The Establishment, Wellington

You all must know by now how much I love a bargain. ;-) Well, when I spied GrabOne vouchers for The Establishment a while back - $10 for $30 of food and beverages - I definitely couldn't resist, so bought two (one for each of us) and then, one hot evening when we really didn't feel like cooking we strolled down the road and had a nice dinner on the cheap.

I'm picking The Establishment focuses more on their drinking clientele than the restaurant aspect, and the menu is definitely emphasising the nibbles more than the mains. We sit inside because it was quite hot and I'd already had a fair bit of sun that day, and we were the only ones. Everyone else was out enjoying the summer on the balcony - perhaps there's a little bit of vampire in me?

Mr Cake definitely got the winning dish of the day with his DIY chicken tapas platter - it came with a seasoned chicken and vege mix, cheese, sour cream and tortillas. It was pretty tasty and quite fun making your own. I went all boring with wedges - I am beginning to realise that going out for dinner post-gym is an exceedingly bad idea unless I am keen to load up on deep fried carbs. ;-) Still, deep fried carbs do tend on the delicious side and these were tasty wedges - nothing remarkable, but well cooked. I confess I pinched some of Mr Cake's sour cream, though, because tomato sauce and aioli are for fries, not wedges!

Our mains were pretty mediocre - if I was coming back here I think I'd go for a variety of nibbles instead of bothering with the mains - but nothing particular wrong with them and it definitely beat making our own dinner! Mr Cake had the chicken burger, crumbed chicken breast with some salad, and shoestring fries, and wasn't overly impressed - it was all just pretty average. My fish was nice, but I found the fries slightly overcooked (so easy to do with such skinny fries) - not that I needed fries after my wedges.

So - great location, and yummy snacks, but maybe not a place to go for the meals - and great value with the vouchers! Where do you go for dinner if you really can't bring yourself to cook - or are you more motivated than me? ;-)




The Establishment is located on the corner of Courtenay Place and Blair Street, Wellington, ph 04 382 8654, www.theestablishment.co.nz