Aunty Mena's

March 20, 2012

I had a three-day/three-city whistle-stop work tour of the North Island of NZ last week and managed to squeeze out a single spare evening to explore the veg dining options in Wellington. I only made it to my hotel at about 7:30pm and Wellington had turned on one of its insanely windy, cold and wet evenings, so I was very tempted to just order some crap off the room service menu and hide under the doona. But having read both Carla and Pip raving about Aunty Mena's, I knew I had to brave the weather.

Aunty Mena's is a Wellington institution, serving up cheap, vegan Malaysian and Chinese food for at least the last decade (and probably longer - it's got a timeless kind of feel to it). The menu is gigantic, with about 50 different dishes to choose from. With nobody to share with, ordering was tricky - I ended up deciding to overeat and ordered an entrée (BBQ pork buns, $7NZ) and a main (veggie chicken laksa, $14NZ).

They were both fantastic - light and fluffy buns stuffed with a smoky bbq mock-meat and a thick, creamy laksa loaded up with tofu, mock chicken, noodles and veggies. The laksa probably wasn't quite as good as the vegan laksa from Laksa King, but it was still pretty damn excellent. I somehow ate everything I ordered, appreciating the deliciousness long after I actually needed to consume any more food. The service is friendly and efficient, while the space itself is pretty rudimentary, but it's all about the food here - for a tick over 15 Australian dollars I ate myself silly and (slowly) walked back to the hotel feeling very pleased with myself.

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Aunty Mena's has a very positive online reputation - I knew about it thanks to Melbourne vegans Pip and Carla, but it's also been given the thumbs up by: Purposeful Mention, vegan vaginas, Ellice Street Gallery Kitchen and An Auckland Vegan.

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Aunty Mena's
167 Cuba Street, Wellington
04-382 8288
entrees $6.50 - $8.50, mains $9 - $18 (NZ dollars)

Accessibility: Aunty Mena's has a flat entryway and a fairly spacious interior. Ordering and payment is at the table. I didn't make it to the toilets.