The most disciplined classics programme in Ponsonby, defended at honestly mid-tier prices.
· Cocktails Bedford has been pouring on Ponsonby Central since 2013 and remains the neighbourhood's most reliable serious-cocktail room. The unmarked entrance off the courtyard leads into a forty-seat space with an L-shaped bar and a deliberately classics-leaning programme — old-fashioneds built on Buffalo Trace, sazeracs with Sazerac 6 and a daiquiri made on Plantation 3 Stars that is, quietly, the best in the city.
Head bartender Hugo Allen, who came up at The Roxburgh in Wellington, runs a short seasonal menu of ten signature specs and a much longer back-bar of bourbon, mezcal and Australian and New Zealand gins. The room is loud after 9pm and the food is brief: a single excellent burger, a fried chicken sandwich, popcorn. Second because the technique is genuinely first-rank and the prices remain restrained for the postcode.
For the full ranking, see our editorial round-up of the 10 best cocktail bars in Auckland, the broader Auckland cocktail bars guide, and our category index of cocktail bars worldwide.