Last Sunday, I had lunch with my family at Tok Tok, a restaurant I’ve been wanting to try since it opened in Takapuna some time last year. It was my dad’s birthday so I took it as a great opportunity to book this place.

It’s an Asian fusion restaurant which is quite the rage at the moment and this place did not disappoint. If you want to know more about this place and the food we ordered, continue down below. Just beware, I have a lot of delicious-looking food ahead.

First of all, this restaurant has a really nice interior. I really like the decor of this place. There is a normal seating area inside closer to the entrance and then there is the bar and long high tables as shown above.

It also has a nice outdoor covered eating area where we were seated. We were by the couches which was a really nice and cosy spot. Although it was outdoor, it is well-covered from the elements especially the chilly Takapuna beach wind so we were quite warm.

The menu is pretty simple and our server explained that the menu is meant to be for sharing. Since it was our first time, she recommended our table of four to pick three from the small dishes and two big dishes to share.

We trusted her on this and we ordered the following:

• Salt ‘n’ pepper squid (small)
• Pork ‘n’ scallop dumplings (small)
• 2 Beef brisket steamed bun (small)
• Duck Pad Thai (big)
• Crispy Hapuka Dry red curry (big)

She also explained that the food will come out at different times and we didn’t mind that. We got two steamed buns in the end as she said that the size of one piece will probably only be good for two people. I’m glad we believed her on this one too.

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Now onto the most exciting part, the food!

The first fish that came out was the Salt ‘n’ Pepper Squid. Every time salt and pepper squid or calamari is on the menu, I can’t resist it so of course I wanted to try this. The squid tasted really fresh. It wasn’t crispy but it was cooked well. The sauce on the side was a great match too. We all enjoyed this and it was a great start.

Next up was the Pork ‘n’ Scallop Dumplings. Our family loves dumplings too so this was an easy choice. They were really good but the sauce on the side was spot on. My dad raved about the sauce and we wanted to dip everything in it.

The last ones from the ‘small’ dishes menu that arrived were our Beef Brisket Steamed Buns. Oh my goodness. If you come to Tok Tok, I highly recommend this! If we knew how amazing this steamed bun would be, my family would’ve ordered one each. We all loved it.

The beef was so tender and tasty and the sriracha mayo, cucumber and coriander inside worked really well. The steamed bun was so soft too and I want to eat a plain one. This was the best one so far and each dish kept getting better.

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Moving on to the big dishes, the first one to arrive was the Duck Pad Thai.

This Duck Pad Thai has rice noodles, shrimp, peanut and chilli jam. This was another tasty dish and they were very generous with the duck meat. Duck is probably one of my favourite meats so this was a winner. You can’t go wrong with pad thai too.

Last but not the least is the Crispy Hapuka Dry Red Curry. I knew this would come with a lot more chilli but we decided to order it anyway. This this doesn’t lie because the fish was crispy and it was cooked well. The flavours worked nicely together although this was a tad spicy for me. One thing this dish could probably have less of is the big pieces of garlic. As this was also the last dish, my tolerance to the spices were at the very end but I still enjoyed this.

When it came to the bill, it was around $136 for the four of us including drinks. We all had non-alcoholic drinks and I even had two glasses of orange juice to ease some of the spiciness. We all thought it was reasonably priced and I expected it to be more based on the quality of the food.

Overall, my whole family really enjoyed all the dishes and we impressed by the food. The ingredients tasted fresh and the serving sizes were spot on for the four of us. The service was good too as our server’s recommendations were right and we didn’t order too much in the end.

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Tok Tok has good food and good ambience to match too. On a quiet Sunday afternoon, we got to enjoy the decor but I’ve driven past this place on a Friday and Saturday night and it looks so busy.

This place has a well-stocked bar too. The drinks menu included fresh coconuts which my mum and I wanted to order. Unfortunately, they were out of coconuts that Sunday which was forgivable. Hopefully they have more next time.

The table setting and crockery were also interesting. Our cups were these metal cups that really gave Asian vibes and the water bottle is a military flask.

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If you’re wondering where it is, it’s in the corner of Hurstmere Road and The Strand. After you’ve finished your meal, you can walk along Takapuna beach to let the food go down as it’s a minute away.

Next time you’re in the North Shore, come to Takapuna and try this place out. I would definitely come back here to try more dishes from the menu but I also want to go back just for their steamed buns.

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