Auckland Feast: A New Citywide Food Festival Arrives This November

Auckland is getting its own citywide food festival! Auckland Feast powered by Mastercard runs from 12 to 22 November 2026, bringing together restaurants, bars, chefs and producers across Tāmaki Makaurau for eleven days of dining and wining.

It is the first festival of its kind for the city: a food festival with no single venue and nor gate, where every participating restaurant hosts in its own dining room, in its own way.

When and where 

Auckland Feast runs 12 to 22 November 2026, opening with a launch party on Thursday 12 November and continuing through eleven days of special spring menus, one off events and al fresco dining.

Rather than gathering everything into one park or one hall, the festival takes place across Auckland's dining neighbourhoods. In its first year that means Ponsonby, Parnell, Karangahape Road, the central city, Takapuna and Birkenhead on the North Shore, along with the suburbs immediately around them.

For anyone looking for things to do in Auckland in November, it is a chance to discover new restaurants, return to old favourites and spend a bit of time in parts of the city you might not usually eat in.

What is on 

The festival is built around three ways to take part as a diner:

• Dish and Drinks is the social hour format: a signature local dish paired with two drinks for $50, at some of the city's best spots.

• Loudly Local menus are set menus served at lunch and dinner across the festival, each built around New Zealand growers and producers.

• Special events are the occasions worth dressing up for, from long lunches and garden parties to chefs cooking out on the water.

Alongside those sit the festival's signature events, staged in neighbourhoods across the city, and a programme of chef collaborations.

Loudly Local 

One idea runs through everything at Auckland Feast, and it is called Loudly Local. It is a celebration of the New Zealand growers, producers and makers behind what lands on the plate and goes in the glass. Every participating venue is asked to bring that story loudly, on the plate, behind the bar and in how they talk about their event.

It is the reason the festival exists in the form it does. Auckland's dining scene is built on relationships between kitchens and the people who supply them, and those relationships rarely get a public stage.

Mastercard cardholder benefits 

Mastercard is the title partner of Auckland Feast, and cardholders get early access to the festival. Presale tickets open on Monday 28 September at 10am, ahead of general release, and are available through priceless.com while they last. Cardholders also receive $10 off festival event tickets.

During the festival, Mastercard is running an $11,000 Win Your Meal Back prize pool. Four diners a day receive a $250 dining voucher. To enter, pay with a Mastercard at a participating venue and scan the QR code.

Megan Simons, Country Manager for New Zealand and Pacific Islands at Mastercard, said New Zealanders are passionate about dining and Auckland has a great many restaurants still to be discovered. Through Priceless, she said, Mastercard connects people to the places and experiences that matter to them, and Auckland Feast offers locals and visitors new ways to take in the city's food scene.

Who is behind it 

Auckland Feast has been developed by Lemongrass Productions, the Auckland event company behind Winetopia, Taste of Auckland, Street Eats, Restaurant Month and Tohunga Tūmau. The festival came out of a growing appetite within the hospitality industry for an event celebrating the full breadth of culinary talent across Tāmaki Makaurau, rather than one corner of it. 

Tickets and what happens next 

The full programme, including participating venues, chef collaborations and signature events, is announced in September. Tickets go on general sale from 1 October 2026. Mastercard cardholders get presale access from 28 September.

To hear first, join the mailing list at www.aucklandfeast.co.nz/newsletter

For restaurants and partners 

Hospitality venues, chefs, producers and brands interested in taking part are invited to register their interest ahead of the full programme launch. Details are at www.aucklandfeast.co.nz