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.