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Ima (3)

Jun 25, 2013 Restaurants

 <a href=Ima restaurant, Auckland" src="https://www.metromag.co.nz/images/uploads/ea418bf3-0422-43ad-b972-c49c4537b930-MT0513Roty-Ima_MG_0489.png" width="800" height="533" />57 Fort St, CBD. Ph 300-7252, imacuisine.co.nz.
Breakfast and lunch Monday-Friday; dinner Tuesday-Saturday.

It’s hard to think of anyone in Auckland more passionate about their restaurant and the food they cook in it than Yael Shochat, who runs Ima. The dishes are Israeli with liberal doses of other Middle Eastern and North African cuisines — in Shochat’s world, food is the essence of community, and she loves to share. She’s also a superb cook. Her brikk — a tuna dish featuring a soft egg wrapped in paper-thin warqa pastry she makes herself — offers one of the great eating experiences of Auckland, and her seven-hour lamb is perfect for those times when all you really want is an informal, relaxed and simply lovely dinner. Shochat is innovative with her meals, too, offering family-style dinners where the food is not plated but served to the table in bowls. She also does special set-menu dinners and is happy to cater for vegans. $$$

3 Spoons

A favourite dish: Lamb kibbeh: spiced lamb and pinenut in a crispy shell of lamb and bulgur wheat, served with hummus.

Shared-plate options / Fixed-price meal options / Good for vegetarians / Free-range chicken and/or pork / Takes large groups / Good for kids

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Metro N°448 is Out Now

In the Spring 2025 issue of Metro: Find out where to eat now in Tāmaki Makaurau with our top 50 restaurants, plus all the winners from Metro Restaurant of the Year. Henry Oliver picks at the seams of the remaking of the New Zealand fashion scene. Matthew Hooton puts the exceptional talent for Kiwi whinging on blast and Tess Nichol recounts her ongoing efforts not to pay attention to everything. Plus Anna Rankin pens a love letter to the 20th Century, a short story from Saraid de Silva and Bob Harvey assists the walls of Hotel DeBrett in talking. Oh, and last, but not least, it’s the end of an era.

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