Wellington Cheap Eats

It's a miserable, blustery, rainy kind of Wellington Autumn day and I'm feeling kinda blue. Time for some soul food! I order the wings ($10 for 3), Level 3, and the shaker fries ($4). While I wait I order a craft beer from Goldings then chat with the lovely manager Ruby and have a laugh over a silly order she received recently. The perpetrator was elderly and had come off a cruise ship. Enough said. Ten minutes fly by and my food is ready. For $14 in total, I get 3 crispy mahogany-coloured wings, a good sized portion of fries (not too many, not too few - just right) and three slices of pickle. The fries are delightfully seasoned, crisp on the outside, steamy and tender within. The chipotle mayo is decadently creamy with a hint of smoky spice. I bite into a wing. Crunch! Crackle! Like the sandwich, the crunchiness of the coating contrasts delightfully with the tenderness of the meat. At $3.33 per wing they are a little pricier than those $1 wings offered at various pubs on

It's a dreary, drizzly Wellington evening, the wind chills me to my bones. Hot chicken is the perfect way to warm up, and where better than Soul Shack, home to (in my humble opinion) the best chicken in town. From modest beginnings in Porrirua, to the Reading foodcourt, and now (post Reading closure) located in a food truck in Leeds Street. The cool thing about their new location is that you can purchase a drink from their neighbour, the funky craft beer bar Goldings Free Dive and dine in. Goldings has a great selection of craft beers and an impressive and reasonably priced international wine list, and is always a good time. This Wednesday night, as usual, it is packed to the gunnals. Huddling under the eaves of the caravan, I order my favourite Hot Chicken Sandwich. There are a range of spice levels to choose from, ranging from 1 (mild) to 4 (lethal). I select level 3, as usual. The level 4 spice mixture contains California Reaper peppers, one of the hottest peppers fit for hu

I've been cleaning all morning and have developed a gargantuan appetite and burned a lot of calories, so I can treat myself to a curry and a cheeky garlic naan. We arrive to the restaurant and receive a frosty reception. We take our seats and they are very comfortable, cushy pleather. The decor is clean and realitively modern, in earthy shades, although it remains unchanged since the first time I visited in my second year of university, and that was a while ago! The music is funky Bollywood and is cheerful and catchy, though a shade too loud (or maybe it's just my sensitive hearing - I often find restaurant music to be too loud and wonder if it's just me). I order my old faithful: Chicken Tikka Masala - Indian Hot. From experience, Tulsi's Indian Hot is a lot milder than its other competitors so accordingly I emphasise my desire for fire. Tikka Masala is not authentically Indian in any way, shape or form. Rumour has it that it was invented by a Pakistani chef in Glas

On this cold, wet Wellington day I am craving the comfort and familiarity. To warm the cockles of my hungry heart, noodle soup is the perfect choice. And what better than the eponymous dish at The Oaks Satay Noodle House, a veritable institution which I have haunted since my teenage years. I ascend the stairs and go inside. It hasn't changed a bit. The decor is cozy and sparsely decorated, a big picture of Ankor Wat lines the back wall. The premises are clean, and chilled water is available for free. The one downside is that you require a key to use the bathroom, but it is a small price to pay for delicious authentic food at a very reasonable price. The service is friendly and our food arrives promptly. I take a sip of the soup. Mmmmm, creamy! The subtle flavour of peanut coats my tongue. It is slightly sweet but not cloying, as some of the cheaper satay is wont to be. Surprisingly, today's offering contains a token piece of bok choi, a deviation from the satay soup of yor

Last night I received an email from my affiliate  FoodNinja  informing me that April's partner restaurant of the month is Origami Japanese Restaurant. Located on upper Cuba Street, they have operated since 2015 and do some of the better Japanese food in Wellington. I'd place them in the Top 5 easily. I place a delivery order using the easy-to-use website and eagerly await my food. It arrives well within the estimated delivery time (about 35 minutes), slightly worse for wear. Apparently sushi, especially topped with mayo, does not travel so well. It is visually very appealing, but they are a bit stingy on the pickled ginger, and it that dyed pink stuff that costs about $3 a packet from your local supermarket. At $15 for six pieces it is one of the pricer sushis around, notwithstanding the seafood offerings from Tatsushi, or from Origami's a la carte sushi menu. I take a bite. Umai! As the Japanese would say. The salmon is fresh and tender, and to offset the creamy fatt

It's a lazy weekend lunchtime and we are feeling peckish, with a particular hankering for pizza. Unfortunately Pizza Pomodoro does not deliver at lunchtime (someone should start a petition), Sal's is a bit expensive and Pizza Hut and Dominoes are terrible unless you're absolutely inebriated. For a price to quality ratio we choose Hell's. Boy were we wrong. I order the Brimstone (Cajun chicken and avocado) with a thin stretched base, totalling $13 dollars (the thin base is $2 extra). Feeling daring, I order "Hot as Hell" and do some customising for free, adding jalapenos and garlic (which is slightly burnt on arrival).  It is delivered nearly 20 minutes late as the driver took a wrong turn and consequently the pizza is not as hot or as fresh as usual. The driver forgets the chicken wings. We call and are told that he will turn around and come back with them. It takes about 20 minutes, by which time we have stuffed ourselves and have no gastric real estate