red bean was a bit disappointing. Must have left out for too long, very dry and no longer chewy.<br/><br/>Overall highly recommended.<br/><br/>Food: 10/10<br/>Food presentation: 6/10<br/>Service: 4/10<br/>Location: 8/10<br/>Ambience: 5/10<br/>Price

I love Bun Hut. While you won’t necessarily get the friendly service you may get at other eateries (don’t get put off by the lack of smiling lol), this place serves food that you wouldn’t find elsewhere. I love their ‘tofu jelly with gruel’ or whatever it’s called (豆腐脑）and their buns are super yum. Other dishes could be hit-and-miss (I’m not sure as I never really order them). Order at the counter and grab your own cutlery. Note they charge 50c for plastic takeaway containers that can hold liquids (free for the typical styrofoam ones).

Tofu jelly with gravy is nice, beef bun is good. Although it’s not as good as the one in China, it’s hard to find a restaurant to have such dishes. Overall, it’s nice.

Nothing can compare with breakfast shop in china. Everything was regret, gave 3 star because staff was very friendly and keep smile when i order food.

As a Chinese I would say that the food was below average but the service was beyond HORRIBLE. They made mistakes in their order. We asked about it and instead of checking the order and apologising one of the staff shouted at us. I would definitely not recommend this place to anyone.

Ordered noodle soup with stewed pork ribs and pancake rolled with fried bread stick from takeaway app. Didn’t expect much because I was starving but soup and noodles were just alright. The pork ribs were cooked nicely and very tender. Some of the ribs had soft bones that you could actually eat also. Quite big serving of noodles and ribs. <br/><br/>I expected the pancake to be sweet but it had a mixed flavour of sweet and savoury. It was quite filling and smelt nice but I’m just not a fan of it.

The buns here are AMAZING 😍😍😍 the place isn’t fancy, it’s just casual but wow I can’t get over how good the buns are. The noodles pictured were great as well, loves a good fried noodles. Just great food in general, and good service. A gem amongst the big dogs in the Balmoral area, it’s definitely worth a visit

Had tofu jelly, not as good as we expected. It lacked exquisite taste we longed for.<br/>It's a relatively cheap eatery in a handy location. If you are from northern China, perhaps it's a place to be. A bit crowded at lunch time without good ambience.

Tried out some lamb and pork steamed buns and the egg shredded pancake. The texture of the steamed buns were perfect. Not too soft or hard. Size was perfect for a snack or light meal. The meat inside was tender and juicy. As for the shredded pancake, the flavour was nice and the pancake wasn’t too soggy. Would come again to try different dishes and steamed buns.

If you don't mind a 'sticky spoon' this is a good place to go for tasty steamed buns. Authentic Chinese breakfast. A good variety of stuffings .

Bun Hut is a good place to stop if you're after affordable buns, if you don't mind the microwaved variety. They're hot, salty and delicious. In the mornings they have tasty you tiao, which goes well with the soy drink and is nice accompanied by a side of zhou. It's really the simplest and most oily Chinese comfort food ever and I quite like it.<br/><br/>The place itself leaves a bit to be desired - it can be sticky and the floor may be grottier than one would hope. Don't expect to be waited on - it's a real gamble as to whether you will get a pot of tea on your table or not, but there is water near the front counter if you happen to miss out. Give the veggie dishes a miss - a bit too salty and not worth the money. But honestly, how can you complain at this price? Pretty good for a daytime cheap eat on Dominion Road!<br/><br/>Food: 3.5/5<br/>Service: 2.5/5<br/>Ambience: 2.5/5

If you don’t mind coming to a restaurant with literally no customer service then this place is for you. We sat down and weren’t given menus for a long time. I had to stare at the staff for five minutes before she asked me what I wanted- the menus. Duh. They don’t do table service so you have to order and pay at the counter before eating. The actual food is not bad. I just came for the jian bing guo zi and it was pretty good. The side dishes were all average. Dumplings were also nice but they were frozen.

Just another mediocre Chinese takeaway meal - ordered a fried rice (very average) and the wonton soup. (9 for $9.00). Asked if we could reduce the quantity to 6 as we weren't particularly hungry. No problem but were charged the full price regardless. Didn't mention this to the proprietor as the food wasn't good enough for us to want to eat there again anyway.

I'm Chinese. I eat Chinese breakfast all the time. I wouldn't feed this to my dog. <br/><br/>Everything is bland, overcooked, undercooked, tasteless, just salty, or very boring. <br/><br/>I have nothing against the restaurant or people working there. But what I do have against is this nasty tasting food. <br/><br/>I came here many years ago, it wasn't great. But I came here in the morning the other day, ordered al this for breakfast for my starving self and starving family. <br/><br/>We all took a few bites after the food came onto the table. Left it all there and went next door.

We ordered so many, we ordered boiled noodles with chicken shreds, pancake with beef, Jian Bing Guo Zi, rice roll with red bean paste and Shaomai, it was very disappointed, only the Chinese lucky cake is good to try.

I placed a order for chicken noodle soup and sad to say the noodle soup is tasteless. I'm not suprise for the price is so cheap that's why.. Is not good for recommendation

We ordered vegetarian Dan Dan noodles, pork & chives buns, and pork ribs noodle soup.<br/><br/>The vegetarian tofu Dan Dan noodles was a disappointment. It gets pretty 'sticky' after a while and the whole texture is too gooey. The peanut sauce was thick and pretty flavorful but like I said, I got quite sick of it after awhile, perhaps because there is nothing to balance the flavour. The only ingredient that came with this is tofu and I only managed to finish half the portion.<br/><br/>The pork ribs noodle soup was bland to start with, so we had to add soy sauce to the soup. However, the saltiness of the pork ribs salvage the bland soup. When the pork and noodles and soup are eaten together, it was more pleasant. <br/><br/>The pork and chives bun was the best out of the 3 dishes we ordered. However I feel that the filling is on the stingy side and would do much better with more fillings. <br/><br/>Perhaps we ordered the wrong dishes, might go back again to try their 'classics'.

Ordered the spring onion pancakes, Sesame Shaobing, Chicken Fried Rice and Pork, Prawns, Egg and chives pancakes.<br/><br/>The spring onion pancakes had a light salty yeast bread taste with not enough speomg onions inside. The texture is like a naan.<br/><br/>The sesame shaobing was quite doughy with a peppery salty taste.<br/><br/>The chicken fried rice was normal with a salty and eggy taste.<br/><br/>The pork, prawn, egg and chives dumplings were very flavourful, juicy on the inside and crispy at the bottom. The filling is a bit on the salty side but not overpoweringly salty. The dough of the dumpling is really good - chewy on the outside, moist on the inside and crispy at the bottom as mentined previously. The thickness of the dumpling skin is also just right, not too thick and not too thin.<br/><br/>The place was self service and you order and pay at the counter first.

Cheap, good food, very fast service. Staff was very nice and helpful to explain to me what was in their cabinet. Love their dumplings, bns and also had a chance to try sweet rotis this time. Food on other table looked very good so maybe next time I will try more than buns/dumpling :) These guys can do so much better with their decor though

Went this place to have beef noodle , well it's really not your best choice cause I'm not even full after I finished my noodle and their food is just soso.There are so many choices on the street try another place.

An unlikely dining option for many, Bun Hut is a traditional Chinese Restraunt in its food and service. <br/><br/>You pay as you order, the ordering style is more a la carte, you pour your own tea and the workers are limited in English. It can definitely be an intimidating atmosphere if you don't know the language. <br/><br/>We ordered the trademark Chinese styled pancakes, some chilled beef slices and 40 dumplings which rounded out to about $11 a person. Absolutely incredible value for the amount of food you get.<br/><br/>Showstopper: The Chinese style pancakes are a beast.<br/><br/>Overall Grade: A-

Very typical foods of northern part of China. A wide range of food, such like porridge, soy milk, steamed buns, dumplings, side cold dishes, and Chinese style pan cake with egg and deep fried bread stick.

Bun Hut can sometimes look quiet from the outside but the food is great. It's a fun place to go if you want to try lots of things because all the dishes are so cheap. The twisted pork and spring onion bun is good and my all time favourite would be the pork or beef pancake. It's like a lasagne but you can eat it with your hands! The sweet tofu can be a little bland if you have never tried it before but it's probably a good thing that it isn't too sweet as the serving is huge.

One of my favourite places on Dominion rd. The Chinese pork pancake is my favourite, I describe it as a mix between a meat lasagne and a pancake. The menu is quite simple in what they offer however the variations of filling and toppings does it justice. They are very helpful in explaining the menu.

The humble bun is a delicious commodity, which, up until recently, had been unfortunately overlooked in this age of Dominion Road dumpling wars. Situated in between dumpling heavy weights Barilla and New Flavour lies Bun Hut, an unsuspecting looking shop that offers something that the others lack: buns.<br/><br/>Not quite a dumpling, not quite a bao, these steamed buns ($4 for 5; $7 for $10) tread the line between the two, possessing the best of both. Their slightly thicker exteriors are a textural delight, both soft and slightly chewy at the same time, without distracting from the lush, tasty filling inside. Becky and I have a penchant for the combination of pork and fennel and ordered a plate of five, however Bun Hut offers a number of other fillings if aniseed isn’t to your liking.<br/><br/>Bun Hut, which on first glance appears more like a bakery than restaurant, has a large glass display cabinet at its counter, containing filled pancakes and some unusual looking desserts.<br/><br/>There are a number of long, communal tables to seat those who are dining in, a surprisingly trendy arrangement which could well make an appearance in the Tumblr of accidental Chinese hipsters. Its menu boasts an extensive array of dishes, from filled breads to gruel, casseroles and noodles. And everything is ridiculously cheap. In addition to our pork and fennel buns, we ordered a plate of dumplings ($9 for 20; how could we not?), a roast sesame pancake stuffed with stewed beef ($3), noodles with pork mince ($8) and fried noodles with shredded pork ($8).<br/><br/>The roast sesame pancake was similar to the chilli-licked lamb pitas one can get across the road, with the added benefit of sesame seeds sprinkled on top. The dumplings, as all dumplings in this area seem to be, were delicious and the going rate more similar to what it used to be like before everyone knew about dumplings. The pork mince noodles were an interesting concoction, sprinkled liberally with crushed peanuts and served with preserved mustard greens (the Chinese’s answer to sauerkraut); though deliciously savoury, the mustard greens were a little more potent than what I’m used to. James’ fried yellow noodles were alarmingly greasy and not particularly special.<br/><br/>I’d like to return to try the different steamed buns, bready-items and main dishes, of which the stir-fried tofu with minced pork mince in a spicy sauce amongst many other dishes catches my eye. But if trawling through the list-like menu sounds too arduous for you, sitting down at dinner and pointing to what your neighbour orders might do the trick too.

Delicious food. Get here early enough and you'll see teams of Chinese workers grabbing a quick breakfast before heading out.<br/>Its a basic design restaurant serving the kind of food normally bought from a street vendor in China. Try the Jian Bing Guo Zi ,a mung bean flour and egg pancake with a crunchy wonton or if you like Youtiao (fried bread stick) wrapped in the middle, utterly delicious!<br/>If you are more adventurous the braised pigs trotter is superb, I never knew they could taste so good, the Hezi (chive pancake) is excellent too. Go here for the food and expect an authentic culinary experience.

Price 5/5<br/>Food 3/5<br/>Service 3.5/5<br/>Atmosphere 3/5<br/>Popular dumping and soup on dominion rd<br/>Very cheap<br/>Every day busy<br/>Lamb bun recommend <br/> <br/>

I visited as part of another (walking) Auckland Food Tour event - this time a collection of chinese specialities on Dominion Road.  I LOVE these journeys - each place we visit - the menu is largely ignored and we eat ONLY the dish or two that they are renowned for - or from their region of China.  So while only a dish or two will be discussed in the reviews .....  this is the ultimate shortcut to 'best eats on a menu' .....<br/><br/>So here we were introduced to the Chinese Breakfast Pancake - a thin pancake made of egg - not fully beaten - with a little spring onion and black sesame, spread with a light - not hot - chilli, and wrapped around a wafer of wonton.<br/><br/>This was wonderful to me - light, crispy, flavourful, a little spicy - I had never eaten one before or even heard about it - it fits in the 'cheap eats' category - the 'fast food but healthy category' while it is served as a restaurant dish here - in China - it is street food - you would grab one on your way somewhere and eat it much like a wrap...

Doesn't look very fancy from the outside- this place is a prime example not to judge a book by it's cover. Fast and friendly service. Price is excellent. Food is good, very authentic. Been here a few times and will be returning. Two people walking away fully satisfied after spending only $20 - Cheaper than cooking dinner at home!

Went here for dinner with my partner, we ordered the egg fried noodle, pan fried cabbage, mushroom and egg dumplings and a couple of vegetarian buns. The dumplings were pretty good and the buns with some traditional side sauces. Was plenty of food for both of us at a reasonable price! Was let down by the noodle dish though as we specifically requested no onion or spring onion and the dish was served containing both. After pointing out to the staff they said they could pick it out for us, we then ended up with the same plate (now cold) a short while after still with bits of onion/spring onion. I think there was a misunderstanding or language barrier but won't be heading back any time soon

My family and I tried out Bun Hut for Sunday brunch. The decor is dated, and even with the festive red lanterns there is no ambience here. It's more like an eat and go type of place. They were fairly busy when we arrived, they have large tables that seat six diners each so we shared a table with a couple. Tables are turned over quickly and most diners seem to be regulars who know exactly what they want.<br/><br/>Their menu is quite large with little to no descriptions so this is best for adventurous eaters or those who are familiar with the dishes. Luckily they have a cute cupcake symbol next to their sweet dishes which can be helpful when ordering, although vegetarian options are not clearly marked. We ordered a range of dishes to share. My dad ordered in Mandarin which I don't speak so I didn't catch the conversation, but it seemed that many of the dishes he tried to order were not available.<br/><br/>Our favourite dish was the Jian Bing Guo Zi (Egg pancake rolled with fried crispy pieces) ($5). This tasted like fried noodles with egg and had a nice texture contrast between the egg and the crispy pieces that were like deep fried wonton wrappers.<br/><br/>Pork and cabbage bun ($4 for 5) was pretty good. Tofu Jelly with gravy ($4) was also tasty. Savoury with interesting bits in it, though the texture might be challenging for some. <br/><br/>Pork and cabbage dumplings ($9 for 20 boiled) were decent. I liked their chunky home made look. Our server grabbed a bag of frozen dumplings from the freezer and moved them into the kitchen while we were ordering. We kind of expected fresh dumplings. <br/><br/>Shaobing (roast sesame pancake)($1.20 each) was OK, a bit bland and same to the Pancake with spring onion ($2). Millet gruel ($2) was also bland, though it would be a good accompaniment to stronger tasting foods. Boiled egg with soy sauce ($1 each) were really bland and we were expecting a fragrant Chinese Tea Egg, maybe this was a different dish entirely. It's possible these dishes are purposely bland to be accompaniments to tasty dishes and maybe we ordered too many dishes from the bland spectrum.<br/><br/>We spent about $30 for four people so very cheap eats with a mixture of tasty and bland dishes. A good place to go if you like exotic but plain tasty food, though I'd love to come again with someone who eats here regularly so I know what to order next time. It seemed a little hit and miss when we went but with the fast turn over, they must be doing something right! <br/><br/>I think next time I would aim for the meat dishes or those with the word "tasty" in their title as they seemed to be better seasoned.

I've been coming here often in the past three years for lunch/brunch, and it's still one of my favourite Chinese restaurants in Dominion Rd. The food is always delicious and it's no surprising that the place is always packed. I recommend any of the smaller buns (but also the bigger ones are great), the shredded pancake and the potatoes salad. If you are vegetarian, their vegetarian buns are super tasty and fresh.

really nice place for asian style bkfst<br/>take way take long time to wait，suggest oder by phone～<br/>hope everyone will enjoy this place like i do！

Solid breakfast experience at Bun Hut. I recommend a bowl of cold soy milk, fried bread sticks, and perhaps some filled pancakes or delicious steamed buns. Plenty of vege options! The Hut was packed, with a high turn over. <br/><br/>Eating large amounts of deep friend bread is such joy.

Let's just say this first - you get a lot of food! I ordered the spring onion pancakes, the pork and chives fried dumplings and the shredded chicken noodles. There was more than enough for me to eat myself silly and take some for lunch the next day. <br/>The spring onion pancakes are quite thick and doughy but really tasty. The shredded chicken noodles came in a broth which I wasn't expecting but it was salty and delicious. The dumplings were pretty standard fare but had loads of flavour to them. <br/>Overall I was incredibly impressed. They seemed surprised that I was ordering so early in the evening but were really friendly anyway. I'd definitely order from here again.

Dumpling club resumed at the Bun Hut for May. This was a last minute change of plans, after I tried to book a table at San Bao only to find out from a very apologetic staff that they are shut for Tuesday lunch. (As an aside, isn’t it refreshing to have restaurant staff who feel your pain?). So, Bun Hut got moved up the club list. <br/><br/>I had tried to call them several times to make a booking to no avail but luckily, there were no crowds on the Tuesday afternoon that the group of us pushed through the door.<br/><br/>I am always amazed how these little Chinese eateries manage to fit so many options onto their menu; we considered 26 entrees, 17 types of dumplings, and dozens of other dishes. Bun Hut serves mainly what is considered to be ‘xiao chi’, its literal translation is ‘small eats’. To be fair, ‘xiao chi’ can actually be quite substantial dishes, - my interpretation is anything that doesn’t have to be eaten with white rice is basically categorized as snack food. Perhaps that’s why Dad never considered noodles to be ‘proper’ dinner food. <br/><br/>Okay, back to Bun Hut. They are obviously known for their dumplings as each table is set up with the usual dumpling condiments, - dark vinegar, soy sauce and chili oil. There are also interesting looking dishes in the display cabinets, - cold cuts, a dessert called lucky cake (glutinous rice with red bean paste) and various pancakes.<br/><br/>Our mission was to sample their (boiled, not sure if they will steam or fry these) dumplings; we chose the ubiquitous pork with chives, pork with green bean and pork, shrimp and egg. My favourite was the traditional pork and chives, juicy pork with a good balance of the slightly garlicky chives. The dumpling skin had a good homemade quality, not too thick and just the right amount of bite.<br/><br/>We also sampled their Tianjin pork baozi/buns, which had good, chewy texture. <br/><br/>A tasty discovery was the fried shredded pancake with pork. What a fantastic idea, - the pancake was made even more savoury with cabbage and pork pieces. <br/><br/>This was by far the cheapest Dumpling Club so far, tasty and satisfying lunch.<br/><br/>http://easyfoodhacks.blogspot.in/2012/07/bun-hut-balmoral-auckland.html