Mike Yardley: Bites and sights in Wellington

"As much as hospitality can be a fluid and fickle industry with a lot of churn, it’s fair to say that Wellington has been buffeted by some tough times lately. Business closures have been tough on the capital’s self-confidence over the past 12 months, particularly when some legendary establishments have also ended up closing their doors. 

"But I was encouraged to detect a clear upswing in morale amongst a swag of bar and restaurant operators, as I struck out on an urban food safari recently. With over 400 restaurants competing for your affection, the treasury of culinary temptations is phenomenal."

Read Mike's full article here.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack team podcast
from news Talks.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
That'd be just coming up to twenty past eleven. On
news Talks, there'd be Makeyardie's our travel correspondent. He is
here now, Hey Mike.

Speaker 3 (00:18):
Good morning Jack. Now, I know this is doing parochial
but I'm looking for the third lead of the trifector.
Great win by the Wars the All Whites. Now we
just need the Crusaders to turn the lights out on
the Blues.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Yeah, we do, and hopefully it can have You know,
it can be. It could be one sided in the
same nature as either either the All Whites or indeed
the Chiefs last night, because we've had some one sided
contests this weekend. But yes, yeah, I think I think
there's nothing wrong with a bit of parochialism so long
as it's on behalf of Canterbury. As far as I'm concerned, we.

Speaker 3 (00:49):
Need a Heathrow Airport style shutdown even the park tonight.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
My goodness. That's yeah, certainly keeping things of the theme
this morning, I totally agree. It's a it's a it's
a crazy weekend to sport and it was a pretty
big night in the Capitol last night. I think they
had twenty thousand out for the All Whites semi final.
But the Capital has certainly had its fiershare of toil
and trouble lately. How is the mood among the kind

(01:18):
of hospow operators at the moment?

Speaker 3 (01:21):
Well I went through a really good graze across the
capital a few weeks ago, And yes, I mean hospitality
can be a very fluid and fickle industry, as you o, Jack.
But man, that economic downturn in the last year or
two has been so bruising for Wellington operators, particularly the
fact that so many legendary establishments have closed their doors.

(01:42):
It's been like a procession of food funerals. But the
good thing I detected a clear upswing in morale amongst
the Swager venues a few weeks ago, and the impression
I got as I gorged my way all over Wellington
was the general feeling seems to be. Trade has been
on the up since February. So hopefully that punishing period

(02:06):
of gloom is lifting.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
Yeah, okay, that's good to hear. Hope. I hope that
operators around the capital share that sense of optimism. What
was your favorite dining spot?

Speaker 3 (02:18):
There are so many outrageously good venues on Cuba Street Jack,
I think I could happily just park up in Cuba
Street with my tent and graze from the street for
months without getting bored. But two standouts that really did
it for me. First of all, Scalper Pizzeria. The calamari

(02:39):
there melts in your mouth, obviously, the classic Italian pizza
is divine. But best of all Scopers Italian hot chocolate.
It's thack, rich and anxious like custard. It is so
thick you can eat it with a spoon. It is sensational.
And then my other newfound favorite on Cuba Street, TiSER.

(03:00):
It's the most magnificently executed Middle Eastern cuisine I have
had for a very long time. And the Mese plates
Jack is so spectacular because their kebabs give you the
choice of you meat, choice of either what of tea
jar or lamb. So very very inventive. In the dessert,

(03:21):
Oh my goodness, rosewater, malaby custard, and they do it
with almond milk, and then they enrich it with pomegranate
syrup and sour Cherry's man that hit the spot.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
Oh yeah, that sounds like a bit of me. Did
you unearth any hidden gems?

Speaker 3 (03:38):
Well, I went on a foody tour and I was
so delighted to discover a place called Rams. And I
have since found out a lot of locals in Wealy
declared this place serves the city's best dumplings. Once again,
it's in Cuba Street, but it's one of those sort
of nondescript shops you would quite easily be forgiven for

(03:59):
just ambling right past without realizing what a revelation it is.
So Rams crazy dumplings. You get twelve dumplings seventeen bucks
and they serve it in a pool of homemade chili oil.
I would order the pork with Chid's dumplings and you
get this little sort of sweet vinegary kick as well.

(04:21):
And the whole thing, particularly that pool of chili oil,
It just enhances the dumplings. They are just so delicious.
The other thing very quickly Jack. In terms of hidden gems,
this won't be a hidden gem for locals. There's a
place called Pie and Pickle. You probably know that Wellington
is obsessed by cheese scones. They are besoted by them,

(04:44):
and at Pie and Teple they do these amazing bird
puppy cheese SCons and they serve them with a pickle
on the side. Really good.

Speaker 2 (04:53):
Yeah, ah, that's so yeah, it sounds like that is fantastic.
I mean yeah, I always think that the Kai in
Wellington and the coffee obviously there's a bit of a standout.
Now there's a bit of a there's a big rather
Disney exhibition in town at mimone.

Speaker 3 (05:10):
Yes, I'm a bit of a Disney freak and if
you're into animation, this exhibition is for you. So the
showcasing one hundred years of art from the Walt Disney
Animation Studios, which of course began with the Mickey as
Steamboat Willie in nineteen twenty eight. So there's a century
of stuff there. There's about six hundred works on display

(05:31):
and it goes right through the catalog from Steamboat Willie, Fantasia, Frozen.
There's even artwork there from Disney's latest hit Moulana two.
So from your old school sketches to computer generated wonders.
It really is quite a cool exhibition. Quite cool for
Wellington to have it, actually, Jack and it's on until

(05:53):
July at Takeina the Convention Center.

Speaker 2 (05:55):
Oh very good. Tell us about the Seal Coast Safari.

Speaker 3 (06:00):
Yes, I loved this, so if you want to, haven't
we dabbled with Wellington's wild Side. There is this fantastic
tour that takes you over the hilltops of Marketer and
then down onto the south coast to admire that vast
colony of New Zealand fur seals snoozing and swimming and
sunbathing on the box. It's a real boys club down there, actually,
because the seals of Red Rocks are either juveniles waiting

(06:25):
their time to mate or elderly males past their prime.
The females hanging out around the coast of Kate Palliser.
So yeah, it's like this old gentleman's club with a
few young things splashing about. But yeah, such a gnally
little coastline.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
Yeah, I once stayed in it, like, got an Airbnb
round there and yeah really rete my gosh, it was
just it was amazing though, kind of being parked up
on Cook Straight like that. But road access is really
tricky getting around to Red Rocks. So how did you
get there? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (06:57):
That's the coastal erosion has made vehical access a lot
more restricted. But on the safari, the really good thing
about it is. You also get to see the historic
Terrafeiti station, so you drive over that private farm land
to get down simpleair head down to Red Rocks. The
thing about Terrafeti Station, Jack, if this blew me away,

(07:18):
that farm has been operating since eighteen forty three, so
it's one of our oldest bars, one of our biggest
sheep stations. But also reintroduced Kiwi to the hills surrounding
the property, which is very cool. And also you get
to rendezvous with west Wind Farm, which is Meridians When
the farm the third most productive wind farm in the world,

(07:40):
so you can get right up both with those giant
turbines and apparently Meridion reckon one turbine can power a
thousand homes, that's how productive it is because of that
funneling effect on the cook straight. There's all sorts of
elements to that Seal Coast Safari. It's a banger of

(08:00):
a tour.

Speaker 2 (08:01):
Yeah, sounds fantastic. Hey, very good, Thank you, Mike. Like
you say, lots of things to detain us and keep
us up beat about life in the capital, which I
think has probably been a little unfairly beaten up on lately.
Thank you. So much for make sure all of those
tips are up on the News Talk's he'db website

Speaker 1 (08:17):
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