Naughty Chef Pho

The Naught Chef is buried in the depths of the Hunter Arcade at Wynyard Station. You have to trek down various escalators to get to it and, unless you happen to commute this way, you won’t stumble across it by accident.

It’s always packed out at lunch time though so it clearly has a devoted following. If you come at peak lunch time you’ll probably have to queue and it generally takes around ten minutes at these times to get your meal. It’s counter service and the sit down dining area is found one shop down. It’s not connected to the kitchen/counter.

They serve great Vietnamese food. The Char Grilled Pork and Spicy Beef Pho are popular dishes.

Kura

Kura is a tiny japanese restaurant in Chinatown on Haymarket. First time we went there was by mistake as we had copied down the wrong restaurant information. As we walked in my dining partner harrumphed that this place looked more like a takeaway, with a few seats tacked on, than a restaurant. That’s a fair description.

All concerns melted away when the food came. The service is super fast,the food is super good and the price is cheap. The range is typical japanese from sushi to katsu curry through taroyaki. Expect to pay 10-15 dollars for a starter and main.

Guzman y Gomez

This Mexican fast food place is actually a chain. Quite a well known one. Hardly a hidden gem. It would be remiss of me not to include this though as the food is simply life affirming. The city centre outlet is also a little bit hidden away at the Australia Square Food Court on George St.

It’s packed out every lunch time, with seating only in the general food court area, but the queue moves fast, the people who take the order are charmingly South American and the food is almost sexual.

Go for the Pork Chipotle Burrito and pick up some extra chillis and sauce from the free dispensers.