Noodles and more
Shepherd chef/owner Shepherd Elliott’s favourite places to eat in the capital.
TASTE OF HOME, VIVIAN ST
This little noodle bar is a small Chinese restaurant owned by a lovely couple. It has dan dan noodles, which are noodles with sichuan and mince that you mix together. It also has really good soup dumplings. You have to ask for the hand-rolled noodles. Taste of Home is understated and authentic. It’s a great spot for lunch.
ROMEOS, VIVIAN ST
During the day, Romeos is a little like an American deli where you can get sandwiches. The bacon and egg roll with hot sauce is delicious. Romeos was opened by one of Shepherd Restaurant’s ex-staff. He was a barman with us for about a year. It’s a cool little spot to get a coffee and sandwich during the day, then at night it becomes a bar with a DJ and lots of natural wines and Gissy Gold beer. It’s super chill, day and night.
MASON, NEWTOWN
Mason has lots of delicious small plates, all with a Middle Eastern flavour profile. It has a great wine range, and is a cool little spot. Matt Hawkes runs it. He’s a chef who worked at Rita. The philosophy is about super fresh, super local, super simple, with a
Middle Eastern flavour. It’s a small restaurant, which seats about 25 people, and it’s an open kitchen so you can sit around the kitchen eating and chatting in a lovely atmosphere.
RITA, ARO VALLEY
This is a fantastic restaurant owned by Wellington hospitality legends. They’re such good operators, you always know you’re going to have a wonderful evening. It’s a small neighbourhood restaurant that does a three-course set menu that changes every week depending on what’s available. They often start with a really simple vegetable, so once we simply had radishes with butter to start. Then, quite often they finish with a Kiwi classic dessert such as a lamington. In between it might be some kind of fresh fish.
AMOK, MAJORIBANKS ST
Amok has a menu that is written on paper on the wall, and it changes every night. My staff all love it. It’s a small place with modern cuisine, run by a couple who moved over from Australia. Amok has a beef tartare with potato chips, and it’s done a really good scotch steak. It uses the best ingredients and it’s a great addition to the Wellington food scene.