Zaitoon Kebab & Grill

It’s not an especially sophisticated thing to admit, but arguably the most delectable dish we ate in the judging for this list was the fries from Zaitoon. They’re exquisitely cooked, flawlessly seasoned (with a “secret” salt mix), hard to stop eating — much like the rest of the food here. Zaitoon was opened last year in this neat-as-a-pin South Auckland food court by owner and chef Nehad Albatniji, originally from Gaza. If you peek behind the counter you’ll spot rows of skewered meat and vegetables taking on colour by way of the hot embers below the grill and the inverted cone of shawarma rotating ever so slowly on its vertical spit. The charcoal platters here are big, colourful, delicious affairs and unsurprisingly seem to be the star of the show — though they cost slightly beyond the price cut-off of this list (unless you share them with a friend, and you very well could). Don’t get hung up on that, though, because both the rice plates and shawarma clock in under $25 and are worth a visit in and of themselves. Order the shawarma plate and you’ll receive grilled lamb or chicken, encased in flatbread and sliced into perfect bite-sized portions, a side of pickles and yes, those fries.