Last night while the Wel­ling­tonista and FAGs and SAGs (that’s Friends and Girl­friends, and also Sis­ters and Girl­friends, there were no Part­ners present) were at South­ern Cross quiz, we real­ised that hey, they don’t give us chipped glasses any­more! That means things have got bet­ter since we com­plained about them. It has also been noted that since we bitched about the decor at the Port Cafe, they have in fact rein­stated a cheap­er menu for takeaway, which is a good thing. So, to con­tin­ue on from those great devel­op­ments, here’s some more sug­ges­tions as we strive for per­fec­tion.

1. That the Cross gets a $35 wine. We’re bored of drink­ing the $30 Five Flax, and we feel like the jump up to $40 as the next cheapest wine on their list is too big a jump. We appre­ci­ate that their Matariki Cab/Merlot and Ata Ran­gi Rose are lovely, but we’d settle for some­thing less awe­some for less pricey.

2. That Word of Mouth labels its salads. It sucks to queue for ages for what you think is going to be yummy coleslaw with kumara, only to dis­cov­er that (eww!) there is tuna in the mix. They have a pen­cil-writ­ten list on their wall, with meat, dairy and aller­gens high­lighted, but it does need a lot of peer­ing at to read. And yes, we know they change their salads every day, but really, would it take that long to print out labels and stick them in a little per­spex thingie on top of the counter?

3. That Viva Mex­ico start offer­ing sides. I’d pay extra for guacamole and salsa if I had the option. Also, we’d love them to get a BYO license and extend their hours.

4. In fact, let’s get all of Left­bank a BYO license, and make the centre tables more com­mun­al, so groups of people can pick­’n mix their din­ners. 5. I know this is a very long shot, but can we please have these train-buses too?