New to the Capital food scene? Alexia Santamaria has you covered, with a beginners guide to Visa Wellington on a Plate and Beervana.
Some food events have such a big reputation that it's hard to imagine what they actually look like in reality. Visa Wellington on a Plate was one of those for me, until I went last year - and now I truly understand why it's so popular.
If you haven't been to Wellington on a Plate before, let's go through the basics. It's essentially a one-month celebration of everything food and drink, based in Aotearoa's creative and culinary capital (okay Aucklanders, you may want to contest the culinary capital title, but no one can deny there is some truly world-class dining in Wellington).
The festivities are made up of special one-off events that take place on just one, or a few nights in that month and there are also special WOAP dishes, burgers and cocktails available throughout August (or two weeks of it at least). And then there's Beervana, which this year will take place on the 19th and 20th of the month. More about that later.
When we attended Visa Wellington on a Plate last year, we stayed at the InterContinental Hotel. It was a great base to pop out to events and back for some chill time in between.
Just across the road was Charlie Noble, where we kicked things off with their fabulous Cocktail Wellington offering: Reid + Reid gin washed with Blue Earth olive oil, olive-infused Koakoa Limoncello and Manzanilla sherry, garnished with vermouth lollies (the bartender had painstakingly made her own gummy bear lollies - how's that for dedication?)
The InterContinental was also only a five-minute walk from Shed 5, where on another occasion we dropped in to try their WOAP cocktail too: Grenada Bay rum with tomato consomme, citrus, fino sherry and hickory smoke made it a bit of a show - as well as delicious drink - and it came with a smoked bacon hock, Dijon bechamel, Kingsmead Mt. Bruce havarti and gruyere Croque Monsieur on Arobake rye and caraway sourdough.
Our first burger - there are more than 200 - was the Kingston Tastee at Egmont Street Eatery. The free-range smashed pork and beef patty with mango and pork fat chutney, blackened Penray Gardens chilli mayo, housemade cheese and spiced tobacco onions in a milk bun, also made on site was sublime (so sublime it was crowned the winner of Burger Wellington) but it was even better washed down with a Jamaican cocktail in a place that had been decked out colourful Caribbean style. The full experience.
There were even dessert burgers - like The Library's Choc Rockin Beets with roasted Fix & Fogg peanut butter and Whittaker's chocolate brownie patty with cream cheese frosting "mayo" , beet and raspberry gel "ketchup" and beet crisp "pickles" in a Meyer lemon tart and toffee chocolate chunk cookie bun. Yes, that is as full-on as it sounds.
The Visa Wellington on Plate events are legendary. Last year we attended Le Cercle Noir by the incredible team from Shepherd, and it was definitely an all-time dining highlight for me. Set in a tent with a dark medieval vibe, lit only by candles and fairy lights, this dinner was everything - incredible food, theatre (think whole roasted ducks hanging from poles brought in solemnly by hooded grim reaper-style waiters before being sliced in front of us and served with heavenly accompaniments) and the added excitement of the lighting meant you didn't really know what you were eating till it hit your taste buds.
Field and Green's Bar Salonika event was also amazing. Perching on bar stools by the kitchen, we watched the chefs deftly turn out plates based on Salonika in Ottoman Greece. This year I've heard it's all about Indian Jewish food - from three specific communities: the Cochin Jews on the Malabar Coast in Kerala, the Bene Israel community on the West Coast, near Mumbai, and the Baghdadi Jews who settled in West Bengal near Kolkata. Food. History. Culinary culture. Joy.
This year there are some super fun events on the programme like Sex & Food: A Burlesque Dining Event and The Orb of Power (think superhero dining with a complimentary "radioactive gin" on arrival followed by three courses of mind-bending food). Costumes are encouraged, of course.
And if you're there in the first half of the month there are so many clever and creative Dine Wellington options available too. This year's lineup includes Boulcott St's take on the beef Wellington (except with crayfish) and Mr Gos cool inflight meal; the old National Airways Corp was in the same building as they are now.
And lastly, if you choose to go down on the weekend of the 19th, and even if you wouldn't consider yourself much of a beer drinker - don't write off the option of Beervana. I was pretty sure I knew what it would be like, but I couldn't have been more wrong. The atmosphere was fun; there were amazing cocktails; the food - from popular local restaurants and food trucks was first rate; there were wild festival-only beers (last year there was a Perky Nana Pastry Stout and Green Thai Curry Spiced Beer) as well hard seltzers, ciders and mead.
Anyone who likes food of any kind – be it dumplings, degustations or just dessert – should go to Visa Wellington on a Plate, at least once. With promises of everything from gelato masterclasses to hot-wing challenges, to tapas with a side order of dancing (or the other way round), your stomach and soul will definitely thank you.
For more, see visawoap.com
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