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Salient: Victoria University of Wellington Students' Newspaper. Vol. 32, No. 4. 1969.

Noshingrog

page 11

Noshingrog

A guide to eating and drinking in Wellington

This column will cover the full range of eating and drinking establishments in Wellington and environs, from the humble licensed restaurant to the swept-up piecart; the "W.P." to the Tramways. Points will be awarded based on quality, price, atmosphere and service. Five points is the maximum. Any diversions into nostalgic memories are purely accidental and will kindly be ignored by readers.

* * *

I believe in starting with the best, and in my opinion the Paekak pub is the most in boozing at present. Waikato on tap in all bars, which are spacious and cool. "Lounge bar prices" and the accompanying neckwear are unknown. Friday nights there is a fun housie evening, but Saturday night is when it all happens. A six-piece trad jazz band starts at 7.30 and all but blows you out of your mind. They're absolutely fantastic and their gravel-voiced female vocalist can't be missed. Listen for the clarinet duets and "Bill Bailey". Service under the genial eye of proprietor Deny Aspell is pleasant and seating plentiful, although spartan. The railway station is about 50 yards from the pub if you're transportless. Five points. This is a must evening.

* * *

I'm rather a fan on an aimless week-night for dropping in to the Royal Cafe in Lambton Quay. Nothing fancy, but the service is friendly, some of the waitresses quite stunning, and the flies kept to a minimum. A wiener schnitzel can be eaten without making too heavy a dent in the wallet and one can toy with the coffee without feeling eyes boring into the neck giving one that wish you were gone feeling. Cheapness needed not be equated with surliness. Three points.

* * *

Being rather slight of build, I'm not a great fighting man. For this reason I was a little upset to collect a punch (intended for somebody else) on entering the Pier Hotel last week. This may have coloured my outlook, but the beer is far from consistent, the service slow unless you happen to be one of the myriads of football players who gather there, and the bars bare and dirty. Upstairs, as if to compensate, there is a very pleasant little lounge bar, with a barman who talks. Two points.

* * *

The student who happens to find himself in Wanganui some wet weekend (locals claim it never rains there but don't you believe it), could do a good deal worse than call at Dave's Inn (better known as the Albion) in Ridgway Street. Dave doesn't go in for food, but there's nothing wrong with his grog. It doesn't seem to do the local scribes any harm. In fact they thoroughly recommend Dave as Mine Host.