Des Traditions is a middle eastern restaurant at 54 Stoddard Rd in Leigh, Rodney, holding a 4.4 rating on Google. Leigh is a small coastal village north of Auckland, so this is a neighbourhood table rather than a city one.
Middle eastern cooking is built for the shared table: a good meal usually means mezze arriving together — warm flatbread, smoky aubergine dip, herby salads, char-grilled meats — rather than one plate each. The tell of a serious kitchen is bread and dips made on site, and spices bloomed in olive oil rather than tipped on at the end. Portions run generous, so order a few plates at a time and add more as you go. Menus range widely, from Levantine to Persian and North African traditions, so it pays to read them closely.
On Stoddard Rd at the northern edge of the Auckland region, Des Traditions gives Leigh a middle eastern table of its own.