Secret to savour
Inside the world’s tastiest laneway
Move over Melbourne, Wellington has a foodie street that’s been called ‘‘the world’s tastiest laneway’’. With pizzas, pies, cookies, a chocolate factory, fine dining, a peanut butter cafe, and a brownie bar, Hannahs Laneway (also known as Leeds St) is a shrine to delicious treats, and those who choose to worship will be richly rewarded.
But is it really one of the best food streets in the world?
In an enormous five-hour marathon, we ate our way through the little laneway lined with food, and this is what we found.
Fix and Fogg
Let’s start with breakfast and the humble piece of toast. I hear you, who would ever buy a warm piece of bread with toppings? We can do that at home.
I would have agreed with you until I rolled up to the hobbit-like window of Fix and Fogg, the city’s artisan peanut butter maker.
You have to bend down to order because the kitchen is underground. It almost feels like you’re engaged in a backstreet drug deal, but this is another kind of ‘‘p’’: peanut butter. A few minutes after you order, up pops an edible piece of art.
We sampled the most popular dish, the Black Forest Toast. It has dark chocolate peanut butter, banana, cacao granola, freeze-dried strawberries, and wildberry jam. To say it is divine is an understatement.
Leeds Street Bakery
After toast, take 20-odd steps over to Leeds Street Bakery for some exceptional coffee. The capital has more than 300 cafes, and this is one of the best. The baristas work the machine like artisans.
The perfect companion to your coffee is the shop’s legendary salted caramel cookie. It’s thin, packed with caramel, satisfyingly chewy, and not too sweet.
Pizza Pomodoro
Another few steps, and it’s time for Pizza Pomodoro. Let’s stop eating and have a quick history lesson.
Pizza was invented in Naples, and true Neapolitan pizza is light, packed with flavour, soft in the centre, and slightly crunchy at the crust. You won’t see any pineapple here, it’s nothing like what the big chains serve.
The pizza masters in Naples use only high-protein flour, water with the correct pH level, approved ingredients, and traditional ovens. It’s hard to find these authentic pizza makers outside Italy.
Enter Massimo Tolve. The Naples native has been cooking pizzas in the Wellington laneway for 20 years, and owns one of only three pizza parlours in New Zealand certified by the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, essentially the Lord Protector of the authentic Naples-style pizza.
We had the Bufalina, which comes with buffalo mozzarella, fresh basil and extra virgin olive oil.
I could have been back in Italy. Make sure to order one each. Sharing great pizza is not fun.
Lashings
A warning: what you’re about to read could lead to a chocolate coma. Upstairs at the northern end of the laneway is a giant cabinet filled with brownies.
But these are not just any brownies. Think a Vegemite brownie, peanut butter and jelly brownie, and even a vegan brownie.
Pastry chef Jackie Lee Morrison created her sweet treat paradise, Lashings, after her brownies proved hugely popular at a local market.
The secret is making everything by hand, which gives a fudgy texture, and using single-origin chocolate crafted in the capital.
There’s a ‘‘pimp your brownie’’ menu that gives you the option to add toppings such as caramelised cornflakes, pretzel milk icecream and salted toffee popcorn. It’s hard to buy a brownie elsewhere after eating here. They will never be as good.
Golding’s Free Dive
I think it’s time for a drink. Golding’s Free Dive is a feast for the eyes and taste buds. The interior is full of colour, fairy lights, and a crazy amount of knickknacks that somehow all blend perfectly.
It is essentially a colourful temple of beer, with a daily board of new flavours to try. You can also order pizza from next door and have it delivered while you enjoy your drink.
Wellington Chocolate Factory
One of the laneway’s most famous stops is the Wellington Chocolate Factory. Walk in and you’ll see and smell chocolate being created in front of you.
The store has a fascinating history. Co-founders Gabe Davidson and Rochelle Harrison went to the ends of the Earth to find their perfect beans – eventually settling on some from Bougainville in Papua New Guinea. The pair brought a tonne back
home in spectacular fashion: on a waka, using the stars as navigation.
Their 50-day journey, with a crew of fellow celestial sailors, encountered six-metre swells, went backwards at times, and they ate freshly caught fish. The boat eventually arrived in Wellington, where the beans were loaded on to bikes and transported to the factory, completing the carbon-free journey.
Now, six years later, the factory is an institution – its sumptuous hot chocolates are wildly popular on a cold day, alongside a constantly changing selection of chocolate bars.
If you have a spiritual connection to cocoa and its creations (like many of us do), take a chocolate masterclass with Davidson, who will guide you on a two-hour grand tour and tasting.
Fortune Favours
This popular bar is a must-visit for those who love craft beer. Fortune Favours has a stable of favourites, including The Adventurer, a crisp pilsner with herbal and citrus hops.
But even more exciting is its collaborations, such as a Peanut Butter Porter and The Sunny Disposition, a ‘‘tropical hazy’’ pale ale.
There’s even a rooftop terrace for a sunset drink.
Gorilla Burger
Right next to Fortune Favours is a seriously delicious food truck. Gorilla Burger’s burgers are so juicy it makes eating McDonald’s feel like a crime.
The Kong is one of the most popular, with two ‘‘smashed beef’’ patties, smoked brisket, cheese, onions, pickles, and a delicious smoked barbecue sauce. I would also strongly suggest the Flying Monkey, which has generous slabs of deep-fried buttermilk chicken. There is also a selection of popular vegetarian burgers, alongside drool-worthy jungle fries, the burger bar’s take on loaded fries.
Pork belly lovers will also want to try the deepfried belly bites, covered in sweet and smoky barbecue sauce. Have I made you hungry yet?
Shepherd
Welcome to the laneway’s flirt with fancy. The twohatted Shepherd has been named one of the top 20 restaurants in New Zealand, and for good reason.
The menu is designed to challenge, with dishes described like this: custard, Jerusalem artichoke, leek, coffee, umeboshi. After reading that, my brain paused. Combining such ingredients is often more about the chef’s ego than taste. However, this is where Shepherd shines. The food pushes the limits, but it never forgets the most important reason we eat out: to taste something exceptional.
The hardest part is choosing what to eat for one of the best dining experiences in the capital.
Hanging Ditch
End the night at the moody upmarket bar, Hanging Ditch, which features dozens of bottles hanging from the ceiling. It’s part bar, part show. To make drinks, the mixologist will reach up and pull down bottles attached to the ceiling by bungy cords, a little like Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory for alcohol.
The ambience is exceptional, and you’ll never run out of things to try.
Five hours and roughly 17 billion calories later, we finished our food odyssey of Hannahs Laneway.
Having done many food tours in Europe, across the United States, Asia, and Australia, I think you’d be hard-pressed to find such a vibrant collection of eateries in such a small space. So yes, Wellington might just have the world’s tastiest laneway. It’s best your taste buds be the judge.
The writer’s trip was supported by WellingtonNZ. This story was produced as part of an editorial partnership with Tourism New Zealand.