The Michelin-star Auckland restaurant turning Samoan memories into fine dining

Saturday, 4 July 2026

Tala’s umu chicken is cooked in banana leaves.

They say that Auckland is the biggest Pacific Island city in the world, and nothing has made me prouder of that fact than eating at Tala in Parnell.

Tala was one of 15 restaurants to be awarded a Michelin star in the inaugural New Zealand awards last Tuesday, and is the first-ever Michelin star for Samoan food.

There are a few things that make a tasting menu truly great for me; storytelling, education, and food that is genuinely delicious. Tala had all of that in bucketloads but it also had that special, secret fourth thing that is a little harder to describe but tends to make all the difference – soul.

Henry Onesemo’s menu reflects his Samoan childhood.

Over 14 courses, some served together, some not, Tala takes you on a 3000 kilometre journey, across the Pacific Ocean to Samoa. Hallmarks of chef Henry Onesemo’s childhood in the island nation are everywhere. Take, for example, the quail’s egg, which is served in a smoked hay and sumac dust designed to emulate the dirt Onesemo would often find on his fingers when rushing to eat eggs – which were generally saved for special occasions.

Onesemo says he has cooked in the umu (earth oven) since he was a child.

Or the very first course, a simple piece of pineapple dusted with salt and spices, a nod to childhood in Samoa when kids would grab fruit off the trees, ripe or not, and elevate the flavour with salt, sugar or, if they were lucky, a liberal sprinkle of Raro.

While the menu has changed a little since Tala opened in 2023, one dish that has remained steadfast since that first day is the roadside BBQ and umu chicken. Served together alongside a rich, umami chicken broth and a piece of brioche to mop up all the sauces, these two dishes are, together, a key part of the story at Tala and have become, in many ways, synonymous with what Onesemo is trying to do with the restaurant.

Many dishes are cooked over an open fire.

On the one hand, you have chicken which has been wrapped in banana leaves and cooked in the umu over the course of the meal. Then, you have pork rib which has been slow cooked overnight and then finished on the grill with a ginger and honey glaze. Both speak to key elements of Samoan cooking and eating.

Panikeke - a puffed pancake with pickled mushrooms, stracciatella and chilli oil.

“On the way to the beach in Samoa, you’ll just drive past BBQ after BBQ on the side of the road,” Onesemo tells me.

“And I’ve been cooking in the umu since I was a kid – I guess you could say I’ve been doing the R&D (research & development) for this dish my whole life.”

If you’re lucky enough to sit at the counter during a meal at Tala you get a front row seat to the cooking process.

I would hate to think of the restaurant’s extractor fan bill; they build two white-hot fires each evening, let them cook down to coals and then place a spatchcocked chicken on a bed of banana leaves, pop two hot coals in the middle, tightly wrap the leaves around it and then bury it under a bed of coals on the stove where it remains as you dine on dishes like palolo (whitebait, caviar and palusami sauce served on taro focaccia), pisupo (dry aged beef sirloin with daikon, burnt onion, creme fraiche and dehydrated tomato), and panikeke (puffed pancake stuffed with pickled mushrooms, stracciatella and chilli oil).

The resulting chicken is smoky and slightly sweet; rich and earthy and a triumph of Pacific Island cooking. It’s the kind of dish I’d travel across oceans for.

Fact file

Tala, 235 Parnell Road, Auckland. See: tala.co.nz