Makassar Corner Auckland is an Indonesian restaurant on Dominion Road in Mount Eden, serving homemade Indonesian dishes built on fresh ingredients and brought straight from the kitchen's roots in Makassar to your table. The menu centres on the signature plates of that South Sulawesi port city — Grilled Beef Ribs with peanut sauce, Beef Ribs Soup and, on weekends, Coto Makassar with Buras — alongside the Indonesian favourites people return for: Chicken and Lamb Satay, Meatball Soup (Bakso), Fried Rice, Mie Goreng, and Grilled or Fried Chicken with rice.
The everyday menu is rounded out by Martabak, the restaurant's best-selling appetizer, and a pair of special Makassar desserts, Dadar Gulung and Pisang Ijo. The most anticipated dish of the week is the Weekend Special: Coto Makassar with Buras, a bowl that regulars plan their visits around.
You can dine in or take away, with the kitchen open from 11 am to 10 pm Tuesday to Sunday, and from 4 pm to 10 pm on Mondays. Book online, get in touch by email or phone, and come hungry — this is generous, homestyle Indonesian food made to be shared.
On the ever-busy stretch of Dominion Road in Mount Eden, Makassar Corner Auckland does one thing with real conviction: homemade Indonesian cooking, brought straight from the kitchen's roots in Makassar to your table. The restaurant describes its approach simply — a vast menu of Indonesian culinary delights made with the freshest ingredients — and the plates that anchor it read like a short tour of South Sulawesi's most-loved dishes.
Makassar, the port city on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, has a food reputation that travels well beyond its harbour, and Makassar Corner is built on it. As the team puts it, they 'bring forward signature dishes from our root, Makassar'. That shows in the specials list, where Grilled Beef Ribs with peanut sauce and Beef Ribs Soup carry the label 'Makassar Special' — and where the city's most famous bowl, Coto Makassar, gets its own dedicated slot on the menu.
Around those signatures sits a lineup of Indonesian favourites that covers every craving: Chicken and Lamb Satay by the skewer, Meatball Soup (Bakso), Fried Rice, Mie Goreng, and Grilled or Fried Chicken served with rice. Starters are handled by Martabak, the restaurant's best-selling appetizer, and there's a sweet note to finish on too, with special Makassar desserts — Dadar Gulung and Pisang Ijo — making an appearance you won't often see on Auckland menus.
If it's your first visit, the specials are the natural starting point. The Grilled Beef Ribs with peanut sauce are a signature of the house, the kind of dish the kitchen is known for, while the Beef Ribs Soup offers a more brothy way into the same flavours. The Chicken and Lamb Satay — five skewers to a serve — is described as 'the perfect choice', and works equally well as a shared plate or a main.
For something lighter or more everyday, the Bakso meatball soup, Fried Rice and Mie Goreng cover the homestyle classics, and the Grilled or Fried Chicken with rice is a straightforward, satisfying main. And before any of it arrives, the Martabak is the move: it's the appetizer the restaurant itself calls its best-seller.
The one dish with a strict schedule is Coto Makassar with Buras, the restaurant's Weekend Special and its most pointed expression of Makassar roots. It's only available on weekends, which turns it into something of a ritual for regulars — the dish guests are 'always looking forward to', in the restaurant's own words. If Coto Makassar is the reason you're coming, plan your visit for Saturday or Sunday.
Makassar Corner keeps things warm and unfussy: dine in or take away, with the kitchen open from 11 am to 10 pm Tuesday through Sunday, and from 4 pm to 10 pm on Mondays. The late evening close makes it an easy option for dinner after work, and the takeaway option means the Makassar specials travel as well as the classics.
The restaurant takes online bookings through its website, so if you're planning a weekend visit — especially one aimed at the Coto Makassar special — it's worth securing a table ahead of time. You can also reach the team by phone or email with questions about the menu.
What makes this corner of Dominion Road worth seeking out is the focus. Rather than diluting its cooking across every regional Indonesian style, Makassar Corner lets its Sulawesi roots lead: beef ribs off the grill, rich soups, satay, and desserts you'll struggle to find elsewhere in the city. Come with company, order across the menu, and let the specials do the talking.