eatWelly

The Hop Garden seems to have a perpetual Groupon deal so we decided to get one for a dinner on Saturday night!  The website stated that bookings had to be made online, but when we tried it, no Saturdays were available.  There was nothing in the fine print excluding Saturdays, so we picked up the phone and booked the old fashioned way – no problems getting a Saturday booking that way 😉

The starter is a “shared seasonal tapas platter”.  In other words, it depends on what they have available that day.  Ours was a tastefully presented trio of chorizo with paprika aioli, pork and chive dumplings, and vegetarian rice paper rolls.  Sadly, the chorizo was dry and overcooked, and the paprika aioli didn’t taste much of paprika.  The rice paper rolls were adequate – it was nice to have some vegetables balancing out the otherwise meaty platter.  The dumplings, however, were delicious: juicy, flavourful and full of meat. Nicole often makes them at home, and had to admit (somewhat grudgingly) that these ones were better than hers.

For a main, Demi got the burger and fries. She was amused by it being called a Krabby Patty and thought it’d be worth a try instead of the relatively tame mains options. It turned out to be a tongue-in-cheek restaurant version of a Big Mac! The special sauce was on point, the bun was surprisingly tasty and the meat itself well fried. In all ways it tasted like the gourmet version of what it set out to copy in a way that made Demi want to go back for another. The fries, with the aioli, were very nice, and Nicole kept stealing some from Demi’s plate to her chagrin!

Nicole ordered the lamb rump with potatoes (as shown in the teaser photo).  The lamb was a thick cut of meat that could easily have been over- or undercooked.  Luckily, like baby bear’s porridge, it was just right, with a thin layer of crispy fat on top.  The same could not be said for the poor overcooked potatoes.  The sauce, a mix of capsicum and olive, was also a bit strange – Nicole likes olives but she wasn’t convinced they complemented the rest of the dish.

Dessert was easily the weakest part of the meal.  The Eton mess was full of marshmallows.  Much to Nicole’s disappointment, it did not contain any berries (which were the whole reason she had ordered the dish).  Out of Demi’s trio of sorbets, one was delicious, one was average, and one was a strange sickly boozy sweet.  Pretty much sums up our dining experience!

Trio of sorbets ($12)

Eton mess ($12)

The ambience, strangely, was more pleasant at the bar and garden end, which we could see seated in the restaurant end.  We noticed the telltale smell of KFC wafting from the neighbouring restaurant from time to time – this didn’t bother us, but it may be off-putting for some.

Service was fine – our water glasses were tiny (they looked more like candle holders), but our waitress refilled them regularly.  The waitress was friendly and attentive (we were practically the only diners at the restaurant when we dined) but could’ve made more of an effort to explain our dishes.

Overall – we had a decent meal at the Hop Garden but we have doubts about the consistency of them.  Every dish contained inconsistency in the quality of cooking of each component and it made us question whether or not we’d received a similarly prepared dish next visit. Their menu prices are reasonable but isn’t especially dynamic.  Hopefully they change it up frequently. With plenty of other strong restaurants in Wellington, we’re not planning to revisit this place any time soon.

Our Ratings

Address: 13 Pirie St, Mt Victoria (next to KFC)