Where to Spend Your Weekend at Visa Wellington On a Plate 2022
Headed to Visa Wellington On a Plate 2022? Our weekend itinerary will help you enjoy all the bites and sounds of the festival.
Visa Wellington On a Plate is the southern hemisphere's biggest culinary festival, which, unsurprisingly, means there is a lot to see and do. To cover its entire slate of events and offerings in a single weekend (or even the entire month for that matter) would be an impossible mission. What you need is a carefully curated itinerary that allows you to enjoy the highlights of the festival without putting too much on your plate (pun intended).
With that in mind, whether you’re travelling from near or far, our Visa Wellington On a Plate weekend round-up will help you explore the very best that the festival has to offer. And still give you the flexibility you need to carve out your own culinary path.
Friday Evening
What:Dine Wellington, Capitol: Windy City Koura Souffle
Where: Capitol Restaurant
When: 1-14 August
Getting your weekend off to a blustery beginning is Capitol’s Windy City Koura Souffle. Souffler means to blow, so it only seems natural that the Capitol team should epitomise one of the city’s most defining characteristics with an equally potent dish. The key difference being that their crayfish bisque will blow you away with its incredible flavours rather than a strong gust of wind.
Friday Evening continued
What:Cocktail Wellington, Choose Your Own Beerventure
Where: GP 91 Aro
When: 1-31 August
The night is still young, so before you head home or to the hotel to rest up, grab yourself a drink. The best nights out are the ones with unexpected endings, and that’s precisely what Choose Your Own Beerventure by Garage Project promises. Beginning with a wild-ferment sour ale, this event asks you to choose your preferred spirit and pair it with one of three Six Barrel Syrups. There are nine possible flavour combinations – where the story of your Friday night ends is up to you!
Saturday Lunch
What:Garage Project presents Burger Wellington, Snap Crackle, Pop
Where: Whitby Co-op Kitchen & Bar
When: 12-31 August
You can’t leave Visa Wellington On a Plate without trying at least one entry from Burger Wellington. Over the course of the month, festival-goers will try multiple outlandish creations, but since we’re limited to one weekend, we went for the most outlandish of them all – Snap, Crackle, Pop from Whitby Co-op Kitchen & Bar. Like an edible kaleidoscope of colour, this burger features crispy pork belly with a fresh green apple & rainbow cabbage slaw, aged cheddar mayo, a bark beer, apple and seeded mustard relish in a coloured brioche bun served with crackling dusted fries and an apple cider gravy for dipping. If this doesn’t brighten up your day, nothing will.
Saturday Afternoon
Where: Le Samourai
When: Every Wed-Sat in August, 10am-6pm
Is there a better food partnership than milk and cookies? Perhaps, but this one won’t ruin your appetite before the evening’s main event. Indulge yourself in all the textural pleasure of crumbly, chewy, soft cookies paired perfectly with Lewis Road Creamery. You can even order online, so there’ll be more waiting for you when you get home!
Saturday Evening
What:Event, Mid-Winter Mask-erade Ball
Where: Shed 5 Restaurant & Bar
When: Sat 13 August, 6pm-Late
After two long years of mandatory mask wearing, it’s time to mask up once again, but for a much more enchanting occasion. Rejoice in an evening of music, dance, fine wine and fabulous food in an event that celebrates a bygone era and says goodbye to social distancing. You’ll be offered a drink on arrival and bottomless canapés throughout the evening including black truffle and porcini arancini and scallop mornay with brioche gratin. Mask wearing is required at this black-tie event, so make sure yours is fabulous!
Sunday Morning
What:Event, Boujee Brunch
Where: Hillside Kitchen
When: Every Fri, Sat, Sun in August, 11am-2pm
Depending on how thoroughly you enjoyed yourself the previous evening, a late start may suit you best. And brunch is tailor-made made for lazy Sunday mornings. Start the day in style with a five-course breakfast tasting menu at Hillside Kitchen, featuring brunch classics and reinventions that will make you rethink your idea of breakfast.
Sunday Afternoon/Evening
Where: Begins at Coene’s Bar & Eatery
When: Sun 7 August, 4pm-10pm (open passport also available)
Regardless of whether you’re alcohol-free or enjoy a good tipple, the Waterfront Crawl is an excellent way to cap off the weekend. Enjoy a trip around the iconic waterfront with stops for winter versions of traditionally tropical non-alcoholic and alcoholic cocktails including a Coffee Supreme espresso martini and Fix & Fogg peanut butter piña colada. Each cocktail will be matched with a snack to power you through the rest of your tour with tandem bike rentals also available (at an additional cost) to cruise in style from venue to venue.
Hungry for more? Visit visawoap.co.nz for the full programme guide and to plan your own festival itinerary.
Festival Event tickets go on Visa pre-sale for Visa cardholders (debit and credit) from midday June 13 to midnight June 15, 2022, with general release tickets available for non-Visa cardholders from midday June 20, 2022.
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latest issue:
Issue #114
Autumn has arrived, and with it, the latest issue of dish, jam-packed with recipes that will have you fizzing to get in the kitchen! With a long Easter lunch featuring perfectly pink, blushing roast leg of lamb and wildly decadent baked mashed potatoes with caramelised onions, to simply scrumptious chocolate treats and sensational seasonal baking this issue has you covered - we reckon the Hot Cross Buns are our best yet! Salads make way for soothing soups, pies, puddings and our cover star beef cheek ragù with spaghetti – a must-make dinner for family and friends. With over 60 recipes in our latest issue there’s plenty of inspiration to keep you busy – and well-fed! Don’t forget to share your dish dishes with our Facebook community.