Newtown (A Local's Guide to Wellington)

I lived in Newtown during my student years. Did I live off pot noodle and toasted cheese sandwiches? Of course not. You can't live in Newtown and not eat well. It's my favourite suburb in Wellington, and I'm not even sure why exactly. It just feels special. Speaking of special, let me introduce a few characters who I came to know during my time there:

Coke Bottle Guy, who walks around in his metalhead shirts with a 2.5L bottle of Coke occasionally asking people for cigarettes and mentioning that he likes Coke. 

Prostitute Lady, who can be spotted a mile off from her peculiar dress sense (skimpy clothes or a matching tracksuit, always in vibrant colours) and gait (duck footed with lots of turning). She will sometimes stop walking to strike a pose, usually at busy intersections. I saw her wearing a ball gown once. 

Glue Lady. Although she's dropped off the radar now, she used to be a regular on Riddiford Street. We saw her with what looked like golden paint all around her nose, and she once threw shoes at our friend Leon. 

Denim Hat Guy, who would (surprise surprise) walk around wearing a very strange denim hat. It would shrink and grow in size when you saw him, and I suspect he used it as a method of storage. 

We had a great window - literally - into the lives of these characters as we lived right in front of a place called the Tin Palace, a sort of community centre which had a traffic flow of such individuals, and has since been made into an apartment block. We would routinely be woken early on Saturdays by fervered arguments. 

Others to note are Juggling guy (a toothless man who juggles tennis balls on Lambton Quay), 'Scuse Me (who says to passersby "'Scuse me, can I have a dollar?") and his girlfriend Beetroot Woman (so named as she is the shape of a beetroot), and the famous Blanket Man (rest in peace, you are missed). These people make Wellington what it is, as without them it would be a much less interesting place.  

But back to Newtown. Come, take a journey with me through this eclectic suburb.

Pranah cafe

This cafe provides sustainable vegtarian food for the masses (and there are masses for good reason - delicious food). There are a multitude of vegan and gluten free options as well. Here I have oat and walnut pancakes with boysenberry compote, banana and maple syrup. It's a delight whenever you get a chunk of walnut in your pancake. The fair trade flat white was perfectly brewed. 

Mediterranean Food Warehouse

This warehouse holds a wide array of Mediterranean foodstuffs, from fresh cheeses and salamis to wines, canned goods and chocolate. But the best part of Medi's is the pizzeria, which provides woodfired pizza with traditional toppings. On Mondays, they offer a two-for-one pizza special! (Also something to do with pasta on Tuesdays, but I can never get past the pizza. The Bufala mozarella pizza is amazing,) They now have locations in Kelburn, Lower Hutt and Kapiti as well. 

The zoo
Wellington's zoo is located in Newtown. My dad used to live on Daniel Street and be woken each morning to the sound of lions roaring or monkeys howling. There's a wonderful meercat enclosure with windows into their burrows, as well as giraffes and kangaroos and baboons. There's even a full sized rhino (disclaimer: made of plastic). It's probably a great outing for children, but arguably equally as great for the young-at-heart.

Monterey

A quirky little cafe that's open for brunch on weekends and always full of hipsters. They do good Cajun skinny chips with homemade tomato sauce, and French toast with greek yoghurt and rum fried bananas. I've heard they provide very good gluten free bread, but there is an expensive charge for it.

Even better than the food are the tables that are covered in large sheets of paper for doodling on and the shelf full of board games that you can play when you wait for your food! They even have that 'Guess Who' game where you have to ask questions like "Are you a ginger?" and "Do you have a mustache?". My flatmates and I would play a version where you could only ask non-politically correct questions. As you can imagine, this produced interesting results. 

Velox espresso

A tiny shop that makes great coffee.

Curry Heaven

This place truly is curry heaven. They offer a $9 lunch special (includes a huge curry and naan) and it can last you for two meals. Not only do you get 'bang for your buck' as they say, but the curry itself is excellent. The only downside is that occasionally they won't follow spice orders exactly: if you order a mild you might get closer to medium, order medium and you might get mild. But whatever spice level they give me, I eat it all up. (Yes, sometimes my mouth is on fire. Still worth it.) There is hot debate between whether Curry Heaven or Planet Spice is better, but as you can tell I'm an advocate of Curry Heaven.

Across the street is a Viva Mexico, which was originally located on Left Bank Arcade off Cuba Mall. While I love Viva Mexico on Cuba, I've never been to this one as I can never seem to catch it while it's open. 

Basin Noodle House

This one might technically be in Mount Cook, but I consider pretty much anything on Adelaide Road as Newtown. Cheap, large portions of noodles mean that it's poplar with the Massey uni students as it's just down the hill.

Cicio Cacio Osteria

This charming osteria has cropped up down the alley that has held about five restaurants since I moved to Wellington in 2008. I really hope this one lasts, as the food is to die for and I went with Yannick two weekends in a row as we couldn't get enough. We even saw Bret McKenzie dining here the first time we went, so it's somewhere that famous people go! And in spite of that, the prices are reasonable (though they only gave us a tiny bit of wine when we ordered glasses - might go for a half litre carafe next time).

Story time: This jar was a remnant of our time flatting. It's a mixture of apple peel, food colouring and bulk bin lollies that we had used as tokens on board game nights. We were too afraid to open the jar to try to dispose of the contents so we just wrapped it in lots of layers of plastic bags and deposited it in the nearest bin on the street when we all moved out. Before that, it had loomed down on all our visitors from the top of the pantry. Who knows why we kept it that long...perhaps it was extra food supply in case of the imminent zombie apocalypse.