A seat at the table: WBC

Thistles and Kiwis,

On Thursday evening, we set out to have a sort of pre-Valentine’s Day dinner at WBC, a wonderful little restaurant in town. I could see thanks to the blog (a great digital diary for me) that we had last visited at almost exactly the same time last year….too long a gap, but sort of nice to think this could almost be a tradition.

WBC stands for Wholesale Boot Company, the name coming from a business that used to occupy that space. It is a place you could easily miss, as it is tucked away up a narrow flight of stairs. The restaurant space is quite small, but feels spacious with big windows on one side, and an open kitchen and bar space on the other. The featured image at the top of the post was taken last year as last night the place was full, so no chance really to get a picture of the interior – and I forgot to take one of the entrance.

The menu was up on the wall, offering lots of good things to chose from. WBC also specialise in serving excellent oysters, with a map showing from where that day’s choice comes.

I decided to go for oysters from the Coromandel to start (resisting having a selection of half battered and fried and half natural), and Karl had the dumplings. I tasted a bit of his sauce and can honestly say it was excellent.

I don’t know if you feel the same, but it is becoming increasingly difficult these days to find places that don’t do sharing plates. When there is just the two of you, and you have different tastes, it is even harder. Anyway, we opted for a large dish each and I went for the snapper, which was perfectly cooked with an amazing sauce with just the right amount of heat and a big bunch of cooling coriander. Karl had the sirloin, which could easily have fed two, but again was cooked to perfection and served with an excellent butter. We also shared a bowl of crispy roast beef fat potatoes.

We drank a sauvignon blanc from Dog Point and a malbec with our main. All in all a fantastic meal with excellent service and a chance to enjoy what may be our last summer evening for a while.

Rating: 5*

Thistles and Kiwis is a Wellington, New Zealand based blog written by Barbara, who likes cats, summer and good food. Thistles and Kiwis can be found on Facebook and Instagram @thistlesandkiwis

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Published by Thistles and Kiwis

Loves summer, sunshine and cats. Beginner gardener, likes eating, cooking and reading about food

27 Comments

  4. I’d have gone for Karl’s starter and your mains. I agree about the sharing platters. They seldom work for us. And thanks for the reminder about Valentine’s. We will be out on a group walk tomorrow and I have no idea where or what we will eat xx

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  9. The menu is certainly very tempting. What’s been happening more and more here is if you say when you’re ordering that you’ll have one serve to share they charge extra because you’re using two plates. I think that’s a bit rich. Glen’s not big on sharing so we don’t have that problem.

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  12. That menu board looks delicious! I’d have difficulty choosing. I also am not a great fan of sharing plates preferring my own dedicated meal. Glad you had a special time.

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  13. Pingback: This week's small pleasures from lunches to friendship.

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