Food and drink

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Eating out

NZ food is a mix of UK, Australian and Asian and tends to be pretty damn good (at least in Wellington). All diets and eating restrictions are well catered for.

Some of our favourites:

  • People’s Cafe – Really nice coffee and toast (and that’s about it).
  • Fidel’s – Good coffee, pretty great food, with a varied and delicious menu and kinda funky… great place to hang on a weekend morning. Very Wellington.
  • Chocolate Fish Cafe – Nice, a bit unusual … a bit out of town. Basically, it’s a BBQ (but a good one).
  • Spruce Goose – Watch the planes come into land over Lyle Bay and drink good coffee and eat good food while you do it.
  • Cicio Cacio Osteria – A really good Italian. I have heard rumours that it’s changed hands and isn’t so good now (late 2017) but haven’t been back for a while.
  • Cinta Malaysian Kitchen – Cheap and good in the centre of town.
  • 6s and 7s – Good coffee, incredible home cooked treats, excellent salads and sandwiches (often busy at lunch).
  • Rita – In Aro Valley, a little out of town is Rita. A restaurant that doesn’t have a menu (you get what they’re cooking), has two sittings each evening and is amazing. Go for the second sitting because then you can take you time with the wine, drink in the atmosphere and chat to the friendly staff.
  • Aro Cafe – Good cafe food and coffee little bit out of town – it’s solid.
  • Smith the Grocer – Smack bang in the centre of town, good location, okay food, okay coffee and you can usually get a seat.
  • Ugly Bagels – Simply the freshest, tastiest bagels you can get (and good coffee as well) – now available at the airport as well (which actually is pretty great).
  • Beach House and Kiosk – Recently reopened (new management?) this cafe sits on the busy road between Owhiro Bay and Island Bay. Nice coffee, a good (seafood focused) menu and if you can ignore the road, a lovely view of the rocks and sea.
  • Scorch-a-Rama – A friendly, geeky little cafe in Scorching Bay. A great menu, good coffee and Firefly Funko pop vinyls. What more could you want?
  • KK Malaysia – So very good. So very cheap.
  • WBC – Oysters to die for … and plenty of other share plates. A bit more expensive than many, but totally worth it for the service and vibe.
  • The Seashore Cabaret – In Petone on the beach – a busy, noisy, and all round awesome cafe. If you get there early, grab a seat with a sea view.
  • Maranui Surf Life Saving Cafe – In Lyall Bay and on the beach – very similar to it’s sister cafe, The Seashore Cabaret, it’s busy, noisy and pretty great (with an amazing view).
  • Chow – Modern NZ take on Japanese food in a surprisingly cosy, busy restaurant and bar.
  • L’Affare – A very noisy, busy Wellington cafe that has great coffee and perfectly okay food.
  • Charlie Noble – A nice bar and a really nice “steak and burger” style restaurant – mid priced, but not fussy (jeans, t-shirt is fine).
  • Queen Sally’s Diamond Deli – Full of delicious treats, sandwiches, plenty of vegan options and good coffee.
  • Arashi Kushiyaki Bar – I’ve had lovely meals here … and less lovely. But there’s something  about this busy Kushiyaki bar (bbq skewers) that I really like.

Mojo’s are everywhere but that doesn’t mean they are bad … if you want a bite to eat and decent coffee, they’re normally pretty good.

Drink*