Eat Well(ington)

Hell in Invercargill (11 February 2009)

2009-03-24T19:53:00.013+13:00

Hopefully I'm not going to be labelled a one trick pony by writing another pizza review, and to be honest, I set out deliberately not wanting to have to write another pizza review, but some things just weren't meant to be.

We had arrived in Invercargill at about 2pm, and after booking into our accommodation, decided we wanted to get something to eat. During our South Island holiday, we had decided to avoid any franchise or chain restaurants, and try to eat in small, locally owned restaurants.

Heading out of our backpackers, passing Hell's Pizza a few doors down, we wandered down one of the main roads, looking for somewhere to eat.

Admiring the town's 80's style Christmas decorations, we came across a Chinese restaurant, and had a quick look at the menu... it looked promising, a handfull of vegetarian options, but we decided to keep walking, and see what else was available. It was still pretty early, so we thought we'd have plenty of options.

Crossing the road, we came across a typical Kiwi High Street cafe, full of meat pies, steak and chips and sausages. We decided to pass, and walked towards a Korean restaurant nearby. It was closed. Crap.

We tried another street... Every restaurant or fast food restaurant we passed was either closed or closing... Crap... so we quickly double backed to the Chinese restaurant we first saw... closed... Crap.

By this time, it was about 4 pm, and it seemed like the town was closing for the day, and we were getting hungrier and hungrier...

So it came down to Hell's Pizza...

I was surprised that the restaurant was empty, considering that there was nowhere else to eat. The restaurant was large, compared tot he other Hell's outlets I've been to, and there was even a small number of seats and tables available. We ordered a double size Underworld ($16.90) and a snack size Underworld ($8.90).

The pizzas arrived after about 15 minutes, and they were okay... a little lower in standard compared to the one's I'm used to getting in Wellington, but tasty enough... nowhere near as good as Pepe's Pizza, but pretty much what we expected.

So... ratings...

How long would I walk to eat there: We had walked about for at least 90 minutes, but it wasn't really worth that sort of investment, time wise... it was a one minute walk from our backpacker's, so that's about right. Rating: 1 minute
Free water: None, as is normal at a takeaway, so it's not fair that I rate this aspect.
Decor: The largest Hell's Pizza I've been into, with some comfy sofas and a small number of seats available. Rating for Hell's Pizza: 8/10 Rating for Invercargill: 5/10 (The five points for having the great 80's style Christmas decorations up in mid-February!)
Vegetarian options: Okay, nothing special, nothing unique (the same as other Hell's franchises) Rating: 7/10 Rating for Invercargill: 2/10
Quick service: Pretty good, pretty friendly. No complaints. Rating: 8/10 Rating for Invercargill: 3/10 (Very rude staff at the backpacker's)

Three word summary: Saved the day.

How much?:
Total cost for one gourmet double and one gourmet snack, about $26.

Details:

Hell's Pizza
10 Dee Street
Invercargill
Telephone: 03 215 0666
website: https://hellpizza.co.nz/#i=12

Delivery, takeaway and limited dine in.
Open from 11 am until at least 11 pm, 7 days a week. Thankfully.

Pepe's Pizza Parlour - Lower Hutt, January 6th (or was it the 8th?), 2009

2009-01-24T10:50:00.015+13:00

Getting pizza in New Zealand has changed a lot in the last 30 odd years... Pizza Hut used to be the only pizza Restaurant in the country, with their rather large, iconically shaped restaurants and their rather large prices. Now they are a shell of their former selves, reduced to takeaway or delivery outlets only... places like Eagle Boys and Pizza Haven came and went, and Hell Pizza and Hungry Kiwis' Pizza battling it out with them and Domino's for domination of the take away or delivery pizza market.

One Pizza restaurant which has been around ever since I can remember (and that's 25 to 30 years or so) is Pepe's Pizza Parlour in Lower Hutt, opposite Hutt Hospital.

I have no idea whether it's the same owner, but the pizzas remain the same... fantastic!

Our most recent visit was pretty typical of all of our previous visits: It was a little but busier than normal, as it was the first day they were open after the New Year holiday, and obviously people were hanging out for a decent pizza, without having to pay a snob tax at a trendy cafe.

The menu (which is on their website) has a lot of variety, even for Pescitarians like ourselves, plus the option of having pizzas made to order. Some of the pizzas on the menu elicit "I'm not really sure that works" type of reactions, but I guess they do work for some people.

I ordered the gourmet Vegetarian, and my companion ordered a regular Seafood. ($16 and $14.50, respectively, for the regular size.) Service was friendly and efficient... it wasn't an over the top, false friendliness or 'where everyone knows your name' friendly, but honest, we really appreciate your business, thanks, type friendly.

The pizzas arrived, and they were delicious as usual... pretty much like the pizzas you get at a place specialising in gourmet pizzas, but at prices similar to those of Hell (ie: at a slight premium over the stuff from Pizza Hut or Domino's). The bases were nice and thin, with just the right amount of topping: not overflowing with double cheese, with a cheese encrusted crust, nor 10% to 25% less topping than before, nor do they elicit a "I though pizzas were supposed to have stuff on top of them" reaction. A good, honest pizza, at a good honest price.

So... ratings...

How long would I walk to eat there: Considering I live about five minutes walk away from Pepe's, I'd have to say "Five minutes", however a few times I've been in Wellington city, and had a craving for pizza, and driven out to Lower Hutt, especially to go to Pepe's. If Pepe's were based in Wellington, I'd happily walk for 20 or 25 minutes just to go there. Ratings: 5 minutes (in reality), 2o minutes (theoretically)
Free water: This was the only hiccup of he evening, as the waiter forgot to bring us a pitcher of water as requested, however this was no big deal. The water was stored in a fridge, so it was nice and cold. Good clean Hutt tap water (I assume) at it's best. Rating: 8/10
Decor: Probably hasn't changed since the 1980s, but it's clean and spacious, yet cosy. Generally I'm not a fan of TV screens in restaurants, but at least it is possible to sit where it's not possible to see the screen. Rating: 8/10
Vegetarian options: Enough variety to be able to return and try different pizzas (Take note, Hungy Kiwi), plus one could have a pizza custom made. Of course, whether it's suitable for a particular vegetarian would depend on the type of vegetarian they are, but for our purposes, it's fine. Rating: 10/10
Quick service: I'm a bit fussy, I guess, but I hate being rushed, and I also hate having to wait forever for my food, when I'm eating out, especially if I'm eating out with company. Waiting staff probably hate people like me. I have no problems with the speed of the service here. Rating: 10/10

Three word summary: Fantastic. Eat there.

How much?:
Total cost for two regular size pizzas (one from the regular menu,one from the gourmet menu), just over $30.

Details:

Pepe's Pizza Parlour
731c High Street
Lower Hutt
(accross the road from Hutt Hospital, next to Burger Wisconsin)

Telephone 04 9391810
Website: www.pepespizza.co.nz

Dine in, take away and delivery
Open in the evenings

Lunch: Fujiama Cafe and Takeaways

2009-01-21T21:45:00.004+13:00

Situated at 138 Lambton Qy at street level and above, this unpretentious little eaterie is a favourite haunt of throngs of 'suited' public servants and bureaucratic drones who work in the area. A few political luminaries from The Behive can also be spotted there, in season. The cafe hides in behind a sushi counter that offers all the usual delicacies, and there is a dining room upstairs. I don't go there for the sushi, even though it looks fine. The restaurant behind is graced by a typical Chinese bain marie buffet offering standard food court fare that all looks quite acceptable. Six choices for so many dollars, take away or eat in - all piled up, a confusion of flavours and colours leaching into one another. I don't go there for the multi-choice chaos either.

No, I go for the photograph template menu. Just point and quote a number. A busy bevy of oriental chefs in the rear kitchen are frantically creating NZ-Sino delicacies for the hungry pinstriped hoardes. The meals are not flamboyant in presentation, they are not ethnically authentic, but they are surprisingly well flavoured. My favourite is #1 Prawn and Wonton Soup - a large bowl for $9.90. This is a scintillating, steaming concoction of chicken broth, laced with steamed bok choy leaves, 6 or so large hand-made steamed pork mince wontons, and 6 or 7 medium size prawn cutlets. All that is missing is a few drops of aromatic sesame oil to finish, but thankfully there is no superfluous mat of egg noodles to provide unnecessary padding and reduce the amount of 'real' ingredients required. The chicken broth, probably not obtained from simmering bones, is not salt infested like many. I have other preferences from the menu (like #26 Chicken or Beef Fried Noodles at $8.90) but the soup is my favourite.

Other Fujiama characteristics:

Seating - very functional, not particularily comfortable, plywood benches (you are only supposed to be there for about 45 minutes, so who cares)

Service - fast and basic, no need for a smile

Decor - utilitarian, not aparently part of a conceived plan.

Not licensed to serve alcohol, no espresso machine.

Food - all good.

...and now that you all know, I'll have to find somewhere else.

brunch: Maranui Café, Lyall Bay

2009-01-16T08:12:00.004+13:00

You know the drill - you pick up your peeps from the airport and you want impress them with unbeatable delights of Wellington on Summer's morn. So where? We were busting to try the café at the surf club in Lyall Bay. Maranui Café, because, it's the Maranui Surf Lifesaving Club - well du-uh.

At not even 10 in the morning the place was rocking - matrons with macs, mothers with monsters, men with muesli. We grabbed menus and headed for the deck area - no point in being indoors when there's finally a day you want to be outdoors. Besides, there was a howling gale of noise inside - wooden floors make cleaning sense, perhaps even fashion sense, but from a audio perspective they're a nonsense.

Coffee arrived quick smart, and the food was there a moment or two later - a great service given the throngs. I ordered the 'Toasted Beach Bagel with Grilled Haloumi and Roasted Tomato' $9 and a sliver or two of avocado. Served with a generous sprig of basil, which immediately attempted an escape assisted by the breeze. The food presented was exactly as it should be, and, apparently, according to our peeps, clearly this is not Auckland, as there was whopping slab of haloumi.

Other bagels were consumed on our table - with 'Smoked Salmon, Cream Cheese and Fresh Dill' $9, and with 'Cream Cheese and Rasberry Jam' $6. An 'Eggs Benedict - Two Poached Free Range Eggs on Toasted Organic Sourdough and Hollandaise with Smoked Salmon' $15 also appeared to vanish without any real issues. An orange juice or two, noice, really noice. Honestly, not a word of comment, just sounds of satisfaction.

9/10.

Big advice: Not for Nana, it's up a steep set of stairs.

Points off: Noisy inside.

Points on: Prompt, friendly service, despite being clearly busy. Food well presented and did not appear rushed out. Sunscreen available (and offered) for outdoor diners. The view over Lyall Bay. And they're serious, but not solemn.

Parking: Complimentary sandblasting available some days.

Maranui Café
Lyall Parade
Lyall Bay
Wellington
04 387 2237

Goodness, that was some postprandial nap...

2009-01-16T07:55:00.002+13:00

*YAWN* Hello everybody.

Hmmm, must be time for a feed. Now where shall we go...?

lunch: Hotel Bristol, Cuba Mall

2005-07-25T18:40:00.001+12:00

I'm not much given to pub lunches. It's not that they're necessarily bad, just that it's tempting to slip into something more comfortable (like a lime and lager) and the next thing you know it's not 4 in the afternoon, it's 4 in the morning. And all kinds of shrill people want explanations.

So, early one cold afternoon the Bristol's blackboard sung its siren song and I went in like a lamb to the slaughter. Hey - it was cold out and my tuck box back at the office only had reconstituted food on offer. Yum-ee.

If you don't know the Bristol, it's one of those (con)fusion places offering a comfortably bricky-woodgrainy-openfire ambiences (like so many establishments in the Capital) coupled with laddish rugby sport themed changing sheds greatest hits gambling lounge...come dressed as you are, it's always wrong. I think what is really needed is a purple light. Behind the bar is a Methuselah sized Steinlager, and standard sized bottles of champagne. And being very Capital, the bar sports a industrial strength coffee machine. Of course.

The blackboard seduced me with the simple-but-difficult-to-do-well scrambled egg on toast with a hash brown. Scrambled egg. There's a continuum for scrambled egg - from cloud shaped, delicate triumphs through to yellow leather yellow leather.

What actually arrived was a goodly serving more towards the clouds than the leather, gently sitting on lightly toasted bread, with a (I think) deep fried hash brown, and a small bowl of tomato sauce. How uncomplicated. I've had good meals in the Bristol before. From what I could see of my few fellow diners they seem to do a good lunch as well.

Big advice - don't fall into the lunchtime liquor lounge. Or do fall in. Just pick your moments for both.

8/10

Points off: bit nippy for a winter day, overly thumpy bass for lunch time music.

Points on: good sized serving, quiet enough to have a quiet lunch discussion, sports on tv to avoid boredom waiting for food to arrive.

Parking - usual downtown horrors.

Scrambled eggs on toast with a hash brown - $3.50

Hotel Bristol
131-135 Cuba Street
Wellington
385 1147

fff: Burger King, Porirua

2005-07-23T12:31:00.001+12:00

On a bright and sunny winter morning, there are few better locations to explore the grease trap side of yourself than BK, Porirua. Don't you be pretending you don't got a grease trap side of your bad self, we can see the telltale glow on the corners of your lips. And at your age that sure isn't 'puppy fat'.

So, cut to the chase; BK. We abandoned all pretence of healthy living and ordered us up a skin load of whopper, chips, and carbonated syrupy water. Er, no, it wasn't a wine from the dreaded Lombardi vinyard, it was coke.

I think the BK buns for the whopper are made from something more resembling bread than the equivalent McD offering - is there a research science team out there with time on their hands? Anyway, the nett result is we had a pleasant interlude in the sun. Stuff the calories - if this restaurant was located in a more o-la-la neighbourhood, with a better view than the 100 acre ~~wood~~ car park you'd be thrilled to guzzle your latte and absorb the ambience.

Big advice: Family friendly. Sunny mornings - it’s all good. It’s BK - get in the vibe of what it is - delight in the pop-ness of it all - it’s cost you thousands more to go to buy an Andy Warhol.

5/10

Points off: If you woke up there - well, if you woke up there take an extra few points off in the first instance; but if you woke up there you wouldn’t know where you were. Could be BK anywhere. God help you, you could’ve been warped to Auckland. But then, having been warped you would fit in. Everything is clean, but slightly sticky, slimey, something.

Points on: Employing people with limited other opportunities - reflecting the better side of New Zealand in the 21st century. The sales guy talking us out of what we ordered into something essentially the same, but cheaper. Bottomless soft drinks - shame the coffee isn’t the same. Fast and uncomplicated.

Parking: It’s got the 100 acre car park outside the windows.

Two whopper combos, $ 15.50

Burger King
7 Semple Street
Porirua
04 238 2193

brunch: Strawberry Fare, Kent Terrace

2005-07-17T19:07:00.000+12:00

De rigueur to the dessert darlings, Strawberry Fare somehow manages to walk down the tightrope between being an urbane and sophisticated evening haunt of the theatre set, and being on the set of afternoon tea with Agatha Christie. I don’t know if buildings can have past lives, but, I just can’t stop feeling the maitre d’ could be best played by Vincent Price. There isn't a maitre d'. This is somehow not comforting.

The great thing about Strawberry Fare is they do brunch until 3, at least on Sundays. How adult. Not a huge menu (it’s a dessert restaurant, kakkhead) but all the stalwarts. We decided to have the same - corn fritters and a skinny latte. Simple. Fast(ish) - we were there at 2 and were starving.

With an upstairs kitchen the serving staff have an opportunity to work off any thighs built up on the evening menu. The food arrived - a stack of three good sized fritters, with half a lightly fried tomato, some rashers of bacon, and a tiny bowl of salsa. Would’ve been good if the salsa was warm - cold day outside. The tomato was sweet and delicious. The fritters were very politically correct and I added a snap more salt and pepper - just a little on the bland side. On the plus side, not leathery or overly stodgy. Corn fritters are one of those great really easy to whip up dishes that are hard to make really well, consistently. Strawberry Fare’s version definitely had ‘order again’ status. Lattes were hot (yay!) and served in bowls a little on the small side (urh!).

Big advice: Family friendly if your ruggers are house trained. Really hard to find a better place to take your mum and the grandkids for a civilised, adult outing. If your ruggers are apt to be vile, do us all a favour and stay home wearing your ugg boots.

7/10

Points off: Pallid (but not at all unpleasant) dining experience - what was with that Frank Sinatra music? Not really evocative of a cruisy Sunday afternoon. Maybe it’s hard to create ambience on a Wellington winter afternoon. It felt cold, even though it wasn’t. Lively up yourselves.

Points on: Beautiful presentation. Warm plates - fritters are sweaty little creatures and there’s few things less attractive than glutinous, sweaty fritters. Well, I suppose, apart from what eating them does to your otherwise svelte body. Nice web site.

Parking: Almost suburbia, usually not too difficult to find something in the Mount Vic foothills.

Two corn fritters, two latte bowls, $ 34.00

Strawberry Fare
25 Kent Terrace (just up Kent from the Embassy Theatre)
Wellington
385 2551
strawberry fare web site (with their menu)

dinner: Tasty Restaurant, Victoria Street

2005-07-15T17:48:00.000+12:00

One of Wellington’s best kept Chinese food secrets. Tasty is quite hard to find, hidden in behind the BNZ on the corner of Victoria and Manners. Even when you get there, Tasty often looks closed. That’s just a ruse (often very effective) to keep diners out.

Four of us, starving adults, attacked an almost entirely empty Tasty on a Friday night. Service was sufficient, and could’ve easily collapsed into over-served. We wanted to catch up with an old friend and didn’t want to be over-waited on, we just wanted food and conversation and that we got aplenty.

We ordered combination fried rice (no shrimp, please), beef with spring onions, chicken on noodles, fried mixed vegetables, a couple of bowls of streamed rice, and a pot of oolong. The mixed vegetables were particularly good. Simply good rustic fare - much the same as you’d find in any reasonable restaurant in rural China. Always a good sign when the only other diners are from the Chinese community. Authentic.

Lots of laughs later, including our friend experimenting with Indian love calls in the echoing hard walls, we were done - filled to our substantial capacity. I’ve eaten there many times in the last few years - lunch and dinner - always good, always room, perhaps Wellington’s best kept Chinese food secret. Sichuan fans, check it out.

8/10

Points off: Hard surfaces makes sounds zing. Just refilling the teapot makes the tea strong and bitter - not very palatable to most western tastes - better to start from fresh each time. Plastic chopsticks - they might be more hygienic i.e. dishwasher friendly but they’re horrible to use. Invest in the stainless steel ones, or the bamboo disposable ones.

Points on: Family friendly. Authentic. Consistently good food. They do great lunches too. Avoiding those hideous peppermints individually wrapped in plastic - they're hideous. The owner's three year old daughter demonstrating her Coke(tm) top spinning device - live entertainment and great food - oh yeah, it's all good.

Parking: Parking building down Victoria, and if you’re there early in the evening, there’s one in Willis. Rarely a problem, and if it is, make the effort.

$ 45.80

Tasty Restaurant
3/120 Victoria Street
801 0168 - bookings (at this point) probably only needed if there's a squad of you.

ff: Pizza King, Karori

2005-07-14T22:04:00.000+12:00

How come this is a ff, and not a fff? Answer: Pizza King is an independent pizza (fast food) place working inside the shell of fff (fast food franchise) Pizza Haven who got taken over by Pizza Doo-dah. They then got nasty and things went from dealing with bully boy b*stards more concerned with profit than with food to the next step... The practical upshot is suddenly the packaging isn't as nice to eat as the pizza, which is how it used to be in the old days. Nowadays there's more of an emphasis on producing a pizza with a topping. Seems uncomplicated, but it seems food is the first victim when a food war breaks out.

Just down the road from where I lived in Melbourne there was a tiny, family run, hole-in-the-wall kind of pizza place. Their pizza boxes were deeper to accommodate the depth of the topping. Their pizzas were something to be proud of. Maybe I'm exceptional, but to me the base is just something to hold the topping. The topping is not a garnish for the base.

I'm hoping Pizza King will become that. They're on the way, but still have a way to go. We had the Hawaiian, Supreme, and Italiano; and two boxes of oven baked chips. The chips had a bit of a spicy tang, and they were really hot. We managed to score some excellent burnt gums in the car going home. The pizzas went down very well - something of a shadow of the Melbourne variety, but it was agreed, 'heaps better than before'.

How to take a better photograph. Line everything up. Focus. Take a step forward. Focus if necessary. Make the photo. How to make a better pizza. Get the base. Add ingredients up to the price. Focus. Take step forward, add more ingredients. Charge an extra couple of dollars. Bake in a wood fired oven. Make a pizza to be proud of. It's not hard. It's not common.

Big advice: Deliver or pick up. If you go for pick up then give 'em a call so the food is ready when you get there so you don't chill out. Try to figure out what (on the King's Gourmet) '$2.00 extra per large pizza and only available on a medium base' actually means. Don't ask about the different bases unless your idea of a good time is solving su doku. We tried. Made no sense at all.

7/10

Points off: At 8:00 on a miserable Karori night, just going home from work, waiting for the pizza is freezing. Something to read, something to watch, something to do while we wait would be nice.

Points on: Thank you for being an independent pizza place - please love it and let the love show in your food. Thanks for not spending zillions on packaging, for the fridge magnets, for making food hot enough to burn us (almost unheard of in the fff world) and for being open at 8:00 on a Thursday night in Karori.

Parking: suburbia. Usually no problem. Slip into the bottle store across the road, order a pizza pick up and grab some beer - oops - [thinks: it's Karori] - Chianti, laugh until you snort with the locals, and then snag the pizza on the way out.

Three large pizzas, two oven baked chips, $ 32.75.

Pizza King
102 Karori Road (just a notch along the road into darkest Karori from the fire station.)
Karori
476 7611 - 0800 292 292

fff: Subway, Lambton Square

2005-07-08T22:20:00.000+12:00

Subway - one of the less odious fast food franchises as far as I'm concerned, and their food's the same everywhere, right? Or, ... is it? [Key organ chord]

Moseyed in for six inches of glistening pleasure for a late lunch. It's clean, it's tidy, it's fff. So what's the difference?

First, there's some choice in the construction - I had the Italian Salami doo-dah - when I’m gobsmacked for choice I depend on being able to read and interpret the menu - ideally without feeling stressed by the staff wanting me to make a decision ‘like totally now’.

I think all fff establishments are set up the same way - menus up behind the counter, so that you have to look up past the staff. What is with that? The answer is, this allows your jaw to drop, not only at the ridiculous range of food, bizarre complexity of pricing, and hypersharpened, drop dead gorgeous, drop shadow photo with no grease spots; but because the drool in your mouth can now ooze down your throat. This Pavlovian trigger makes you think you’re hungrier than you are and you order up large. And of course, if you’re exceptionally dorky or drooly, the hidden camera captures you on video for use in staff training or better, the end of year xmas knees-up.

But I digress. Back to the issue at hand. Did you know the Subway in Lambton is owned by the nice Caltex people? S’true.

By the way, enquiring minds want to know, does a 6” contain less fat than the equivalent 15cm? Why’s it not in metric? Doubt if you went to Caltex they’d sell you a pint of milk.

Was that a digression? Any way, at the Lambton Subway, today, there was a small glimmer of radical behaviour. The usual deal, as you know is, pick out your label and then add some salady bits. “Y’wanna lettuce, tomato etc etc?” My standard response is, “Yes, please, (my mother brought me up proper) I’d like lots of everything please.”

It’s pathetic, I know, but it’s the salady bits I really want. “Y’wanna pickle, olives, jalapenos?” “Yes, please, I’d like lots of everything please.”

Guess what! In Caltex’s farthest flung corner of their empire, in a tiny Subway, in the far back corner of one of the most jaded shopping precincts of the capital of a tiny island nation in the biggest ocean … the young lass did it! She put in extra olives and jalapeno. Something probably happened next but all I could see was the heavens opening and through the flame teased clouds came a warrior goddess who carried me off towards Valhalla while heavenly hosts …

No, wait, it was just a 6” sub... $4.95 for lunch.

6/10
points off: oil companies selling food - sorry, it’s just wrong. Every Subway has the same pictures. If you died in one, and were resurrected in another you wouldn’t notice you’d moved. The sharp stainless steel panel in front of the checkout - why?

points on: extra olives and jalapeno.

Parking - varies according to time of day, don’t get locked into your Valhalla moment, the parking nazis are particularly ferocious in this neck of the woods.

Subway,
Lambton Square,
Ground Floor. 472 0714

lunch: Wellington Hospital Cafeteria

2005-07-05T18:54:00.000+12:00

It's a pleasant relief to discover cafeteria food isn't always as hideous as portrayed in the movies. Today the Wellington Hospital Cafeteria included butter chicken on the menu. The chicken was tender and an attractive golden (buttery) colour. It was lightly spiced - probably safest for a hospital environment - but by no means bland. I especially appreciated the inclusion of coriander - so easy to exclude the little touches when serving a mass of humanity on a budget. The rice was a little on the moist side for my liking but, again, this is serving for hundreds. The warm naan bread was very acceptable.

If butter chicken isn't your meal of choice there was also an interesting looking penne with roast vegetable sauce, a lamb with demi-glaze dish, pizza, quiche, and salads - easily as good a selection as in central. Lamb with demi-glaze! In the Hospital Cafeteria!

I was struck by how many comforting touches there were for a hard working staff member, stressed family or friend, or even a patient who's managed an escape. The small things make all the difference in a world where people are bored, frightened, tired, or sick. And sometimes, all of the above.

The service was warmer than I've experienced in many of the more la-te-dah places, with the staff managing to smile just a little despite obviously working a long hard day. The cafeteria is open for breakfasts as well.

Indoor or outdoor eating, and actually, it was quite fun watching the churn of people swirling through - there's some (real) plants, some art (for sale) on the wall, some music (well, a radio) - they're doing a good job. The furniture is pseudo-danish wood grain, thankfully not formica and chrome.

I did have a couple of nervous moments as I broke up the naan and ate using my hands - omigod - it's the hospital - do you know where your hands have been? Everyone else seemed comfortable so I thought I could be too. It was also reassuring to note a senior microbiologist leaving with a takeaway lunch as I walked in. Hey - if he'll eat there I can.

There was another nervous moment when my coffee arrived with a flat stick for stirring. I wondered (briefly) if this was part of the hospital's recycling programme and it was actually a tongue depressor. In case you're now wondering, it is. They take 'em from the used ones upstairs and use 'em a second time for inspections, kakkhead.

Very pleasant butter chicken on rice with warm naan bread : $8.50 latte $3.50 - this was the large one as 'we don't have bowls'. So why's it on the sign? Another fine example of hospital signage I guess.

Big advice: Take the bus (12 from Lambton Quay/Courtenay Place), or get an ambulance. The parking is a disgrace. Get used to the idea that a cross section of humanity is going to be dining using plastic cutlery with you. If this offends you, pretend you're in a Pieter Bruegel painting. You'd fit right in.

8/10
points off: shamefully abysmal parking, signage throughout the hospital by the same person who designed the parking - fire the mongrel!
points on: big points on for being perhaps the only place in town where you can show up wearing your jim-jams and moth eaten slippers, any time after 7 in the morning, and not look out of place! How cool is that? Clean and tidy despite the churn of people, having a more interesting selection of reasonably priced food than many of the central cafes, having comfort food and coffee and proving it can be done well in a cafeteria. 'Onya chefs and team.

Wellington Public Hospital Cafeteria
Riddiford Street
Wellington
They don't take bookings, it's the hospital. Kakkhead.

brunch: Eva Dixon's Cafe at the Zoo

2005-07-03T15:05:00.000+12:00

Occasionally, you'll find a restaurant (usually Chinese) with a fish tank. From my perspective, this is all good - something to look at while I wait. Besides, lively, brightly coloured fish are supposed to attract positive ch'i - good feng shui.

What I liked most about Eva Dixon's is they have a large biotope aquaria dedicated to African cichlids - which unlike the typical flaccid goldfish - were busy defending territory, checking out potential mates, digging out nesting spots - genuinely lively. And so was Eva Dixon's - Sunday brunch for us.

Luckily I'd done the haka and insisted the family drag itself from bed to be there at the obscenely early hour of 9:30. Turned out no-one complained - Eva's was starting to rock by the time we got there and there was 12 of us! The waiting staff were very accomplished - tolerant and friendly without being excessively matey.

Tolerant was important to us as one of our number decided to go into lion mode, eschewing those newly gained walking skills and crawled around the floor in full growly mode. Coffees arrived - bowl nicely warmed - nothing worse than a lukewarm latte in the rank cold bowl so frequently encountered here in the capital.

I ordered the vege benedict - poached eggs with tomato and avocado. I toyed with the idea of getting a side of mushrooms, but this was a new place for me and I didn't know how big the servings would be. Turns out mushies would've been all good - not that the serving was overly small, just that there's not that much in a couple of eggs, a tomato and a quarter of avo. The poached eggs were done to perfection (I can't cook poached eggs to save myself) and sat on gently grilled tomatoes on the crisp rounds of toast. The meal was presented very well although I was surprised to see the avocado was served with the scab ot the stem still attached. What the hell - if it was a slice of fresh pineapple with the skill on I wouldn't think twice, and often in China I had the chicken head served as a garnish (I assume) along with the rest of the bird.

Waiting time was quite acceptable. Others at the table ordered the Scrambled Eggs Royale - a bit pretentious given the context, but a good serving of scrambled eggs and salmon, served on a dark bread. A couple of eggs florentine (I swear that's a Wellington signature dish) and a pancakes with banana and bacon were also quickly polished off. More coffees and we were ready for the winter again. I note from the bill there was a 'Barbie' and a 'Bob' consumed somewhere on the table - I'm assuming this was the drinks the kids guzzled.

The downsides: all hard surfaces make hearing a bit of a challenge - but then our crew have lungs so any fantasies we or any of the other tables had about soothing into Sunday needed to be revised.

It was cold - hey, it's winter outside - but the place never warmed up even with a herd of rugby supporters and the rest of humanity gobbling down food. Come back in summer it'd be lovely.

This could also be an upside: the zoo gift shop is next door. Cherie helped me manage to get out with only buying a cute toy lion for my lover; you might not be as lucky. This is great for the kids who can get in touch with their inner animal while you find your wallet. The lemur toys were also cute.

Upsides: Good parking (apparently this is not always the case). Good business - when the herd of ruggers turned up the waiting team magic'd up the usually outdoor tables and folding chairs and somehow found (comfortable) space for another couple of dozen people.

I think very kid/parent friendly. You can't bear kids? Well, go elsewhere - it's the zoo, kakkhead. The waiters seemed to manage our little roarer very well. There's a kids menu. Chips for breakfast - sure why not? You know as well as I do if you'd stop trying to convince yourself you're on Atkins (and you're not, you're just a snob) you'd rather have that than the hoity-toity crap you're pretending to enjoy. There's an excellent cage with toys for kids to play in, on a more sunny day the kids could go outside and play on the grass; and, where else could you sit, have a latte, and watch the meerkats watching you? No, kakkhead, they're not on the menu. Nine adults, three kids, one barbie, one bob. $188.50. You do the sums.

Big advice: Sundays are their busy day. Get there early. Get used to the idea that the gift shop next door has irresistably cute fluffy animals - it's for a good cause. A really happy combination of good food, good coffee and kid friendly. Like McDonalds, except for adults.

Overall rating: 9/10
Points off: cold, noisy
Points on: menu readable without glasses (just), kid friendly drinks cabinet (low, so they can see to pick their own)

Eva Dixon's Cafe at the Zoo
200 Daniell Street
Newtown
Wellington
(04) 389 6222 note: they don't do bookings - be early