The best hotels in Auckland

How to spend a starry night in Auckland...

White, Hilton Hotel, Princes Wharf

Mood: this sleek room is designed like a racing vessel ready to cast off. Chat with other guests over pre-dinner wine-tasting at the six-metre-long bar. Glass walls deliver panoramas of yachts chasing yachts, gulf islands, city skyline and harbour bridge. Also check out peach and champagne cocktails at Bellini, the bar.

Food: ex-Salt (Sydney's chicest eatery) chef Luke Mangan has a gentle approach, grows his own herbs hydroponically. Try roast duck and scallops with mango and cucumber salad followed by licorice parfait with lime syrup.

Crowd: James Caan, Rod Stewart, Louis Vuitton race syndicate.

Soul, Viaduct Quay

Mood: this poseurs' paradise seats 320 on outside decks. Serious need for your Dior sunnies, what with all the sun/water glare. Sunnies also needed inside - silver-tiled bar, orange, kiddy-type paintings, fibre optic lights that change colour and an enormous sports screen. You can watch the races come to life, or just relax on the white leather S-shaped sofas and soak up hulking Italians (Prada syndicate) and waiters.

Food: Middle Eastern sumac added to whitebait and scampi for citrusy twist. Six types of fish cooked four different ways. Green-lipped mussels steamed with saffron broth and served with chorizo and lima beans.

Crowd: Ralph Lauren, Russell Watson, One World Challenge and Oracle Racing syndicates.

Vinnies, Herne Bay

Mood: in a smart residential area between Central City and the Upper Harbour. Inside, grey-green tones are muted, the bar is Turkish onyx, lit from below. The private cellar room is gorgeous, with polished concrete floors, handmade gold tiles and a kauri wood table. The curved roof is covered with native saplings.

Food: ultra foodie and wine-nose haunt. Four-course food "voyagesî are changed every six weeks. Gordon Ramsay ate the baby paua (a shellfish delicacy) on sticky rice and seaweed followed by lobster sweetbreads and pronounced "this meal could stand alone in Londonî.

Crowd: Louis Vuitton syndicate, Gordon Ramsay, Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Otto's, Central City

Mood: this recently renovated former magistrate's courthouse remains grand with acres of space and stone. Staff are attentive and meals impeccable. It is considered to be the finest restaurant in the country. Rachel Hunter was refused entry to the nightclub upstairs - because she was dressed too skimpily.

Food: eclectic - fillet of ostrich, prosciutto, spinach and Yorkshire pudding. Service perfect.

Crowd: Prodigy, Carl Lewis, Michael Jordan, Prada syndicate, Lucy Lawless (Xena, Warrior Princess), Prince Michael of Kent.

Mikano, Mechanics Bay

Mood: austere steel and wood interior. Two-storey-high windows on all sides overlook a working cargo wharf and wind-whipped harbour. A helicopter pad at the front receives guests from golfing jaunts.

Food: Kahawai and trevally fish smoked in-house. Tandoori pizza. Tahitian lime pie with mango sorbet. Crowd: Sting, Jonah Lomu (and the whole All Blacks team), Sir Edmund Hillary, Ian Botham, Kylie and Dannii Minogue, Ainsley Harriot.

Cibo, Parnell

Mood: staple for lady lunchalots and those wanting consistently good food; set in an old chocolate factory, with comfortable brown leather seats and enormous native palms.

Food: towering sashimi a hit with those with an appetite but girlish figures to maintain. Lamb brain fritters with tomato and mushroom chutney also popular.

Crowd: Elle Macpherson, Dion Nash (cricketer), Russell Watson, Prada syndicate, John Hart (former All Black coach), Dave Dobbin (singer).