Otara Market

Otara has run on Saturday mornings since 1978 in a shopping-centre car park, and it serves the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world - Auckland has more Pacific Islanders than any single Pacific nation's capital. What that means at the market is taro, green bananas, cassava, breadfruit, coconuts, taro leaves and island cabbage sold by the sack rather than the piece, alongside food stalls doing raw fish in coconut cream, chop suey, sapasui, hangi packs, panipopo and Tongan and Samoan cooking that is not on restaurant menus anywhere else in the city. There is also clothing, tapa, ie faitaga, music and a great deal of cheap household goods. It starts around six in the morning and thins out by noon, and the good food goes early. It is a working local market, not a tourist attraction, and prices reflect that.

Highlights

• The island produce - taro, cassava, breadfruit and green bananas by the sack.
• The food stalls - raw fish, sapasui, hangi packs and Tongan and Samoan cooking.
• The scale of the community - the largest Polynesian city in the world, shopping.
• The non-food stalls - tapa, clothing, music and household goods.

When to go

Saturday mornings only, from about 6am to noon. Go early - the best food sells out and the market winds down before lunch. Bring cash; card acceptance is patchy.

Good to know

Saturdays only. It is a working local market, crowded and noisy, not a curated food destination. Parking fills early. Bring cash and small notes.

Nearby

Manukau and Rainbow's End are close; central Auckland is north.

Key facts