Review: Nelson Coffee Houses and Restaurants ..

Noticed that there were not too many reviews of places to eat and drink in Nelson. So here's my contribution to all the foodies :)

We've been visiting the coffee shops around the area. The coffee is quite good and we don't really miss San Francisco cafes.

Pomeroy's is an institution out here, it is more of a coffee retailer rather than a coffee house. I got a latte as takeway. Out here on takeaway orders, they add the amount of sugar you want, which makes it a bit like a Cubano. The coffee was strong, not bitter and overall i'd give it a 7 out of 10. We'll go back soon to rate it more appropriately. Update: We went there yesterday for coffee. Definitely lacking in atmosphere (though the coffee smell is quite divine). Had a mocha which was way too sweet and quite horrible (IMO). Need to downgrade this to a 6/10. Mari liked her latte.


Next up was Morrison Street Cafe recommended by the dude at the climbing gym. The baked goods out there were quite tasty, and we sampled the Chocolate brioche, the poppyseed muffin and the broccolli and blue cheese muffin (yeah sounds wierd, but is quite a good combination). We had part of the muffin with mari's freshly made lemon curd (recipe from the tartine cookbook). Had a double shot latte togo yesterday and a single shot latte at the cafe today. Great coffee, 8/10. Update: We went there on saturday morning for breakfast with the kids. Their baked good are quite terrific. We had the sweet blueberry muffin (PJ's favorite) and the savory asparagus/bacon muffin (maya's favorite). They even had fluffies, so both Maya and PJ got their very own fluffy. Definitely our favorite cafe so far :)


We also visited our favorite restaurant in NZ, The Boat Shed Cafe for lunch. We first visited this place 6 years ago when we were in Nelson for quite a few days, and we liked it so much, we went there 3 times or so. Last year we stopped over for dinner here with Lara on our way to Golden Bay. We had the mussels with a tomato chorizo sauce, the seafood broth and a blue fin tuna over linguni. Maya once again amazed me with her capacity to put away large amounts of food. The food did live up to our expectations and i'd still rate it quite highly. 7/10

Finally we had Fish and Chips for dinner tonite at Haven Fish and Chips (near Wakefield Quay, the Boat Shed etc). Our landlady, Diedre, thinks they are the best in Nelson. The quality was quite good and there was a decent line to buy them. Our favorite place for F&C in NZ is still The Fishmonger in Parnell, Auckland. We also decided that we will not have F&C more than twice a month :)

Speaking of NZ delicacies, the pie is quite common out here and is a great snack. Our current favorite is KB, since their crust seems a bit healthier than the others.