Wellington powerhouse trio open Mediterranean fusion plant-based pizzeria

Nolita owners Maura Rigby (left), Lydia Suggate and Maria Bayle. Photo / Jack Crossland

A Cuba Street spot has become New Zealand's first plant-based pizzeria.

Once home to Cuba Street Bistro and Herbivore, number 203 has spent most of the pandemic empty.

Now the glass reads Nolita, opened by powerhouse trio of Wellington Hospitality Lydia Suggate, Maura Rigby and Maria Boyle.

Rigby said they hoped to redefine what it means to dine plant-based, and show people you don't have to sacrifice flavour for sustainability.

"We really want to prove that plant-based food can be just as good, if not better.

"Often after you eat pizza you'll find you don't actually feel that good, but with these pizzas it's remarkable because they're so much more digestible and you don't go away feeling horrible.

And she said you don't have to be plant-based to enjoy the food.

"A lot of people have come in and been really pleasantly surprised and even left not realising we're plant-based, then saying the food is amazing."

Boasting a Mediterranean fusion menu, Nolita offers all the classics from calzone to gnocchi.

Rigby believes it offers the much-needed taste of being abroad, while borders remain shut.

The name is a nod to a neighbourhood in New York, located north of Little Italy.

Lydia Suggate (left) and Maura Rigby. Photo / Jack Crossland

"So it's sort of a fusion between Wellington, New York and Italy. It's a modern take on Italian food."

Drawing on her own cravings, Suggate said the struggles of every vegan inspired much of the menu.

"When I went vegan I was obsessed with cheese, and I think pizza is the most depressing thing if you don't have cheese on it.

"So being able to nail that and eat pizza again was always the goal."

She said perfecting the stringy sensation came from months of trial and error.

"We've spent months experimenting with different things to try and get a really good tasty plant-based cheese that replicates mozzarella, parmesan, cream cheese, ricotta, feta and even some aged cheeses which we're still working on."

The trio are well-known within the Wellington Hospitality scene. Suggate and Rigby opened Beach Babylon 13 years ago and then went on to launch Little Beer Quarter.

Suggate and Boyle, who are sisters, then teamed up to open Bebemos, The Botanist and Mockingbird.

With 15 years combined experience between them, the trio were able to seize an opportunity and turn a blank canvas into a Mediterranean masterpiece.

"We saw this site come up, thought about it and then decided against it," Suggate said.

"Then realising Covid wasn't going away and we couldn't travel, we just thought let's go for it."

"In just six weeks we've had to deal with lots of renovations and problems.

"It's an old building so all the electrics had to be replaced along with the bathrooms that were basically falling through the floor."

Rigby said opening a business during Covid-19 was "definitely risky" but they were confident in their idea.

"From our experience we know that alcohol-based businesses have been far more affected than food-based businesses and we're confident that this could work in the current environment."

Suggate said that now after five days of being open, they're gearing up for one of Wellington's biggest days of the year.

"It's really given us time to settle in and the kitchen time to catch up on prep ahead of Cuba Dupa this weekend.

"It's our first one so we don't really know what to expect, but if it's anything like the Newtown festival, then it's going to be busy."