Great Food and Beer Intersect in Wellington

“Like Melbournians, Wellingtonians take their food and drink culture extremely seriously,” Jason Lim reports for Forbes. “The city is said to have more restaurants, bars and cafes per capita than New York.

“Wellington is blessed by its location between rich farmland and ocean that gets a unique freshness from the Antarctic water. If you’re a foodie, visit in August during the Wellington On a Plate festival, when restaurateurs compete to create special menus that showcase regional produce.

“When the standard of gastronomy is high in a compact city like Wellington, the limits are pushed further. At Egmont Street Bakery, I had my most memorable salmon dish. At WBC, the local New Zealand oysters were some of the freshest I’ve ever tasted. At Charley Noble (pictured), the crackling on the woodfired pork belly was divine.

“New Zealander’s are proud of their craft beer. There’s a special kind of passion, creativity and entrepreneurialism that has been brewed in Wellington, that makes it the capital of craft beer.

“One of the most sought after is Garage Project. The microbrewery is set up in an abandoned petrol station with a cellar door for people to drop in and taste the latest concoctions of flavours. The bottle artwork and names are as distinct as the flavours themselves, such as ‘Triple Day of the Dead’ brewed with chipotle chili, cocoa and agave aged in tequila barrels and finished in cocoa nibs. Founder Pete Gillespie says ‘People from around the world come to Wellington for the beer.’”

Original article by Jason Lim, Forbes, November 29, 2015.