Uther D.'s
Te Aro: The Highlights
- 14Shalimar Mini MarketAro ValleyShalimar, the dairy that barely sleeps, is the top and tail of every Wellington experience. What other dairys have karaoke? Bizarre and enthralling - its odd that so often a trip down the road for some milk can be so invigorating.
- 26The Aro Street Video ShopAro ValleyIf a bomb was coming and I could only save one shop, I’d save this one. An living icon. A beautiful little universe of film with impeccable taste. An amazing place.
- 311Garage ProjectAro ValleyThe Garage Project has quickly grown at the forefront of the continually expanding craft beer community to seem omnipresent through out the city and soon, surely, the country, but it still remains rather quintessentially only the kind of thing that could be based in Aro. Selling their delightful, nefarious beery brews out of what used to be petrol station, the Garage Project is a great Aro gem.
- 49ArobakeAro ValleyI’m enough of a nostalgist to remember when Arobake was on the other side of Aro Street and much scrappier, less refined - the product was still good though. The rebranding and classy-ing up that took place over several years has only served to bring the stores image in line with its spectacular product.
Uther D.'s
Places I've Had Such Good Times That I Fear Going Back As Surely Lightening Cannot Strike Twice
- 114OmbraTe AroThat they could never quite get our order right, there was a long and winding evening here with friends telling stories and pontificating and working out just how the world should be going. One of those times where everything just clicks.
- 211Mighty MightyWellington CentralThere’s a hysterical intensity to Mighty Mighty that has ensure just as many terrible nights as it has wonderful ones. It grinds and undulates and pops and fizzes - I’ve worked out who I am there and how I can fix my life and I’ve forgotten everything I’ve ever known there. Sometimes on the same night.
- 38Boogie Wonderland WellingtonWellington CentralI feel like I should defend myself for once having a good time here, but that feels like one of those things where because I feel like I should I definitely shouldn’t. If the music is your thing it’s great and the staff manage to be the least gross on Courtney Place and surrounding nightlife.
- 48The Cavern ClubTe AroI went there to see a few gigs in the comedy festival this year thinking I’d never been in before but like a criminal return to the scene of the crime the moment I was down those stairs it all came back to me - a maddening crowd of a university Wednesday, friends dancing and people I’d never seen before sharing their most inner thoughts. Gentle but high energy. Wonderful.
Uther D.'s
Wellington for Nerds
- 17Graphic ComicsTe AroThis is our nerd church, the staff are our nerd pastors, the comics and DnD rulebooks are our nerd gospels. We must prostrate ourselves before them. We will and we will do it willingly. WILLINGLY.
- 21Timezone WellingtonTe AroThere is nothing like a few wasted hours in a borderline dilapidated arcade attached to laser force to really feel the mix of unalloyed excitement and profound shame that marks out nerd-dom. This is also a common meeting place for internet groups to meet IRL. So hang around to meet more of our kind. Or look weird. Actually, we usually can’t really help the second one most of the time.
- 32Modelcrafts and HobbiesWellington CentralSmall things are cool. Like real cool. Like there is nothing cooler than totally accurate small scale replications of real world things like trains and stuff. And not just cool in a pretending to be Godzilla kind of way but in a wow people worked really hard on these kind of way.
- 44Rumour has it that a girl worked here once. I don’t believe it. But let me tell you if I had the money I would be all over those awesome little fighting dudes and the staff are real good at getting people started and up-to-date.
Uther D.'s
Pinball Machines of Wellington
- 136Midnight EspressoWellington CentralMidnight has a few different pinball machines on semi-regular rotation in their taught little haunt of a cafe. They have the Twilight Zone one. Which is like an all time Pinball classic. Keep ‘em peeled for that one.
- 211Mighty MightyWellington CentralOf course, Mighty Mighty, the tasting bar for those who set the bar for taste, has a Pinball machine. If it didn’t the universe would feel incomplete. It’s like can you remember a time before Mighty hep ping pong tournaments and life model drawing classes? Me neither. Because it always has. And if it ever stopped - Madness.
- 318Enigma CafeTe AroWhile the gender politics of their Elvira-inspired pinball machine may be suspect, the pure exhilaration of smashing a tiny chrome sphere with paddles viewed through glass will never be suspect.
- 41Burger King Manners StreetWellington CentralApparently it has a Metallica pinball machine. Must investigate. But that also means facing it’s sterile tile death of an interior.
- 56Te Aro Fish Supplies Ltd.Aro ValleyAs if you needed another reason to visit Wellington’s best non-pretentious fish and chips outlet, they have a pinball machine. Come for the amazing chunky chips, stay for the pinball machine (and because there’s usually a bit of a wait at peak times).
Uther D.'s
Places So Cool My Friends Had To Tell Me About Them
- 119FoxgloveWellington CentralThe name alone is enough really. Some regular drinkery could never be called Foxglove. Casting a velvet shadow across the waterfront, Foxglove is a David Lynch dream of a bar. The kind of exquisite place where you hook up with a flamenco dancer who turns out to be your father. Not literally, obviously.
- 212Thunderbird CafeWellington CentralI was meeting a friend for lunch. They suggested here. Had a great time. Mildly alarmed it took so long for me to realise it existed. Paranoid that people are deliberately hiding it from me, keeping it from me as punishment for some inadvertant slight. My life doesn’t deserve things as nice as Thunderbird.
- 35Motel BarTe AroWhile I have visited it a few times, Motel seems to exist largely conceptually within my brain as a place that is to be aspired to rather than actually attained. There is a giggling vibration to the place, a magnesium tang of exclusivity in the air that makes it quite the place to be.
- 417Ekim BurgersWellington CentralBefore you eat an Ekim burger, you hear about Ekim burgers. About how good they are. About how cheap they are. About how much they’ll change your life. About how much they embarrass the competition. It’s all true. Believe the hype. This is the place.
Uther D.'s
When I've Pissed Of My Girlfriend And I Need To Buy Back A Little Of Her Love...
- 13LUSH WellingtonTe AroFancy, morally correct soap is the salve to many wounds and great little way of admitting culpability without having to actually, y’know, do it. Also, is there any better collection of words in the English language than ‘Bath bomb.’
- 21JB Hi-Fi WellingtonWellington CentralIt’s hard for a girlfriend to hate you when she’s a couple of discs deep into the boxset you got her to apologise for that thing. You know. That thing. You don’t like to talk about it. And she has no time to talk about it, addicted as she is. Everyone wins!
- 323IKO IKO Gift ShopTe AroNothing apologises for forgetting an anniversary better than a wind-up nun than spews fire.
- 43There is a box of soft toys there. They’re all delightfully bizarre. Twisted foxes, warped bears, shapeless trolls. They’re charming, they’re cute, they’re freakish. They’re just the right kind of unique to bring home after a day of delaying texts and emails to say sorry for not being there. Look, I know this one sounds like a bit of a stretch, but seriously, stick with me on this - it has never failed me.