2AWA: Most Needed
Posted by Alan on Tuesday, 13 Nov 2007
Here are the nominees for the Most Needed category for the 2nd Annual Wellingtonista Awards (2AWA)
Wellington most needs:
Wellington's pretty close to perfection, but there are a few things that we need. More smart people to participate in local elections so we don't end up with Kerry again. A living wage for the Wellingtonistas. More celebrities, apparently. And also these things:
(nominees after the jump)
For a country that actually has Tikis as part of the culture we have no way to celebrate that culture by drinking ourselves silly in some sort of tiki related manner. How hard is it to nail some bamboo to the bar, serve drinks in pineapples, coconuts and Tiki mugs? Until we get a proper tiki bar you can find us sitting in the tikified corner of Hadyn's lounge drinking Zombies from his scorpion bowl.
WINNER!!!
In case you haven't noticed, the Wellingonista are very pro-public transport. Unfortunately, the council aren't. Light rail won the vote at the last Wellingtonista awards, but still hasn't been implemented. That's just not good enough. After all, we are officially the self-proclaimed official voice of the people, and we demand it!
We have to been to the Japanese design chain Muji many times. Thrice in London, twice in Paris and over and over again in Tokyo. Every visit had a bad effect on our wallets but a soothing effect on the eye and mind. Whether it was bags, or pants, or designer stationery or linen or furniture or cities in a bag, we couldn't get enough of the Muji stuff. They opened their first store in New York recently, it also happened to be the first store in America, so Wellington might be a ways off yet, but we can dream right?
There's only so far kebab shops can take you. Kenny's and Midnight Espresso are not enough - we need to get all Americanised. We need a diner with cosy booths and bottomless coffee to fuel our intellectual discussions. We need a place to go after our late-running gigs so we can talk shit. We need a place to hook up over curly fries and burgers. We want to be able to order waffles at 3am.
For some of us it was over a decade ago, yet still we have fond memories of noodle chain Wagamama's original below-ground level Soho and Bloomsbury branches and their minimalist decor, long tables, and their cheap(-ish) but tasty and great take on Japanese noodles. So we were, it has to be said, mildly jealous to find that a branch (or three) had opened in Auckland. Perhaps the concept is getting a little old, and perhaps Wellington's own Chow could be argued for instead, but nevertheless we'd love to see a Wagamama here.
Voting opens on November 19.
A. A tiki bar
For a country that actually has Tikis as part of the culture we have no way to celebrate that culture by drinking ourselves silly in some sort of tiki related manner. How hard is it to nail some bamboo to the bar, serve drinks in pineapples, coconuts and Tiki mugs? Until we get a proper tiki bar you can find us sitting in the tikified corner of Hadyn's lounge drinking Zombies from his scorpion bowl.
WINNER!!!
B. Light rail to the airport
In case you haven't noticed, the Wellingonista are very pro-public transport. Unfortunately, the council aren't. Light rail won the vote at the last Wellingtonista awards, but still hasn't been implemented. That's just not good enough. After all, we are officially the self-proclaimed official voice of the people, and we demand it!
C. Muji
We have to been to the Japanese design chain Muji many times. Thrice in London, twice in Paris and over and over again in Tokyo. Every visit had a bad effect on our wallets but a soothing effect on the eye and mind. Whether it was bags, or pants, or designer stationery or linen or furniture or cities in a bag, we couldn't get enough of the Muji stuff. They opened their first store in New York recently, it also happened to be the first store in America, so Wellington might be a ways off yet, but we can dream right?
D. A 24 hour diner
There's only so far kebab shops can take you. Kenny's and Midnight Espresso are not enough - we need to get all Americanised. We need a diner with cosy booths and bottomless coffee to fuel our intellectual discussions. We need a place to go after our late-running gigs so we can talk shit. We need a place to hook up over curly fries and burgers. We want to be able to order waffles at 3am.
E. Wagamama
For some of us it was over a decade ago, yet still we have fond memories of noodle chain Wagamama's original below-ground level Soho and Bloomsbury branches and their minimalist decor, long tables, and their cheap(-ish) but tasty and great take on Japanese noodles. So we were, it has to be said, mildly jealous to find that a branch (or three) had opened in Auckland. Perhaps the concept is getting a little old, and perhaps Wellington's own Chow could be argued for instead, but nevertheless we'd love to see a Wagamama here.
Voting opens on November 19. 
Well, now that London has Wisconson Burger (Gourmet Burger Kitchen), hell, they owe us a chain of Wagamama's here!
A Welly Wagamama would be awesome!
I have to say I've eaten at GBK in London and the taste of the Burgers are much different and it's not just the meat, it's that they only put ground mince and not alot of other ingredients (egg, bread crumbs etc) into the patties like burger chains here. I'd much prefer a GBK to a Wisconsin personally!
Yes. GBK ain't quite the same.. crappy crumbed chicken pieces instead of fat succulent chicken breast.. sigh.
Wagamama? You're kidding me. We have an abundance of noodle places run by people who know from noodles - why would you be interested in the pasteurised version of same?
Also, I've been to the AK Wagamamas, and found the ordering process to be annoying, the service terrible, and the wait time totally unjustified for a place with zero ambience.
Maybe so. We did have a mild frisson of debate more or less about the same issue you've put your finger on there. :-)
The Wagamama franchise in New Zealand is owned by the same people who own the Lone Star steak house franchise.
When the word "franchise" is used in conjunction with restaurants, that is my cue to run screaming.
Maybe: there are a few different definitions of "franchise", "chain" etc. Every Mojo has the same name and interior designer, yet every one looks different and most have different owners. On the other hand there are people who own lots of different bars and restaurants, yet the places all have different names & styles, so can't really be counted as chains. Which is worse?
Anyone else remember fondly the old 24-hr diner on Courtenay Place (where Catch is now, IIRC)?
Yep, I wasted many hours of my (ahem) "youth" playing pinball there. There was also Axolotl, which while not completely 24/7, was a good post-clubbing spot.
We need a proper Tapas bar!
Absolutely! If I'd thought of it, I'd have put that in ahead of Wagamama.
I have a friend who is still cooking up plans for one, but he's having trouble finding the right location. In the meantime, Zibibbo does some really nice tapas boards.
My love of all things is Tiki is grand, but Muji muji muji me baby!
Although I do third the vote for a Tapas bar
I never ever said Wellington needed more celebrities!!! He said it, not me. I found the whole experience quite funny.
Anyway... I just wanted to say Tiki Bar, Tiki Bar, Tiki Bar. Like this one:
Tiki Ti Bar, Los Angeles.
exactly like that, but with a better website and soundtrack.
Oh and stick around, we might get lucky on this one.
Tiki tiki
Oh, I'm so excited but I can't tell anyone yet. At least two of these will be coming true!
Perhaps you should get the doers to come along to the awards night so they can receive their prize and announce it then!
I would have included a Tapas bar if we had thought of it too. Not that I am hating on Wagamamas mind you.
Team Muji all the way!
So would I.
Oh well, assuming no Tapas bar arrives in the meantime, this will have to go into the nominees for 2008...
I'd go with the light rail, Wellington has great bus routes. I never once thought about a 24 hour diner when I was there, maybe as an afterthought.
Welly needs more covered walking areas to protect from the elements when it rains.
Wellington rocks...Id love to live here..yeah baby!
Is that an invitation?
i was just thinking... don't we have denny's, which is pretty americanised.
In Porirua, which is in no way stumbling distance within the CBD.
I wish SMK was 24/7
Oh god..... not Wagamama's... bland, boring, soulless pap, even in the Soho/Bloomsbury flagships. Why do people always hold them up as being such a great taste experience? I was hugely disappointed when I visited them after anticipating going for years. Just cause it was good in London 10 years ago, doesn't mean it would be good here! (in fact, I found most pan-asian food to be pretty crap in London compared with what I regularly ate back here in Welly - and struggled to find a decent Chinese restaurant, let alone takeaway in the 3 years I lived there). Now Muji - that's an export that would fit right into the Welly groove..... I miss Wellington :(
We need a shop that sells these shoes. Urgently. http://www.fluevog.com/
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