Wellington is known as the culinary capital of New Zealand. Here’s some of the restaurants and cafes we’ve tried and what’s good.

Logan Brown – 192 Cuba St, Te Aro 

Price – NZ$95/ pax degustation 

Taste – 7/10. We started off with snapper sashimi, salmon belly, scampi, white radish & avocado. Next paua (abalone) ravioli with coriander basil lime beurre blanc. For the 1st main, either choose a merino loin, beetroot skordalia, spiced neck & fetta creme or a vegetarian truffled pappardelle with various winter veges. 2nd main wild fjord land venison, black pudding, buttered cavolo Nero, parsnip & quince. Dessert passion fruit creme brûlée, coconut sugar wafer, mint & coconut sorbet.

Leed street bakery – 6G/14 Hannah factory laneway, Te Aro

Price – NZ$4 – 10/ pax drink + small snack

Taste – 7.5/10 – good coffee from red rabbit coffee co. & delicious lemon cake which tasted more like yuzu.

Golding’s free dive – 14 Leeds St, Te Aro

What’s good – opens from noon, this craft beer bar showcases different beers locally and from all over the world on tap or not. No reservations allowed, and it’s a non smoking bar. They team up with pizza pomodoro just outside for their food.

Wellington chocolate factory – 5 Eva St, Te Aro

Price – NZ$5 for a cuppa hot chocolate

Taste – 8/10 great tasting chilli lime nuts (tom yum flavored) hot chocolate which was slightly spicy and aromatic. Very interesting and we loved it especially when the weather was wet and cold, this warm comfort was simply apt! Their craft beer chocolate bar was also delicious!

Six barrel soda co – 1 Eva St, Te Aro

Price – NZ$5 for soda tasting of 3 flavors

Taste – 7/10. Other than craft beers, there’s also craft sodas! We tried 4 flavors (1 complimentary from owner) – celery tonic (celery cucumber apple), ginger (classic ginger ale mint), cherry pomegranate (berries), Pinot noir (limited edition alcohol free grape). Our favorites were celery tonic and Pinot noir. The great thing about their soda syrups’ that there is no artificial taste. All their syrups are made from natural ingredients and throughout NZ, gourmet restaurants and cafes use their products! They also sell syrups (500ml) from NZ$16.50 as well as bottled sodas in a variety of flavors. We wanted to purchase the Pinot noir syrup but it was out of stock so the sweet owner gave us a bottle of its soda instead! 

Whitebait – G04/1 Clyde Quay Wharf

Price – NZ$90 – 100/ pax (3 course ala carte)

Taste – 7/10. Whitebait is famed for their seafood. Roasted winter veges were too charred. Piccolo fritto (clam, mussel, fish, soft shell crab, squid, spiced garlic yoghurt, rocket salad) was delicious. Fish & shellfish Catalan style was great and reminded me of Spain! Line caught snapper fillet was good. Dessert of roasted rhubarb and strawberry was average.

Rams Crazy Dumplings – 171 Cuba st

Price – NZ$15 – 20/ pax 

Taste – 7/10. Depends on what’s ordered. The seafood claypot was average, no wok hei nor charred fragrance. Lots of seafood though not very fresh. The chicken fried noodles were very tasty, with wok hei and was satisfying!

Kaffee eis – 146 Cuba st

Price – NZ$4 – 8 (coffee & small bites/ gelato)

Taste – 7/10. Coffee was good and the orange cake was delish with a dollop of thick creamy yoghurt! While we were there lotsa people bought their gelato. It was so wet & cold outside, we just needed something warm.

Matterhorn – 106 Cuba st 

Price – NZ$60 – 80/ pax (2 course & 1 cocktail)

Taste – 8.5/10. The best restaurant we reckon of all we’ve tried. Extensive cocktail menu as well and their concoction’s strong & alcoholic!!! Amazingly crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside thick cut fries, beautifully plated dishes. ‘Tuna sandwiches’ seaweed wasabi radish yuzu was fresh tasting and appetizing. Smoked mussels pork hock apple crackling was comforting and savory. Mains – market fish gnocchi lettuce hearts cauliflower liquorice orange bergamot was good but not fantastic. Pork cheek crispy ears Brussels sprouts Spices pear walnut was bursting with flavors and juicy goodness.

Dumpling’d – 39, The terrace

Price – $10 – $11 for 12 dumplings

Taste – 6/10. Like a fast food restaurant concept offering only boiled or fried dumplings, totally popular as the patrons were just streaming continuously to take away mostly. It’s really convenient to take away and eat but the dumplings really did not taste that great and the fillings were quite little. I suppose there’s probably better ones around Wellington, maybe Rams? We smelled ‘fried’ when we walked out of the restaurant.

The general practitioner – 100 Willis St

What’s good – coffee, craft bear and sticky date pudding

Ti Kouka – 76 Willis St

What’s good – coffee, fries & sandwiches

Hangar flight coffee – 119 Dixon st

What’s good – coffee & more coffee. Specialty coffee shop with tasting menu. We did the coffee 3 ways – espresso, cold drip, flat white $14. We were told to rinse out palate with the sparkling water before each type. Interesting experience, my fave was the cold drip.