It’s one thing to look for food in the government quarter, but what a politico barfly wants to know is “Where can I get a decent Champagne within crawling distance of Parliament?”. As DPF and Cactus Kate found out (standard Kiwiblog warning: comments contain copious amounts of poo), there is nothing worthwhile at the Back Bencher (Kate evidently shares my lack of excitement for Mumm).
Apart from Maria Pia’s and Le Canard (which presumably have fine selections, but don’t count as bars), there really is not much proper bubbly around in Thorndon. Following the Wellingtonista tradition of preferring useful information to vindictive invective, after the jump I have provided a list, in approximate order of distance from the Back Bencher, of Champagne selections at nearby bars and pubs.
Yeah I know, I’m a disgusting pesky fly. But just because I slurp food off the plate with my proboscis doesn’t mean I should have to pay full price when I have a handy-dandy gold entertainment card to get a free meal.
Here’s how it went down… we went to Finc on a Friday night – for the simple reason that it is in the Entertainment Guide. We ordered two mains both worth around $34 each and an entree for $8. The deal in the Entertainment Guide is:
“you and your guest are invited to enjoy one complimentary main course when another main course of equal or greater value is purchased. Up to $30.00 value”.
We were told that as our mains were both over the value of $30 we would receive NO discount. When we also asked them why was the entree not taken off we were told that we did not intend to have this as a main so they would not discount that either.
To read the shocking conclusion click “read more”
I’ve just moved to Wellington, but before I did a proper move, work sent me up for a few days to get acquainted with things, and while I was there I stayed at the Holiday Inn on Featherston Street.
I was kind of excited because over past 25 years, there have been many hip hop songs with mentions of exciting things that happen at a "hotel, motel, Holiday Inn". What extravagances would await me? Perhaps a party that didn’t stop till six in the morning…
Well we rushed down to the new venue for Viva Mexico this evening and thoroughly enjoyed that they’d almost completely run out of stock!
Luckily they agreed to sell us what they still had… which was some pretty good enchiladas.
Often with the Wellingtonista we tell you things. Today, however, we’re asking for things. Specifically:
1. Swag: Wellington is going to be having its first Girl Geek dinner, and I’m putting together Swag Bags – if you have something you’d like to put in around 50 bags for 50 technologically-minded and intelligent women, please get in touch – johubris @ gmail.com.
2. Contra: Last night lots of us attended a Bloggers’ Meet-Up, and the awesome Epic Beer came up with some lubrication to get us started. The Wellingtonista absolutely would be very very keen on doing this sort of thing more often. We’re working on our guidelines, and templates to allow space for brand exposure, but this is just a heads up: if you offer good products or services, and want to reach our smart readers who like disposing of their incomes, we would like to work with you, so get in touch.
This posting brought to you by Sandy Mamoli (deeply honoured inaugural guest blogger).
Have you got something to say about Wellington? Would you like to guest on the Wellingtonista? Drop us a line and we’ll add you to the door list.
I discovered the Wellingtonista on day two after my arrival. It took them almost year to discover me …
In fact, it took them exactly a year. I celebrated my one year New Zealand anniversary last Friday with the contradictory emotions of someone who simultaneously feels like a true long-term Wellingtonian and a rookie who has just stepped off the boat.
I am still struggling with a wee bit of culture shock – complaining about Wellington’s provinciality and second-world infrastructure while marveling at the vibe, friendliness and genuine feeling of community one can only find in Wellington (I think).
Apart from being with a Kiwi partner who has been too long out of the country to remember anything useful and having read halfway through a travel guide I didn’t know much about New Zealand a year ago. And my former life in Vienna, Copenhagen and Amsterdam proved to be way too limited an experience of the world to shelter me from the surprises I was in for.
Eating is important. So is managing your budget. These places offer good ways to combine the two. When we get cheap food, we want it to satisfy us. We want a good-sized serving, and we want it to be tasty, interesting and preferably from a nice place to dine. Like these places…
I just found $20, so it’ll be dinner at:
Cheap eats after the jump…
We have the serious hots for some of the architects architecture around town. Buildings that not only function as they were intended but also make the streets a more exciting and pleasant place to be make us happy people.
Put on the Barry White because if this building was a person, I would be making sweet sweet luuurve to it right now:
After the jump, we present the buildings…
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…
The date for your calendar is Saturday 15th September for the BarCampWellingtonNZegov:
… making a difference to egovernment in New Zealand. We are a small country with a very well connected, vibrant web community. government 2.0 can happen here!
The day is being hosted by Fronde at their Queen’s Wharf office, is free and totally driven by you fine people in the community (‘BarCamp’ background and what to expect).
Seven things (after the break) that you can do now that will give us a government for the 21st century: