eatWelly

Situated on the 7th floor of the Copthorne Hotel, One80° Restaurant overlooks Oriental Bay.  Its website brags that it has views to “dine for”.  The views over Wellington harbour were pleasant; unfortunately most tables were obscured, at least partially, by the hotel itself.  We had requested a window seat and One80° gave us possibly the best view they had for a table for two, though sadly it was not next to the window (only tables for four had that privilege).

Food

Our meal started off with a complementary spring onion and coconut foam amuse-bouche.  Fresh and light, though not overpowering in flavour, the amuse-bouche was a nice touch and got us excited for what was to come.  The mains, which followed shortly after, did not disappoint.

My medium-rare beef Wellington was impressively cooked, accompanied by a delicious porcini jus.  The portion size was one of the heftier ones I’d seen in a fine dining restaurant – just as well, as Demi got food envy and stole bits of my beef!  Demi, feeling particularly hungry, had asked which of the lamb selection or pork rack was bigger.  She ordered the pork rack on advice of the waiter, and still got less than I did!  Her pork was perfectly cooked and tasted strongly of harissa. The accompanying slices of poached apple had a mild flavour and did not add much to the dish. The crackling pieces added on top were disappointing and flavourless, but the crackling on the pork itself made up for it.

Our dessert orders were taken at the same time as the mains, and they came out not long after our mains had been finished.  I had the Whittaker’s dark chocolate entremet, which was as delicious as you’d expect from Whittaker’s dark chocolate.  It tasted quite strongly of orange chocolate which I know can be polarising but was not mentioned on the menu.  Demi ordered the chef’s signature bombe Alaska. The meringue was marshmellowy and, paired with the rose icecream, was reminiscent of Turkish delight.

Price

One80°’s menu is right at the upper limits of what you would expect to pay at a restaurant in Wellington.  Most of the mains range from $38-$45, with my beef Wellington the most expensive on the menu at $47.  The location of One80° explains its prices; we suspect many of its diners are armed with either a company credit card or a GrabOne voucher (we held the latter).

Service

Unfortunately, getting a reservation was difficult. The number on the restaurant’s website is for the Copthorne hotel.  When I selected the restaurant from the automated menu, I got a ‘not in service’ message!  The main hotel option looped back to the menu, so I had to get through via the weddings and events booking option.

At the restaurant, service was friendly and our meals arrived very promptly, though that may have been because we were one of the first tables to arrive.  One of the servers accidentally brought the same mains to us after we’d already finished ours – as tempting as it was to eat a second round of delicious food, we ‘fessed up that we’d already finished ours and were waiting on dessert.

Our Ratings

Address: Level 7, Copthorne Hotel, 100 Oriental Parade, Oriental Bay