Remem­ber a few months ago, when doom and gloom dom­in­ated the hospo news? Well, there cer­tainly have been a lot of clos­ures in cent­ral Wel­ling­ton, but many of those places have re-opened, and we’ve even got a few brand-new bars and res­taur­ants to cel­eb­rate.

Here’s a list of rein­carn­a­tions:

  • Vin­tage → Hashigo Zake
  • Calypso → Elixir
  • Epic → Rhythm
  • Chow Cab­aret → The Lib­rary
  • Para­diso → Betty’s (I insist on the apo­strophe)
  • State Opera House Espresso Bar → Pol­lux

Some brand-new places:

  • Por­tofino (at Kumutoto)
  • Red Ginger (under­neath Hawthorn Lounge)
  • Lychee (in the wil­der­ness of Arthur St)

A couple of rumoured upcom­ing open­ings:

  • “Cuba” (repla­cing Zeal in Gar­rett St)
  • Yet anoth­er Irish pub, repla­cing New Orleans in Allen St

That leaves a hand­ful of recent fail­ures yet to be revived:

  • Herd St Bras­ser­ie
  • Sub­way at Chaf­fers Dock
  • Emporio in Chews Lane

If any­thing, the industry looks to be health­i­er than a few months ago, and a few of the new places (Pol­lux, Hashigo Zake and The Lib­rary in par­tic­u­lar) are among our new favour­ites. If this means that con­sumers have stopped spend­ing on Plasma TVs while still din­ing out, then I applaud their good taste. Of course, it could mean that we’re all com­mit­ting kuidaore (a Japan­ese term roughly mean­ing “to ruin one­self through extra­vag­ance in food”). But what a lovely way to go.