welly on a plateWe did­n’t present you with sug­ges­tions for events to book, I know. That’s partly because they all sell out so quickly, but mostly because I think the Dine menus are really the best oppor­tun­ity to truly sample Wel­ling­ton’s hos­pit­al­ity. So, with things kick­ing off tomor­row, and 108 options on offer, where should you go and what should you eat? Here’s my thoughts.

Go to Ti Kouka. Their soup last year, oh my stars. If you only do one Welly on a Plate menu this year, make it theirs. But don’t all go on the day that I intend to go, or THERE WILL BE TROUBLE.

Pulled pork is so hot right now. It’s on more menus than I can count. We remem­ber back in the old days when pulled pork was a spe­cial thing you had to beg for at Monterey. Also: brisket is the new pulled pork.

Go for spe­cial menus that are actu­ally spe­cial:
For example, while the food at Cap­it­ol is always great, and their ser­vice impec­cable, their Dine Wel­ling­ton options are the same as things on their reg­u­lar menu. So save that for anoth­er time. I’ve also noticed that some places are offer­ing pretty much the exactly the same thing as they did last year – look­ing at you, Pravda and Arthur’s. The rab­bit pot pie was deli­cious, but I still think that’s cheat­ing (and the pork crack­ling is waaaay too salty, and I say that as a salt lov­er).

A place I abso­lutely would not recom­mend though is Finc, who last year used their spe­cial Wel­ling­ton on a Plate menu as an excuse to raise their prices. Like­wise, we’d avoid Mon­soon Poon because they’re dread­ful and also Boul­cott St Bis­tro because of the rude­ness of Rex Mor­gan last year when he talked the whole way through Nadia Lim’s mas­ter class.

Mean­while, we love, love, love the food at Hum­ming­bird, but actu­ally, I think their meat for two is a bet­ter offer­ing than their Dine Wel­ling­ton menu, so I would go there anoth­er time for that. (And also please go to former Hum­ming­bird chef Glen Taylor’s excel­lent new res­taur­ant Taylor’s in Petone - full review com­ing soon).

Won’t someone please think of the veget­ari­ans?

If you don’t eat meat, I hope you’re in the mood for Park­vale mush­room risotto or haloumi, because they’re reoc­cur­ring fea­tures. St John’s at least offers Chest­nut and but­ter­nut risotto, while Artis­an offer up a whop­ping five dif­fer­ent kinds of veget­ari­an bur­gers as sliders (they’re also doing a glu­ten-free event, but that’s sold out). Little Beer Quarter actu­ally offers full-on vegan food, assum­ing you can actu­ally get some ser­vice, which we could­n’t last year.

Drink­ing at lunch time?

As André Simon once said “Food without wine is a corpse; wine without food is a ghost; united and well matched they are as body and soul, liv­ing part­ners.”

Look, we know heaps of you are pub­lic ser­vants, but the gov­ern­ment won’t fall if you’re seen hav­ing one glass of wine (or two half glasses in the case of Arbit­raguer, who get mad props for that allow­ing you to bet­ter match it to your food). Or maybe it will, and in that case, please do drink up. Assum­ing you like wine, of course.

Beers matched with food has become a big trend this year (when do we reach Peak Craft Beer? I can­’t wait for Wel­ling­ton to be less beardy), and Six Bar­rel Soda is a great offer­ing on many menus for those who can­’t or won’t drink booze.

Finally, if you’re curi­ous about where I’m going, here’s a handy spread­sheet of my wish­list that I’ve shared so people can book them­selves in with me. Shall we have lunch togeth­er? Awe­some.