Well, we expect a $6 lunchtime pizza in the usual standard from where we usually get it and for it to take a reasonable time.

And if it will take a bit longer or won't be as good we expect to be told so. We wouldn't mind, honestly, we just have to plan our lunch hours.

And finally if we complain about the wait or the quality we like to be treated a bit nicer.

So if you really wanted to know "what do you expect on a Tuesday?", that would be it. Thanks for asking.

About half the Wellingtonista now call Newtown home, so we thought it was about time we did some exploring of the area. Therefore, on this coming Saturday, we're going to be doing a Newtownista Pub Crawl, and you should come with us!

We're going to start on Riddiford St down near the zoo around 7.30pm, and work our way back towards town, aiming to end up at Amigo's for tapas. Most of us haven't been to most of the bars, so we'll be intending to give them all a go-to, even the dodgy ones - but we may change our minds on the night when we look in their doors.

To come along, either show up in that area at that time, get in contact with a cellphone number so we can text you our progress, or follow my twitter account as hopefully I'll remember to update it as we go along. We're going to boldly go where some people have gone before, and it should be a jolly good time.

Gorgeous photo by Dead Possum, yanked from flickr

In two weeks Amigos, the Chilean restaurant in Newtown, will be expanding in to the space next door. Their plan is to keep the restaurant going until 9pm and then have live music and tapas into the night every night of the week.

The Wellingtonista heavily approves of this move as we are fans of Central/South American food, late night dining, music, tapas, and drinking. So, wanna get your Pisco on? Then I'd recommend popping down to Amigos, order a pitcher and flamenco the night away.

Now, don't get me wrong: we Wellingtonistas are not usually parsimonious when it comes to paying for drinks. On the other hand, we're a canny and logical bunch, and it only takes about 10 free glasses of house wine to save up enough for a Mega Mai Tai, so in the long run it pays to seek out gratis grog.

Let's start with the obvious: gallery openings and launches. You can get lucky by simply cruising the streets on a midweek night seeking the tell-tale sounds of clinking glasses and poststructuralist discourse, but dedicated cheapskates know that the best way to guarantee results is to get on the mailing lists.

Poster tells it all, really...

The good folk who brought you the Berlin Bonanza invite you to savour the sights, sounds and flavours of Berlin once more. Relive the city's ubercool vibe with the Saturday market, get the true Berlin with a mondo doco, dig in to hot'n'heapin' plates of currywurst, thrill to the heady mashup of ping pong and country music, groove to alt-country cowpokes channelling the Heimat, and finish the night with a flourish of Deutschland disco dancing.

Full programme after the break...

At the Wellingtonista we don't often give props to less consciously hipster places like One Red Dog, even though their continued success shows they have a devoted following. Today we discovered one of the reasons why this devoted following might exist.

Review after the jump.

Once again, I had left my book at home somewhere, so it was another gold card restaurant that was needed. Since my other sister decided to gatecrash our party, a total discount venue, rather than a two-for-one mains was desireable. And because it was cold and I was lazy and didn't feel like walking anywhere, somewhere on the bus route home was needed - preferably somewhere that I could get a big plate of heartiness at. Medina was decided upon, as it seems to have beaten the curse that made other restaurants in its location at 18 Cambridge Terrace close down very rapidly. The review is after the jump.

Down at the City Gallery on Friday night they are running another one of their Late Night Sessions, where you get to cruise around the big exhibition (this time it's the biennial Prospect show) in relative peace and listen to lovely live music while you do so. And all for free.

City Gallery's popular late night Friday returns. Wander through Telecom Prospect 2007: New Art New Zealand to a backdrop of independent and electronic sounds by local performers. Featuring Peneloping, Tc Wedde with Luke Buda, and Aspen.

The lovely Luke Buda is of course in The Phoenix Foundation, as is (the equally lovely) Tc Wedde. Aspen is also lovely and also known as Signer, and is one half of Over the Atlantic and one half of Skallander. And the "medium-core girl-boy plinkpop!" Peneloping also have a very good reputation as a live act.

Having experienced Late Night Sessions many times before - from the point of view both of a performer and a patron - I can heartily recommend this event.

At the wind whips at us with its chill flails, the blustery wet drizzle envelops our heads as we peraumbulate along the streets of downtown, as the night glows into the dawn with a dull damp violet cloud -- we're gonna need a drink to ward off the misery of the season. So I present to you the mulled-wine of the cocktail family: The Negroni.

It seems there are not a lot of people who will admit to a fondness for Campari. Indeed it was not two nights ago that a drinking companion of mine brayed something incoherent about "earwax" when the dreaded C-word was mentioned during a free-ranging session over at mine. However, for all its perceived sins, without Campari you would not have a Negroni.

It is the Campari that is the medicinal "bitter" and provides the characteristic flavor of the Negroni. A little background: according to my sources, Compari was concocted by Gaspare Campari in the 1850s. Gaspare, at only age 14, was the master drink maker at the Bass Bar in Turin, which was the commercial center for aperitifs at the time. Campari is made with natural ingredients that include herbs, spices, bark and fruit peels. The exact formula is of course a highly guarded secret. And as far as the Negroni is concerned, as with all great cocktails stories differ, but the most popular account of its origin is that Count Camillo Negroni, a Florentine aristocrat, decided one day to add some bite to his favorite drink, the Americano. He had the bartender add gin. From that time on he ordered the same drink every day. Eventually the bartender named the drink after him.

The Negroni. Complex. Spicy. Bitter, although not overly so. The tiniest bit of sweetness to offset that. It's a drink to warm a cold breast. It's a perfect aperitif, a drink to wake up your taste buds and shout "Ciao, ragazzo bello! Come stai?". And the colour! The rich brown and deep red tones seem to glow with soft light and autumnal hues. Hold one near a light and your Negroni will erupt in orange novas. It's the obvious drink-of-Autumn for a Wellingtonista.

"Bene, grazie!"

It has been brought to my attention that "a common complaint ... from native Aucklanders when they venture south, or even tourists, is that, after three days in Wellington there is nothing to do". While the writer of that comment doesn't agree, looking around the city at the moment, I can see that they may have a point.

Perhaps in a last minute bid for a Wellingtonista Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence Tip-Top have announced that this week they will be selling 10c ice creams!

The press release says this:

Tip Top, the iconic New Zealand ice cream brand, is 70 years old this week and current owner Fonterra has lined up 13 dairies to sell ice creams for 10c "just like the old days". Tip Top milk bars were an innovation and the original one was in Manners Street, Wellington.

You can get a single scoop from 2pm to 5pm on either Thursday or Friday while stocks last.

So where and when can you get your calcium fix?

• Oriental Bay Store, Wellington, Thursday
• Day's Bay Pavillion, Eastbourne, Friday

photo by Brenda Anderson

Recently we asked you where the best places to eat on Lambton Quay are, and naturally, the internet word-of-mouth answered: Kapai Salads in Lambton Square.

There's plenty of reasons to love Kapai, including:

• Whānau: Everyone knows someone who knows the owners, hence the mass emails and bulletin board postings about the shop.
  
• Mata: Your salad will be freshly made right in front of you, and you will get to choose the ingrediants yourself. No droopy lettuce and skankyass grated cheese here, no no.
  
• Taiao: The soup is served in bowls made out of bread, while salads are served in potatopaks (which you probably wouldn't want to eat, although technically they're safe enough to), minimising environmental damage. Plus, the coffee's fair trade.
  

We'd like them to offer lists of available ingrediants and make it a little clearer which are the gourmet ones that'll set you back an extra $1.50, but when you can get a rocquette, falafel and feta salad with aioli in less than five minutes and feel good about doing it, you'll definitely be going back.

Everyone knows that large corporations eat puppies, but what do the people who work for large corporations eat for lunch?

The Wellingtonista is closing down its Courtenay Place branch on Friday and is opening up in mid Lambton Quay instead. After a year and a half down this way, we'd just finally got the good people at Sahara Kebabs to know that we like just a few onions and garlic yoghurt, tahini and hot chilli on our (mixed vegetarian, mujaver and falafel only) kebabs. Where are we going to eat now?

The Capital Times has begun its 2006 Best of Wellington survey (not online), inviting readers to vote for their favourite things under dozens of categories.

However, one category is glaringly absent: best bar. They have best barman, barmaid, music venue and nightclub, but no bar (or best Martini, for that matter).

[read on...]

Alan a while back suggested a quest to find the best bacon sandwich in Wellington (at least I think it was Alan. UPDATE it was actually llew). This, of course, would be to match Tom's gallant mission to visit every Wellington bar in a year.

Well I tried to do a "Big Breakfast" review but was beaten back by the cholesterol in my veins (I'll post the results here soon). Bacon Sandwiches and Martinis are not my areas of expertise but there is one type of food that I can give an expert opinion on: Pies. That's right, I ate all the pies (in Wellington) and reviewed them for you, the people.
(You might notice a theme when it comes to flavours)

Steak & Cheese from Bon Mange, 110 Lambton Quay.
Bon Mange means Good Eats in French and if you don't have the pies, then that is really correct. The pie crust is flakey and the top separates from the base with alarming regularity causing "steak" and ooze to, well, ooze in your paper bag, revealing a large "window to weight gain". Also I never could stand yellow pastry.
4/10

Mrs Macs Steak & Cheese, most dairies.
Never before has mankind crafted a cheesier pie. A pie from "across the ditch", made with Australia's latest infusion de fromage technology, a Mrs Macs pie is a spectacle of flavour. If you are a Pie-and-a-coke kind of person, then this is the pinacle of lunches. Unfortunately, while the pastry is filled to overflowing with yellow gold*, it is a little lacking in solid meat. Teh more Bohemian amongst you may balk at the fact that these pies can also be found in frozen form at your local supermarket.