Botswana Butchery Auckland is a 'fun dining' restaurant set inside the historic Ferry Building at 99 Quay Street, bringing a taste of the deep South to the heart of Auckland city. The kitchen combines premium produce, wine and local ingredients from the Auckland region with the best of what Central Otago can offer.
The ethos here is 'fun dining': plush and wonderfully distinctive, but also welcoming — relaxed dining in a premium atmosphere. Guests can settle in for lunch, dinner or drinks from the bar menu, all served in the same gorgeous surroundings, with lunch and dinner running from 11:30am till late, Monday to Sunday.
Part of the Good Group Hospitality family, the restaurant also hosts functions, offers a mezzanine space for groups, and sells digital gift cards — making it as suited to celebrations and gifting as it is to a midweek dinner by the water.
Botswana Butchery Auckland occupies one of the city's most recognisable addresses: the historic Ferry Building at 99 Quay Street, on the water's edge of the Auckland CBD. From this harbourside perch, the restaurant brings what its team calls a taste of the deep South to the heart of Auckland city — a pairing of premium produce, wine and local ingredients from the Auckland region with the best of what Central Otago can offer.
The phrase that sums up the experience is 'fun dining'. It is more than a slogan; it is the ethos the whole restaurant is built around. Botswana Butchery is plush and wonderfully distinctive, but it is also genuinely welcoming — a room designed for relaxed dining in a premium atmosphere, where the celebration of great ingredients never tips into stiffness.
That balance shows up most clearly in how the restaurant structures its menus. Rather than one formal list, Botswana Butchery Auckland serves lunch, dinner and bar menus, each in the same gorgeous surroundings. Midday might bring a long business lunch; evenings belong to the full dinner experience; and the bar menu keeps the door open for a lighter visit or a drink by the harbour. That flexibility is central to the idea — the room adapts to the occasion, not the other way around.
The hours back it up, too. The restaurant opens at 11:30am and serves lunch and dinner till late, every day of the week, so a weekend celebration and a weekday dinner sit on exactly the same footing.
The Ferry Building gives the restaurant a sense of occasion before you even sit down. It is a historic building in the heart of the city's waterfront, and Botswana Butchery makes the most of it with dining spaces the restaurant describes as gorgeous and distinctive. Inside, the look is plush — this is a premium room — but the atmosphere stays relaxed, true to the 'fun dining' brief.
Beyond the main floor, the restaurant also has a mezzanine level, adding another layer to the space for guests and groups.
The cooking centres on premium produce. The kitchen combines local ingredients from the Auckland region with the best of what Central Otago can offer — a nod to the deep South flavours that give the restaurant its identity. Wine is treated as part of the experience rather than an afterthought, with the list built to sit alongside the food. Botswana Butchery is part of Good Group Hospitality, the broader restaurant family behind the venue.
For groups and celebrations, there is a dedicated functions offering — worth raising with the team when you book. The restaurant also sells digital gift cards through the wider Good Group family, which makes it a straightforward choice for birthdays, thank-yous and work occasions.
You will find the restaurant at 99 Quay Street in the Ferry Building, Auckland City. Reservations can be made online through the restaurant's booking page, which also covers sister venues such as Harbourside Ocean Bar Grill and White + Wongs; if online bookings are temporarily unavailable, the restaurant asks you to call 09 307 6966 directly to secure a table.
With doors open from 11:30am till late, seven days a week, there is plenty of flexibility in when to visit. Lunch is an easy way to enjoy the Ferry Building in daylight; dinner brings the room at its most atmospheric. Either way, booking ahead is the sensible move in the CBD.
Come with an appetite for the ethos: premium produce and wine, gorgeous surroundings, and service that keeps things relaxed. That combination — plush but welcoming, distinctive but unfussy — is what Botswana Butchery Auckland has built its name on, and what regulars return to the waterfront for.