Jungle 8 – Shop M17/39 – 41 Elliott Street (Elliott Stables), Auckland Central, Auckland 1010
We went there because…
We went to Jungle 8 because we had dropped the child off a the Civic Theatre for a show, we were hungry and had 90 mins to kill. About a year ago, a good friend of mine (for anonymity let’s call her “Ruby”) had suggested that I needed to go to Jungle 8 for lunch one day and raved about how great it was. Taking this advice onboard, I walked across town expecting to have my hunger appeased, only to find that it wasn’t open for lunch that day. While that wasn’t their fault (it was “Ruby’s”), I then proceeded to block the establishment out of my mind for the next twelve months, that was until last Friday. Another reason we ended up there was that we wanted to head to one of our favourite Japanese restaurants in town, but they insisted on having a credit card to guarantee the reservation, which is something that The Wife hasn’t got her head around, so we said stuff it, let’s try somewhere new.
The food…
All of the food (except the sashimi’s are priced at something dollars and 88 cents, we ordered Viet Popcorn Chicken $8.88, Beef Fillet $16.88, Spiced Pork Belly Skewers $8.88, some Chilli Chicken Wing dish (that I can’t find on the menu) $8.88 and Kingfish Sashimi $12.
First up was the Kingfish which is done with Thai basil, namjim and turmeric, this was probably the highlight of the night. we have continued our long streak of ordering some form of raw fish and this one didn’t disappoint. Next up was the beef fillet with pepper sauce and kumara mash and that was also exceptionally good, so tender, and the pepper sauce was a perfect accompaniment.
After that things went a bit down hill, the pork belly was very fatty (yes I know that Pork belly is fatty, but there was a serious lack of actual meat here. the popcorn chicken was okay, but the weird chicken wing thing that I can no longer find on the menu, was just confusing. There were pieces of wing, lots of dried chilli, some rice cakes, potato chips and I don’t know what. All three dishes seemed to have the same flavour profiles, so that might have been bad ordering on our behalf, but The wife stopped eating, so I had to finish the rest.
The drinks…
The drinks list is simple and just what the doctor ordered for this style of establishment, cocktails, house spirits, nine white wines, four red wines, five beers and a couple RTDy things.
We ordered a jug of Japanese beer, which held about three glasses and was priced at $24, bargain!
The service…
We rocked up at 7.15pm on a Friday night, the place was heaving and asked if they had a table for two. The gentleman look unphased and spent about a minute reprogramming his iPad and said “come with me”. he took up to the bar and gestured towards a couple of stools. He then explained that we had to scan the QR code to order on our phones and pre-pay. I don’t know how my mate Mark would get on with his Nokia analogue phone from the turn of the century, but despite being about 30 years older than the average patrons age, we were well schooled up on this type of dining.
Generally when we order in normal situations, The Wife changes her mind a few times and asks if the chef would mind adding or subtracting from the menu items and sometimes you get the feeling that the wait staff are getting frustrated. Well by the time we had scanned the QR code and then chose the food and deleted it and then reinstated it a few times, I could feel that my phone was starting to get frustrated… Once we had completed the order and paid everything came very quickly and apart from that, there was not really any service required to comment on. Interestingly, as you pay at the beginning before you receive your food, it asks for a tip then, but you can choose the “I’ll decide after the meal” option (I bet nobody has chosen that option and then gone up to specially tip at the end).
The atmosphere…
As I said the place was heaving with young folk, luckily they didn’t stare and point at the old people as we walked in, they were all too engaged in frivolity and oblivious to their surroundings. Everyone was photographing their food (as was I, all the while I was wondering if they were writing a review also). and generally enjoying life, I guess that is a way of saying the atmosphere was excellent.
We also loved our seats at the bar, we had spent enough time talking to each other that week, we just watched the fast paced energy of a young, successful, reasonably priced eatery. It’s not a place you stick around to soak up the ambiance, the food comes out fast and the tables are turned over very swiftly.
The price was…
Wait for it…. (unless of course you have added it up in your head) this was the cheapest dinner out that we had experienced in a while. The bill at Jungle 8 was $79.52 plus tip (yes I tipped at the beginning). That was for five dishes and a jug of beer, that price alone probably means it deserves an extra point.
Overall
The place is very cool, full of staff showing skin, tattoos and piercings, most of the patrons are young and the vibe is infectious. While the extremely high expectations set by “Ruby” might not have been met, some of the food certainly hit the spot, some hit the post and one was just plain weird. but the value for money score is off the charts. Overall I would give Jungle 8 a 7/10
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