Hare & Copper Eatery

Rating: 4

We ate dinner here in October 2023.

Cheesy garlic bread
Pork bao buns
Tofu bao buns
Popcorn chicken
Roasted bone marrow with bacon marmalade
Jalapeno poppers
Apple & rhubarb crumble with ice cream
Churros with dulce de leche

It’s a risk to open up a high end sharing plates joint on the outskirts of Turangi. Where will the customers come from? We thought. We’re not sure where they had come from, but they were certainly there. The place was full, luckily we were able to get an outdoor table and it was a gorgeous still evening.

The service was on point. Super friendly and attentive, but not overbearing. They warned us of a 20 minute wait for food, which is nothing, and then the food arrived in 15 minutes anyway.

That’s not to say that everything was perfect, Hare & Copper isn’t a cheap night out, perhaps we’d even say the food prices were steep, but it certainly is a good time. We were a bit disappointed by the drinks, and crumble was on the bad end of the scale. But everything else was, in fact, very good. We were blown away by the popcorn chicken, it was easily the best of its kind that we’ve ever had. The chicken itself was excellent, but it was everything else on the plate that elevated to greatness, especially the dry roasted peanuts.

Both the bao buns were really good, with a lovely spicy sauce. They described it as “out of this world” on the menu, and they did not disappoint. The jalapeno poppers did everything right. The bone marrow made you feel like a 15th century king and the bacon marmalade was to die for. The garlic bread was soft and tasty but the mozarella was a disappointing cheese choice. The churros were fabulous, they had such a soft centre yet a perfectly crispy outside, generously coated in sugar and cinnamon with a dulce de leche that was just the right amount of sweet.

Bookings recommended