Spirit House Dunedin occupies a prime spot at 8 Esplanade on the St Clair beachfront, where the vibrant flavours of South East Asia meet the dramatic coastline of the Southern Ocean. Inside, the mood is darkly opulent and evocative — a moody room the team calls a culinary Shangri-La — while the seawall and rolling swells provide the view. It is a natural fit for wrapping up a day on the coast or settling in for a special evening out.
The menu runs broad and deep across Thai and Vietnamese classics, with detours through China, Singapore, Malaysia, Korea and Indonesia: spicy Asian soups and salads, rice and noodle dishes, stir fries and curries, plus signature cocktails from the bar. Starters like Korean dumplings, Balinese chicken sticks and Vietnamese spring rolls lead into larger plates such as Cantonese sweet and sour, Singapore satay and massaman curry. Favourites include the Kung Fu Curry with fresh basil and fresh chilli and the Kung Pao Chicken Stir Fry.
Everything is made from scratch with fresh, local ingredients, and every dish is available for takeaway via online pickup or delivery — allow around 30 minutes. Groups are well looked after, with set sharing menus for five or more people designed for variety and volume, and the restaurant recommends booking at least a day ahead. Spirit House is part of a growing family of South East Asian restaurants with sibling kitchens around New Zealand.
Perched at 8 Esplanade on Dunedin's famous St Clair beachfront, Spirit House brings an intimate, luxurious touch to the local surf and dining scene. The room is darkly opulent — moody, evocative, deliberately dramatic — a setting the team likens to a culinary Shangri-La. And then there is the view: on a wild day the swells crash against the seawall in full sight of your table, making this a natural spot for wrapping up a day on the coast or settling in for a special evening with friends and family.
The menu is a genuine tour of South East Asia. Classic Thai and Vietnamese cooking anchors it — spicy soups, Asian salads, rice and noodle dishes, stir fries and curries — but the map stretches further, from Korean dumplings and Balinese chicken sticks to Cantonese sweet and sour, Singapore satay and Malaysian massaman. Everything is made from scratch with fresh, local ingredients, and the same full menu travels well: every dish is available for takeaway.
Starters set the tone. Vietnamese fresh spring rolls come stuffed with minced pork, blanched bean sprouts, fresh mint and udon-style noodles, while the crispy version rolls sautéed vegetables, prawn and pork with vermicelli in rice paper before a turn in the fryer. Korean dumplings arrive crisped with leek, onion, garlic and ginger, guri puffs wrap sweet potato and vegetables in fluffy pastry, and Balinese satay chicken sticks come grilled under the house peanut topping on steamed rice. There is even a combination platter for the undecided.
Soups and salads lean into heat and freshness. The spicy hot and sour soup is built on kaffir lime leaf, lemongrass and galanga with fresh lime juice and coriander; the coconut cream soup smooths a similar Tom Yum-like profile with coconut cream. Salads run from Thai beef and Thai chicken — the latter tossed with roasted rice powder, shallots, lemongrass and chilli — to a mint-and-lime Vietnamese salad. Rice and noodle staples include nasi goreng, spicy kimchi fried rice, cashew nut fried rice and pad Thai with crushed peanuts.
The stir fry list wanders happily — garlic hot plate for garlic lovers, Chang Mai-style chicken and cashew nut, ginger, black pepper, Vietnamese lemongrass and a fiery spicy herbs number with bamboo shoots and green peppercorns. Curries go deep: green curry, massaman, a Rendang with beef cheek, and a lamb mussaman slow-cooked in curry paste and coconut cream. For the full seafood experience, the Vietnamese Seafood Boat gathers mussels, squid, fish and prawns with lemongrass in Asian coconut cream, while the Vietnamese Fried Fish lands tempura-battered fillets on a hot plate in a mild garlic, chilli and black pepper sauce.
Ask what people order most and two names come up. The Kung Fu Curry with fresh basil and fresh chilli is a red-based curry cooked with vegetables, lime leaves and fresh basil — unapologetically hot. The Kung Pao Chicken Stir Fry pairs spicy stir-fried battered chicken with peanuts, vegetables and chilli peppers in Sichuan sauce. The bar adds its own pull with a list of signature cocktails to match the moody room.
Spirit House is built for parties large and small, and the beachside setting adds its own flavour to any gathering. For groups of five or more, three set sharing menus do the deciding for you: each runs from a combination entrée through pad Thai, laksa, satay, curries and hot plates, all served with steamed jasmine rice and designed for variety and volume. The team recommends booking at least a day in advance to secure a table.
Can't stay? Nothing is lost. Order online for pickup or delivery and allow about 30 minutes — it is all cooked from scratch with fresh, local ingredients.
Spirit House Dunedin opens seven days: lunch from 12pm to 2pm and dinner from 5pm to 8.30pm, at 8 Esplanade, St Clair, with urgent enquiries taken on 03 455 9500. It is part of a growing family of South East Asian restaurants around New Zealand, so if the flavours hook you there are sibling kitchens to explore — though the St Clair swells are what people keep coming back for.