Christchurch - Food & Drink (pt 2)

Alright. Time for the part 2 of my Christchurch trip. This one will focus on food, bars, and the restaurants I went to.

The first place I went in Christchurch was CBD Bar and Pizzeria. During my little bit of research before my trip, I noted this place for having craft beers.

I ordered a pizza and the IPA. Based on my experience in this part of the world, I didn't have high hopes for this IPA.

Oh my goodness. Amazing IPA. I ended up ordering another one (I wanted to go back the next night, but didn't end up making it over here again). At the time, I didn't think much of it, but it was foreshadowing of Christchurch/New Zealand's unfortunate secret: there's great craft beer here (unfortunate in the sense that it should not be a secret).

Another bonus of this place, there was wi-fi! So this is where I first made contact with the rest of the world after landing in Christchurch. From here on out, the poor people back in the States would get a bonanza of snap chats, texts, and emails whenever I stumbled upon free wi-fi.

After that I went to Winnie Bagoes that I previously mentioned. Had a beer there that wasn't too special. The cool thing about this place that kept me there? It had Around the Horn and SportsCenter on TV. Seemed so random. An American sports channel? But I loved every Top 10 highlight. I then ended up talking to these 2 nurses and these couple older guys at the same table (they kept trying to get these girls to go off and dance). It was fun talking with them. Learning about the city, earthquake, etc. Another common theme of this trip? I was constantly asked either 2 questions: 1) you're only here for a weekend? 2) why the heck did you choose Christchurch to come to??

The next morning I woke up and walked to Black Betty. I had this delicious cappuccino and Big Betty Breakfast:

I talked with Michelle for a bit there and then planned the rest of my trip.

After getting back from the Antarctic Centre, I walked around to find a wine bar. I wasn't too successful at that, but did pick up a NZ sauvignon blanc to bring home. I wasn't quite hungry yet, so I walked to a bar called The Last Word. Fancy little place that would fit right in the bar scene in San Francisco.

So pretentious

I ordered their version of a Manhattan. It was really good (I won't tell you how much it was). I ended up chopping it up with the one (lesbian?) bartender. Turns out she's the owner, along with her "partner." They have been open for 3 months. She were cool to talk to. I asked where I should grab a bite to eat and she suggested a place called Smash Palace. It's a bar/restaurant in a bus.

This place was really cool. I was probably there a bit too early (around 6pm) and the crowd was pretty old, but I could see it getting really fun later. I enjoyed this tasty thing:

I then popped over to The Revival Container Bar to watch the Super Rugby game. Walking around, you'll note that they use shipping containers a lot. The Re:Start mall is also built from shipping containers.

Even the ATMs in this area are in shipping containers

Westpac! My Aussie bank!

But that's not the only way they're creative. They even use pallets.

This is a bar/restaurant. Food is served outta that trailer

Anyway, I had a good time watching the game there. Started out with that guy from Auckland (who mentioned he'd seen how destroyed Christchurch was on TV, but it's worse in person), a few guys from Christchurch (who asked why the hell is an America visiting Christchurch) and an Aussie. At one point during the game, the Auckland guy said something about last year a South Africa team was playing in the finals. The Aussie disagreed and promptly bet $100 on it. I was taken aback by this (although I guess that's only $85 USD). The Auckland guy was pretty confident and shook on the bet (I later learned sports trivia was his thing and he was 100% certain he was right). Smartphones were brought out and the search was on. Turns out the Auckland guy was right. Good enough to buy the table a round.

On Sunday, I woke up (imagine that) and walked to C1 Espresso. Great coffee and food.

The best part about this place? Fat beats. From Wu-Tang to Macklemore. It was laying it out (although not too loudly, which is good. It was, after all, 9am). All uncensored.

After church, I walked to St. Asaph Street Kitchen & Stray Dog Bar. Because noon isn't too early to enjoy a fine craft beer.

It's at this point it finally clicked that New Zealand had great craft beer (unlike Sydney, at least from what I can tell so far). This pale ale was great. Had some IPA qualities to it. Reminded me of a beer called Rampage that I've had back in the States. Had a nice bitter taste, kind of like bark. After it warmed up a bit (probably served just a little too cold) the citrus smell and taste came out. Almost like pineapple. Really good beer.

I talked with the bartender a bit and he confirmed that craft beer is big in New Zealand. Mentioned something about following the American trend/style of craft beer. Man, I'm loving it. I asked him where I could get some beers to go. He pointed me to New World. It's like a Safeway there.

Heaven

That's what I'm talkin' about. Sad thing is, I had to keep in mind that Australia only allows you to bring in 2.5L of alcohol. I already had 750mL from the wine, and seeing how most of these bottles are 500mL, I could only get 3 (which ended up being exactly 2.25L, which is what the Australia limit actually is. Oops. That would have really sucked to show up at security with an extra 250mL of booze). I picked out three and headed towards the bus to take me back to the airport. While on the bus, I made sure to carefully back my backpack with the wine bottle and 3 beer bottles. When I landed in Sydney, I was proud of my success. No broken bottles!

And so ends the tale of my adventure in Christchurch. People ask me if I'd recommend going, and I feel like that's a tough one. It's not like it has an amazing night life (although I had great times when I was out, meeting interesting people). The art museum is closed. It was cold (although I'm sure it's beautiful in the summertime). And did I mention in my previous post that every other building is rubble? However, I'm glad I went. I wouldn't change anything. How often do you get to see a city that was decimated and in the middle of being rebuilt? You get to see how such a destructive force impacted people. The rebuilding spirit and the innovative, temporary approaches to get back up on their feet. It really felt like a once in a lifetime trip.

Did I mention the great beer?