violeta's Profile
help! long stay in wellington. where's the food?
Thanks all for the help! We're San Franciscans too, although we've recently lived in the vicinity of Formaggio's Kitchen in Cambridge MA so we are totally spoiled for cheese. It's exciting to see so many New Zealand cheeses.
We're working our way through Moore Wilson's cheese department. (thrilled to find cumin and fenugreek Gouda, which for some odd reason is rare in the US) and buying organic produce at Commonsense Organics so far (although Moore Wilson sells an overpackaged plastic tin of fabulous organic microgreens). Thanks for the tip on New World. We're planning on doing Maria Pia's soon.
Since we're stuck in a hotel for the first two weeks (this explains our diet of cheese and avocadoes), I'll report on our favorite restos so far:
Ernesto 132 Cuba Street www.ernesto.co.nz 04.801.6878
We've eaten here twice and been thrilled with every bite. Cafe atmosphere (comfortable black banquettes and wide tables so two can sit side by side -- also the chairs are comfortable) with nearly half the spacious room an open kitchen feels like you are in the cook's living room. Watch out they close early. We arrived at 9:30 (after calling to find out what time "late" meant and being told 10) and had to beg the chef for dinner. He graciously agreed to haul everything out and cook for us although he had already cleared the kitchen. We had a seared lamb appetizer with garbanzo beans, also the lamp chops (perfect!), the delicious and unusual creamed spinach, and the pork belly on puréed sweet potato. Would have been nice to have a bite of bitter or a bit of crunch on the plate, but that didn't prevent us from licking it.
Finc 122 Wakefield http://www.finc.co.nz 499.299
Looks trendy and upscale but turns out to be less expensive than many nearby places. Creative food in a cafe atmosphere (uncovered wooden tables not close together, one common table, high ceilings, good magazines). They don't advertise this, but they have free wifi! Long, diverse list of $8 entrées that deliver generous portions of chicken roasted in grape leaves (didn't taste the apricot in there but it was fabulous anyway), and pork dumplings. The menu is refreshing and unpretentious. Turkish eggs at brunch were lovely. Lots of literature here about sustainability and artisanship. Open all day and evening. High tea on Sundays, in grandma's teacups.
Aro Café 90 Aro Street http://www.arocoffee.co.nz/ 4 384 4970
Everything you want with the perfect cup of coffee... An array of savories from bean salads to mini quiches and plenty of desserts, all easy to see. And a menu. And organic ingredients. And hip. Open for dinner for a few hours some nights.
help! long stay in wellington. where's the food?
My partner and I arrived Friday to Wellington for a 5 month stay. We really need some food help. We had heard from people that NZ is "very slow food" but we are having difficulty
finding it. The internet postings on this topic seem to be from 2006 & 7. Other than some high-end restaurants, we haven't found any current tips.
We visited the "farmers market" next to Te Papa museum, but it
doesn't seem like the sellers are actually farmers. It looks like
they're just resellers. We met one avocado farmer and a lamb farmer,
but the others' vegetables look to be commercial. We visited an organics
store called commonsense on wakefield street. Very nice healthfood store, but is that
it? We aren't so interested in gluten-free... We're looking for
artisanal bread, cheese, cured meat, and, of course, LOCAL vegetables.
One person who we asked said "well the thing about local artisanal
food is that everybody does that here, so we don't really talk about
it much". But when we asked about the seafood at Sweet Mothers they
said it was frozen and not local. What questions should we be asking
and where should we be looking for high quality local foodstuffs?
We won't be able to travel much, as my partner is working 6 days a
week, so we are not looking for food tourism, just places to buy food
to cook.
Thank you so much for your help!
Violet
Farmers' Markets week of June 25th
hey we're going to do an artist-in-residency in boston for 18 months. we're localist slowfoodies coming from los angeles. we buy ALL of our food year round (except for flour and butter) at farmers markets. we are used to eating kale and collards all winter. we are totally freaked out about boston. what do you people EAT?. we've signed up for a winter CSA and a meat CSA but what happens from february to may? aren't there greenhouses? do the coop groceries store/sell local winter crops???? help! all resources would be appreciated.
--in a panic
