Restaurant Review : CHOW (Wellington, New Zealand)

On my recent trip back to New Zealand I was delighted to dine out at Chow, one of my family's favourite restaurants. Chow is a pan-asian fusion cuisine which was one of its kind when it opened in Wellington a few years ago. Its menu consists of healthy sharing plates, small and large and bowls of curries and noodle soups and salads. The food is designed to be shared amongst each other to ensure your group gets a taste of everything on offer.

Chow on a Monday entails an extra special treat : 2 4 1 dishes. This marvellous offer invites one to order a tremendous amount of food for great value for money, so it was a no brainer that on my only Monday in New Zealand, my family and I went and dined at Chow (Woodward Street).

Unfortunately you can't book on Monday's as the restaurant is so busy, that they only take those who have full parties in line. Once our party of 8 arrived we were offered a private back room much to the delight of my parents who had dined in that room once before.  We were comfortably seated in our private booth around a large square table - the ideal sharing spot! Being the Chow regulars my family consider themselves to be it did not take us too long to work out what we wanted to dine on. We settled on 16 dishes, consisting of two of each so ensure we each got a sample: steamed salmon parcels (my favourite), mussel fritters, chicken satay, blue cheese and peanut wontons (a speciality), steamed prawn and pork dumplings, and one of each chicken jungle curry, slow cooked lamb mussaman curry, and two chili beef salads.

My favourite Salmon Parcels

The food always lives up to its reputation at Chow, and this time was no exception. The service can be a bit hit and miss but considering Monday is there busiest night we will forgive them for having to ask a few times for some drinks.  Everything was brought out around the same time and placed in the middle of the table... this is the treats we had on offer:

The food was literally gobbled up within moments. Everyone ravenous and eager to try the next morsel, and me trying to savour every flavour so I could remember this moment for when I head back to the UK. Chow has a unique place in the Wellington and the New Zealand food market. Although I miss the Chow experience immensely and wish it was in London, I do feel it might get gobbled up in the voluptuousness of London's food scene which would take away from its magic.  But that doesn't matter, it makes it all the more special for when us Kiwi's return back home. For now I will dream of the curries full of colour, each dipping sauce intricately flavoured to compliment the item to dip, the salads spiced up with chilli and equally balanced with herby goodness, and the perfect mix of healthy dishes. You really can't fault Chow, it is definitely a resident Wellington haunt that has to be done, for regulars and especially out-of-towners. Go get Chowed!



To check out Chow's menu of Fresh Asian Cuisine click here.