April 25 – June 4, 2016
Anyone who follows our blog won’t be surprised at what’s coming next: food! This really is the make-it-or-break-it factor on how much we bond with a town.
As I mentioned before, we’d worried before we came to Nelson that there might not be many appealing eateries. We needn’t have been concerned–there were lots of great restaurants and cafes of many nationalities. So many, in fact, that we’d sometimes go to a place intending to give it a try figuring it wouldn’t be as good as a place we’d recently discovered. Wrong. It was always as good, or better. It’s fun to decide who has the best burgers, the best Thai food, the best breakfasts, the best coffee, the best Mexican-Vietnamese-Chinese-Pizza-Seafood-whatever, but whenever we tired to do so, we were thwarted. Places as good or better kept popping up. Well as problems go, this is nice one to have. Most places we tried, we loved. Some we merely liked. We had no bad meals.
Here, for anyone who’s going to Nelson, are our thoughts on the eateries in town, in vague (not exact) order of favorite to least favorite:
(You can click to enlarge/scroll through any of the photo galleries below)
Rattle N Hum: A Harley-themed bar and pub with really good cheeseburgers. It wasn’t the top food in Nelson, nor was it the most attractive venue, but I’m putting it first because it was a such an easy, comfortable place to be, inexpensive, and it had those great cheeseburgers, big enough to split if we weren’t too hungry. (In fact, sharing or not, we discovered cutting the burgers in half makes them easier to eat). This quickly became our go-to eatery in town.
Green Bamboo: This Vietnamese place had a couple of really appealing dishes on the menu. It turned out they were dinner items and we’d gone for lunch, but the chef was willing to make them for us. We were so glad because this meal (shaking beef and garlic chili prawns) turned out to be one of our best in New Zealand. No, it wasn’t cheap (dinner items have dinner prices), but it was so worth it! We only had time to visit this place once, but that one time was memorable.
Golden Bell Thai Restaurant: There are several Thai restaurants in town to choose from, but I veered to this one because of a specialty of theirs: Street Noodles, and they were fabulous. We also had green chicken curry. This was one of the best Thai meals we’d had in a long, long time. (New Zealand has lots of Thai restaurants, but they tend to be pretty mediocre).
Chokdee Thai: This place seemed popular and busy, so we decided we should try it. It was a good choice, the food was wonderful! Two great Thai restaurants in one town? Not a surprise in Nelson. (And I should mention there are at least two more we never got to.)
Urban Oyster Bar and Eatery: This foodie place is run by a well-known chef. The menu changes regularly, and this month they had something called New Orleans tacos that sounded so appealing we figured we’d try it. They were incredible! We wanted to come back for a second visit, but the timing was never right. We’ll certainly make it a point to get back next time we’re in Nelson.
Chilando: A classic burrito bar much like those so popular in the US. Well, actually a little different in that they don’t make the food right in front of you. No matter, the burritos were delicious! This was our second most visited eatery in Nelson. You can’t have too many yummy burritos in your life, and it’s fairly inexpensive!
Little India: We actually discovered this restaurant in Tauranga (on the north island) and it quickly became one of our favorite restaurants there; so we were delighted to find one in Nelson. The lunch specials are reasonably-priced, and the food is fantastic.
Panama Kitchen and Bar: We finally came here to make sure we weren’t missing anything, but it turned out we were missing something: fantastic sliders and cheeseburgers. Their menu changes, but I’m sure whatever they have will always be good. We really enjoyed this place.
The Anchor Restaurant and Bar: This was the first restaurant we visited after bringing our boat into the harbor, and we returned here a couple more times. It’s a great place during off hours when it’s not busy and you don’t mind splurging a bit. In these circumstances, it takes the food a little while to arrive, hardly noticeable. But when it’s busy that meal can take a long time to appear. Still, we really liked the place, and what a great place to come after a blustery day on the water.
The Swedish Bakery Cafe: A tiny bakery cafe with homemade breads. During the summer they make rye bagels served with cream cheese and jam. We came for those, loved them, and probably would have gone back to try some of the other food if the place were a bit bigger and we could be assured of getting a table.
Babagatto: It took us awhile to get to this Italian eatery with a very small menu, but what a nice find! Great homemade pasta and nice people. And usually empty, although I can’t imagine why. I hope we get back, and I hope they’re still there. People of Nelson–go try Babagatto! This great little restaurant deserves a better following.
Harbour Light Bistro: This bistro in a historic former creamery building might not have attracted us had it not been for the fact I was craving a Reuben sandwich. It’s not downtown but instead a walk to a waterfront area along a highway that’s more car than pedestrian-friendly. The sandwiches called though, and they turned out to be excellent. (OK, maybe not New York City excellent but they hit the spot). And the building turned out to be far more interesting than expected. Nice view above the water, too.
River Kitchen: Very pretty glass-sided cafe along the river promenade. Of course it’s popular and tends to be a bit hyperactive. The food (a pulled pork sandwich and pasta) was good, but not as good as some of the other places in town.
Aki: This little pre-made sushi place doesn’t have a lot of variety, but what it has is pretty good.
L’Artisan: A small bakery that has some interesting items along with their breads. We tried their pizza and it was different but good. While we didn’t try the pasties, they looked great.
Nicola’s Cantina: They bill themselves as Mexican, but it’s actually Mexican-Kiwi fusion. Fusion food is generally tasty but also translates like this: slightly less food for slightly more money, served in a less than restful (tables close together, loud, bustling, and often overly-white decor) atmosphere. So, while we enjoyed our meal (tacos), we never felt the desire to go back.
Stephanos: Very thin crust pizza that’s tasty, but boy does it get loud in there. Too many hard surfaces plus lots of kids and teens equals a high noise level.
Comida: This is an appealing eatery inside the Prego Mediterranean Market and the food looked amazing. It turned out to be good but not great. We enjoyed our meal, but it seemed like it should have been better than it was.
Lambretta’s Cafe and Bar: Such an appealing place and fun decor. We got a pizza and it was good. But there are so many great places in Nelson that merely “good,” isn’t good enough. So we never went back, but to be fair we only had pizza and didn’t try any of their other dishes. It’s a busy place; so maybe it’s worth going back to try the pasta.
A Short Drive From Town
The Hot Rock Gourmet Pizza and Pasta Bar: This was only open for dinner and a little too far to walk; so we came here only when we rented a car. The pizza had a thin crust but was really tasty. We would have gone back for more if it had been closer.
Smuggler’s Pub and Cafe: The food is just OK, but the pirate-theme decor is a lot of fun to see. Aside from all the funky skeletons, this place is actually a very attractive and pleasant place to eat.
Coffee
Kush Coffee: This gets our vote for the best coffee in town!
Zumo: The place takes their coffee very seriously, and it’s quite good.
Three More to Mention
Paula’s Plate: This place had outstanding breakfasts, but according to Google it’s closed. I hope it’s not permanent.
Underground: This former tapas place had reinvented itself to become an American-style burger place, and the highly-anticipated opening happened shortly before we left. Alas, it was packed when we tried to go so we didn’t get to try it. We did, however, get a look at the menu and saw some of the burgers being carried out of the kitchen. Wow. This place will be at the top of our list when we go back.
Penguino Gelato Ice Cream: Pretty good ice cream here.
That pretty much sums up the places we tried in Nelson. Of course there are lots more we never got to, including the very appealing looking Morri Street Cafe (highly recommended for breakfast), La Gourmandise (crepes), Max Cafe (Spanish and tapas), the Indian Cafe Restaurant, two beer gardens, and Harry’s Bar among others. Yep, we pretty much have to go back at some point. –Cyndi
