Alice H.'s
Best inner-city BYO restaurants
- 15Satay KajangWellington CentralSatay Kajang is a great spot for a cheap, delicious Malaysian meal before a night on the town. The mains are enormous and mostly around the $12 to $17 mark, while the staff are friendly, competent and unflinching in the face of bookings of 20+. A word to the wise: while it’s not as popular with university students as Oriental Kingdom on Left Bank, it does attract big groups of boozy first-years on Friday and Saturday nights.
- 28Little India Cuba MallTe AroLittle India on Cuba Mall offers excellent and fairly reasonably priced Indian food for BYO groups big and small. Its close proximity to Matterhorn and Mighty Mighty means you’re on the doorstep of Wellington’s best nightlife, too.
- 35Oriental Kingdom CafeTe AroOn the weekend, Oriental Kingdom is a popular choice for big groups of university students looking to booze before a big night on the town – which, for the other diners, means that dinner often comes with a show. If you’re prepared for that, you can’t beat Oriental Kingdom for convenience and price, even if the atmosphere (read: wide-screen TVs on silent and fluorescent lights) is nothing to write home about.
- 43Cinta Malaysian KitchenTe AroIt seems if you’re not a fan of Malaysian or Indian food, your options for BYO restaurants in Wellington are lacking. But if you can’t go past a good mee goreng, Cinta – on the Courtenay Place end of Manners St – is a great choice, especially for parties of up to eight. Its smaller size means it’s less likely to attract big groups of uni students on the weekend, too.
- 510Hede Cafe & BarTe AroHidden away on lower Cuba St, Hede is a great choice for Japanese food, with an extensive selection of set menus and noodle dishes. The menus printed on wood are a nice touch, and there is a fish tank. On the weekends, it can be noisy and cramped, with lengthy wait times for food, so be sure to book.
Alice H.'s
Best food spots in Newtown
- 114The home of Peoples Coffee in Newtown is the perfect spot for a relaxed coffee, with inside and outside seating, a wide range of paraphernalia for brewing at home, and perhaps the best carrot cake this side of the Mt Vic tunnel. In summer, it’s also the home of the excellent Cold Flat White. A tip – aside from that day’s Dominion Post, there’s not much in the way of reading material, so bookworms are recommended to bring their own.
- 228MontereyNewtownStyled like a Californian diner, Monterey is an effortlessly cool destination for catching up with friends over a meal. The tables are covered with paper, on which patrons are encouraged to doodle; books are on offer for those dining solo, and board games for those in a group; and the music selections are consistently excellent. It’s famous in and outside of Newtown for its burgers, which go from $17 to $10 on Tuesdays (though it’s best to get in line before 6.30pm if you’ve got a big group, or are not willing to wait!).
- 313Pranah Vegetarian CafeNewtownPranah is the go-to cafe in Newtown for vegetarian and vegan fare. Its counter food is excellent and very reasonably priced, and its portions are ample, while its eggs menu, only available on the weekends, is very popular. It serves Peoples Coffee.
- 47Planet Spice Indian CuisineNewtownNewtown’s full of Indian restaurants, but few are as busy, as often, as Planet Spice. With extra seating available upstairs, it’s a great choice for big groups looking to dine in and BYO, but be sure to book. (If Planet Spice is packed, Curry Heaven, a few doors down, is another popular choice.)
- 514Baobab CafeNewtownWith its expansive outdoor area, Baobab is a great place to enjoy a coffee outside on a sunny day. Though its selection of counter food is not as expansive as Pranah’s, it too presents a lot of options for vegans and vegetarians. It often holds art exhibitions and live music, too.
Alice H.'s
Activities for animal lovers without pets of their own
- 121Wellington ZooNewtownWellington Zoo makes for a solid afternoon’s entertainment for animal lovers. Its new walk-through "Neighbours" exhibit features Australian fauna, including dingoes, wallabies and kangaroos, while "Hero HQ" is home to chameleons, stick insects and a rather horrific bird-eating tarantula. If you’re a local who hasn’t been for a couple of years, don’t cross it off your list – new exhibits open regularly, and you’re bound to be surprised at how much has changed. (And the zoo’s chief executive, Karen Fifield, has gone on the record about her goal of snow leopards by 2020.)
- 23Mojo Coffee Wellington ZooNewtownIf you’re in the area of Wellington Zoo, but the weather’s looking patchy or you’re in need of a caffeine hit, pop into Mojo Coffee and enjoy a coffee in front of their pygmy marmoset exhibit. Pygmy marmosets are the smallest monkeys in the world, and are found in the wild in the rainforests of South America, where they live in big, familial groups: Wicket and Cuzco, as the pair at Mojo are called, have recently welcomed a tiny addition to their little family.
- 34Wellington SPCA NewtonNewtownWellington SPCA cares for over 6000 animals a year at its centres based in Newtown and Waikanae. You don’t have to be in the market for a pet of your own to be able to help out. Pop in with a donation pet food, blankets or newspaper, or to register to be a volunteer – they’re always on the look-out for fosterers, dog walkers or street collectors. See http://www.wellingtonspca.org.nz/ for more information.
- 43Animates KaiwharawharaPetoneWindow shopping for animal lovers. Enjoy a coffee and a pastry at La Cloche, the French bakery on Hutt Rd, and then pop into Animates Kaiwharawhara to have a look at the puppies and kittens you wish you could take home. The charitable trust Greyhounds As Pets regularly has street collectors there, too.
- 515Wellington WaterfrontWellington CentralOn a sunny Sunday afternoon, Wellington waterfront is packed with dog walkers, many of whom are happy to accommodate requests for pats (but do remember to ask before patting strangers’ pets!). Bernie the Bernese mountain dog, often found outside Freyberg Pool on Oriental Bay, has even become a bit of a local celebrity.