Its that time of year again: Wellington on a Plate!

This is the third time I have been in the city for the three week-long food extravaganza and I have to say, it does perk up the end of winter.

Having said though, it can also be a bit of a mind fuzzle because there is just SO MUCH going on, it is really hard to know which things to do and what to try. So, to help, just as I did last year, I linked up with Alana and Vicky from Wellington food gram @CapitalEats to find out what this year’s highlights will be for them and how to make the most of Wellington on a Plate 2018.

(For all the programming and links to the events, check out the Wellington on a Plate 2018 Website HERE.)

Here goes..

Capital Eats Wellington on a Plate Top Picks

Wellington on a Plate 2018 Top Picks with Capital Eats:

Hi Galz! What have been your favourite Wellington food moments of the past year?

2017 was an amazing year for us in terms of our Instagram page and the opportunities we received, and 2018 is proving to be equally as amazing! The opening of Lucky fried chicken in mid-2017 was definitely a highlight. We live really close to Lucky and are obsessed with literally everything on their menu. They can do no wrong in our eyes.

We’ve also loved checking out new openings around Wellington that have become instant classics, like Pickle and Pie, The Old Quarter, 1154, Lulu and Press Hall.

Another favourite food moment for us personally has been getting to share amazing foodie experiences with some of our friends we’ve met through Instagram, like Hannah and Kalliana from Wellingnoms, Connor from LoveWelly, Stacy Heyman and Sopheak from Stylish Foodie.

What are you most excited about for this years WOAP?

We’re really excited to be doing more events this year. For the past couple of years we’ve been focused on burgers, but this year we’ve changed it up a bit and have some really awesome events lined up.

  • We’re doing the Tomboy Cakes Pink Sunday event, where we’ll be creating our own cake topped with all sort of flowers, foliage and fruit, all while sipping on some bubbles. The Black Friday version of this event looks really cool too.
  • We’ll also be heading along to the highly anticipated Double Dragon Yum Cha. Garage Project is collaborating with Dragons restaurant to bring us a multi-course, multi-beer, yum cha experience. This event is always hugely popular, so we are so excited to be heading along for the first time this year.
  • The Long Greek Lunch event at Oikos looks set to be a really good time, as does the Dragonfly Noodlicious event.
  • We also can’t wait to get stuck into some burgers. This year there are 179 burgers! We’re going to be more selective with our burger picks this year!
  • The Future of Food is Female event looks really interesting – it will be a good chance to break up all the actual eating, and we (along with everyone else) are obsessed with Monique Fiso and the cool stuff she is doing in the foodie world, so it will be awesome to hear her speak.

What are your top 5 dining picks?

To be honest we rarely delve into the dining menus at WOAP because we’re usually so fixated and preoccupied with the burgers. But this year we are going to try and give more of the dine menus a chance because there are some really good deals and interesting menus this year!

  1. Comes and Goes does beautiful food all year round but their dining menu sounds both delicious and stunning. The festival dish of pork belly with caramelised fruit and hazelnuts and burnt cauliflower puree sounds very interesting.
  2. Fratelli’s pan-fried gnocchi with housemade lamb and red pepper sausage, artichokes, Napoli sauce and parmesan sounds so good.
  3. Mr Go’s dessert dishes – New Zealand orange five ways with a sticky coconut mochi ball or baked dumpling with Fix & Fogg peanut butter and macadamias sound very interesting.
  4. The Arborist festival dish – baked moussaka with mushrooms, Zany Zeus feta, roast garlic, lentils and house-made hummus sounds incredible.
  5. Cuba Street Bistro dessert – mini banana chocolate beignets with Kapiti vanilla ice cream and grapefruit syrup – delish!

What are your top 5 burger picks?

  1. The Lucky chicken burger is definitely up there. Lucky fried chicken is hands down one of our guilty pleasures and their ‘Breakfast for Dinner’ burger with fried chicken, maple-candied bacon, smoked cheese, Pickle and Pie pickles sounds insane!
  2. We’re also excited for the Pickle and Pie ‘Drip, Pickle and Dip’ – roast new york strip loin with horseradish aioli on a salted pretzel bun with dipping gravy and crinkle cut fries. Anything that comes with dipping gravy = we’re there.
  3. Burger Liquor’s ‘Party Popper’ sounds right up our alley with a beef patty, candied bacon (are you sensing a theme here?), cheese, salt ‘n’ vinegar chips, fanta/bbq sauce in a ‘lucky dip bun’ with a take-home party bag. How fun!
  4. ‘Fowl Play’ from Bebemos has cornflake crusted chicken, cheese, maple-cured bacon and toasted FAIRY BREAD in line with this years ‘party’ theme.
  5. We also can’t wait to get our hands on Wilson Barbecue’s ‘Brewed to the Bone’ – smoked beef short rib, candied bacon, Zany Zeus boozy cheese sauce with curly fries. YUM!

What are your Top cocktail picks?

Every year, cocktail master Ray Letoa surprises and intrigues Wellingtonians with his cocktail creations. He’s so good, that Coco at the Roxy has taken out Cocktail Wellington 3 years in a row.

  1. ‘Hip HOP HooRAY’ from Coco at the Roxy is our top pick for sure! It’s pina colada beer, rum, toasted coconut syrup and lime juice topped with mango-pineapple foam. He’s also doing a cocktail masterclass event, so head along to that for a hands-on experience with Wellington’s top mixologist.
  2. ‘After the Goldrush’ from Mr Go’s is another top pick – we LOVE bubble tea and their cocktail has tapioca pearls.
  3. We’ve also got our eye on Egmont Street Eatery’s cocktail, ‘Just the Yuzual, Thanks’ – it’s a fruit-focused cocktail that infuses Reid + Reid Gin with yuzu and comes served with the classic kiwi onion chip and dip.
  4. Southern Cross’ cocktail – ‘Hokey Pokey Whisky Float’ sounds amazing and so does Apache’s ‘Hanoi Meets Welly Martini’ – it’s Vietnamese drip coffee, coffee liqueur, condensed milk and a Wellington Chocolate Factory chocolate cigar.

Which Pop-Ups are not to miss?

Last year we were lucky enough to go to Rimutaka Prison for a preview of their Gate to Plate event. It was such an eye-opening experience, and really humbling seeing the prisoners preparing the food and talking to us about the programme. So this year, we’re really keen to head along to the Gate to Plate pop up and try some more delicious goodies.

We also can’t wait for the Wellington Chocolate Factory Lashings pop up. Their brownies are our fave in the city, with delicious flavours like coconut salted caramel and Fix & Fogg peanut butter brownies – this is one pop up we won’t be missing out on.

The Pie & Pinot popup is always a go-to – who doesn’t love a good pie?

Press Hall is having a pop up this year with lots of small bites from their vendors, as well as beer, wine, sake and cocktails.

Any final tips on how to make the most of the festival?

Take some time one afternoon and have a good look through the event guide, or on the Visa WOAP website and find the events, burgers and cocktails that are the most appealing to you. We went through and highlighted everything we were interested in. Then we booked the events we wanted to go to and keep a spreadsheet of all the burgers and cocktails we want to try out. Preparation is key to Welly on a Plate, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with the number of things happening across those two weeks.

Another pro-tip is to go with a friend and share a burger between the two of you, that way you are able to try more burgers overall! Some days we will go out and try two (maybe even three) different burgers in one day and split them in half.

Also the last tip, and this one is harsh but true, WOAP doesn’t turn bad restaurants into good ones. if you wouldn’t go to a restaurant normally don’t expect their WOAP offerings to change the quality of the restaurant. WOAP is full on and time is of the essence! Do your research, pick your favourites and don’t waste time on anything else.

Happy eating!

Photos supplied by the Wellington on a Plate team

Thanks for reading and do come back soon!

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Josie x