The Cheap 'N' Cheerful Project
It's time for another quest. Much like last year's Days of Our Pies (there will be a second part to that by the way), this one involves food of the less expensive variety. Helping me in this quest is guest writer Cindy (a very clever pseudonym). This will hopefully be similar to, but more specific than My Wellington's Top Cheap Eats.
The Rules:
- The food must cost less than $10 (preferably much less)
- The food has to be a single menu item (i.e. it can't be two starters or sides)
- The establishment must be a place where one can sit down and eat (like a civilised human, whether you are one or not)
The Judgement:
We'll be looking at flavour, cost and ambience as our major areas of critique/praise. However an eatery may get a higher score for those "intangible qualities" which go into a great CNC.
With all the "formal" stuff out of the way let's get into our first one.
Where: Satay Kingdom, Left Bank Cuba St
What: Roti Chennai
How much: $5
With any ranking system of this type it's good to start with a norming item, in this case the Roti Chennai at Satay Kingdom. At $5 it sits right in the middle of our price range (from free to a tenner) and we already know it to be fairly good.
How to describe the meal: an oily, thin, but very tasty curry soup with pieces of boneless chicken and potato served with a piece of Malaysian roti cut into cute triangles. The meal seems small but is incredibly filling. I foolishly went and ordered another piece of roti ($2) meaning two or three bits had to be left uneaten. READ MORE
This is one of the best cheap meals in all of Wellington and it seems that it is no secret. Satay Kingdom is often packed to the gunwales with people of all ages and persuasions wolfing down large plates of noodles and curry and roti. Because of this (and the artiness of the Cuba St Tribe) eating at Satay Kingdom is laid back and enjoyable. On top of all this, it has the good sense to sell sarsaparilla.
Hadyn's Score: 8
(so far the best but something could beat it)
Cindy's Score: 10
(it's my benchmark perfect meal, if something beats it I'll have to crank the dial to 11)
Total: 18/20
photo stolen from Coffee Geek (we didn't buy juice but apart from that exactly the same)
That is if you're solely looking at food.
The ambiance of sitting in Left Bank on a hot summer evening surrounded by the Cuba Tribe (and a fair few Grey Lynns) beats out sitting in an enclosed restaurant. It's size also adds to the "Asiatic" feel of the place.
How anyone can eat at Satay Kingdom is beyond me. Even Satay Palace is better - mostly because there's always less people there. I used to frequent all the cheap Malaysian eateries, but either my tastes have changed or they have turned bad. Of all the Cuba St ones I would go with Rasa though.
From the same Left Bank location - burgers from Offbeat Originals are pretty cheap. Not as cheap as the fast food places, not as big as the "gourmet" chains; but made fresh by nice people and with some of the best coffee I have had in Wellington - even if they can't use proper crockery.
I agree, Hadyn, it's the location that makes SK what it is, and I know people who rave about the food there, but I guess they're talking about the noodly and laksa-type food that I don't go for. I like SK for its "Asian street market" feel, and when it and Offbeat Originals are both open the whole Left Bank really hums (if only it had been a real bar down in the alley, not a film set!). But for the quality of roti chenai, bothe the bread itself and the curry, any of the three I mentioned will kick its thin, puny reheated butt.
For my money, KK Malaysian in Ghuznee St is the place to eat. All but about two dishes is under $10 and the servings are huge and filling. My favourite is the seafood laksa which is yummy, filling and $9.50. My children go for the chicken curry ($8). The roti chanai is $6. The place is almost always packed and very noisy but it's easy enough to get a table, they ask you to come back in 10 minutes and reserve one for you as soon as someone leaves.
I've always found the roti at Satay Kingdom to be waaay too greasy. I have said it many times before - but Roti Chenai on Victoria St is the best in the land. The $6.50 lunch special - chicken roti chenai - can't be beat. Admittedly not the same atmosphere as Leftbank, but you do get to drink water our of silver cups.
totally agree - Roti Chanai (otr from that evil hamburger place on Vic St) - has the best roti eats - try the lunch special - lots of little goodies - curry, roti bread, dhal (they make the best in welly), rice, and soup. Can get t/a as well - is more than enough for 2 meals, and only $7.50! Great on a welly winter's day. Only downside is the weird white guy that patrols the tables...cuisine (and presumably the rest of the staff) are tamil (sri lankan)!
I must be the only person here who thinks the Left Bank is disgusting. It's so dirty and scummy. I don't really rate Satay Kingdom either. It's cheap but I agree with Jessie about the one on Victoria Street. I'll only willingly go to Left Bank for food if I'm going to California Sushi (because HOLY CRAP it's so good).
Best cheap eats in my book... can't go past Longxiang on Dixon Street. Best service. They learn your names if you're regulars. And the food is DAMN good.
not the only person - totally agree the LB is a dirty sh*t hole - nearly got mugged there one sat am (but didnt and totally uncharacteristic for welly!) - but still use it as a short cut...
Disagree about the sushi place there - BEST sushi and cheap jap eats is MATSURI on Victoria St (by Ed's Juice Bar, which is also choice and vv good vege) - excellent range of sushi, esp vegetarian - fav's are their eggplant/rice, egg roll, and vege tempura. Sushi is ~$1.20 piece, tempura $2.50. Free filter water, (real) plastic cups, nice atmosphere (tables and street-facing bar), and really friendly staff ("wasabi/ginger" lady on the till is great). Only downside is they're not open for dinner and have been closed over Xmas!
"not the only person - totally agree the LB is a dirty sh*t hole - nearly got mugged there one sat am (but didnt and totally uncharacteristic for welly!) - but still use it as a short cut..."
Well, the bit west of Satay Kingdom could accurately be described as a dirty sh*thole, but the end towards Cuba St certainly couldn't. And I even like the scummy bit: it's good to see a bit of genuine urban grittiness there when other parts of the city are getting shinier. But then again, I used to live in the East End, so maybe my threshold for "dirty and scummy" is a bit higher, innit?
To Jimmy Southgate:
Offbeat Originals is on our list of places to go. Two tofu burgers for $10 sounded...interesting.
Yup, I rate their coffee highly. Maybe because I used to be able to get it right before walking in the door to my office. Its cheap and good.
One bad thing about Offbeat however is the disposable cups, plates & everything. But Damon (I think that's his name) is a cool cat, and if you go regularly you'll start to get a few more than your fair share of free coffees, possibly, it may just have been that I knew people who worked there as well :-)
Can I throw two others into the mix? A bit further up Cuba St Munchen Burgers definitively breaks out of the Malaysian theme. Sometimes it is a bit grotty to sit in, but if your not vegetarian it worth going to every once in a while knowing you can be assured of serious mammal carnage.
Then, in Newtown, Kopi Tiam is back finally and is a great CNC malaysian with a waiter who, I am sure, will be willing to give a good tip for the Wellington Cup.
Satay Palace have a great food.Their Beef Rendang, Mee Goreng, Curry Laksa are the best food I haven't had. David Burton gave this restaurant 4 stars on food and it really worth it. The price are also cheap and their service is super fast. I got my dinner within 5 minutes even is a busy hour.
While for Satay Kingdom, i agree they have a huge meal and good summer sit but the taste is not nice. Staff not friendly....
It's a great location, sure, and it's one of the cheapest in town, but after trying other roti around the place, I have to say it's not the best. It breaks the cardinal rule of roti: round roti good, square or triangular bad. That's because the former are likely to be made there, and hence be crisp on the outside but light and fluffy inside; whereas the latter will be frozen pre-made jobs that are thin and tough.
Another rule of thumb is to pick a place run by South Indian Malaysians rather than ethnic Chinese. That might sound racist, but roti is of Indian origin, and the Chinese side of Malaysian society doesn't seem to "get" bread in general. Any place that has rendang, murtabak and thosai on the menu will be a good bet for roti as well. Specifically: Roti Chennai, Roti and Rasa.
Having said that, almost any roti chenai is still damn good (except for a couple of places on Courtenay that forgot to defrost the roti or even cook the chicken), so I'd still give SK 6-7 out of 10. As for Roti (or Rao's as the regular's call it): now that's a ten!