Vot­ing in the Fourth Annu­al Wel­ling­tonista Awards is open from Decem­ber 1–15. Then come find out the res­ults at our Awards Night at Mighty Mighty on Decem­ber 17!

To vote, vis­it this page.

In this harsh eco­nom­ic cli­mate, we’re still mighty hungry. We want to feed! And these are the places that will fill us up, without mak­ing us sell our kid­neys in order to be able to afford the bill…

Image by petra janeSatay King­dom: Do we need to say any more about this con­sist­ent Wel­ling­tonista favour­ite? The King­dom just keeps on turn­ing out hot hot laksa and roti to the hungry, the des­ti­tute and the dis­cern­ing.

Ban Mai Thai: Vivi­an Street might not imme­di­ately spring to mind when you’re think­ing of places to eat, but Ban Mai Thai is def­in­itely worth your while. Their menu is really long, cov­er­ing all the things you’d expect at a Thai res­taur­ant, but also fea­tur­ing Issan cook­ing. They serve sticky rice in bas­kets, and the food tastes super fresh with dif­fer­ent dishes actu­ally tast­ing quite dif­fer­ent from each oth­er – some­thing not all Thai res­taur­ants in Wel­ling­ton can claim! They’re also BYO, which is a huge advant­age if you’re someone who believes that a meal isn’t really a meal without wine.

Longxi­ang: We’re the first to admit that often we have very West­ern tastes when it comes to Chinese food, and so Longxi­ang on Dix­on Street hits the spot very nicely for that. Their orange beef is par­tic­u­larly amaz­ing, as is the shred­ded duck with veget­ables and the Singa­pore-style ver­mi­celli is also highly recom­men­ded. Yvonne is a lovely host, and loves her reg­u­lars. Plus she doesn’t judge us when we order far more food than we really should.

Sweet Mother’s Kit­chen: The Onion had one of their fam­ous head­line-only stor­ies a few years back that read “Po’Boy $12” . And it’s true that this hap­pens more often than not, but at Sweet Mother’s you can get a bar­be­cue chick­en po’boy for $10. And if your budget is a little lar­ger, you can add some of those fam­ous curly fries to that order.

Viva Mex­ico: Those in the know say that this unas­sum­ing diner tucked down the back of Left Bank serves the most authen­t­ic Mex­ic­an food in town. Even if you’re not an expert, you can’t deny the appeal of divorced eggs, cheesy enchil­a­das and that magic­al tequila-based sauce.