Twenty Seven Steps - what a spot! Intimate space in a lovely location with great service, expansive…read morewine selection and they are happy to make you a tasty mocktail that suits your palate. Now... the food. Epic. Seasonal. Simple. Divine. I started with their marinated tomato salad which was fresh and flavorful. Entree was the steak with potato, onion rings and veggies - absolutely incredible. Naturally I had to save room for dessert and landed on the vanilla crème brûlée (though all the options sounded amazing). It came with fresh fruit and pistachio biscotti and was a great way to round out the meal. I would come back here again and again and again. Bravo!!

Very quaint bistro in Christchurch. The food, service, wine, and atmosphere were top notch. It's…read morelocated in a very hip area of the city, too. I would not hesitate to go back there some day.

Excellent pizza and arugula salad. Service was fast. Nice location…read more Enjoyed our lunch in Christchurch.

The cocktails, the appetizers/starters and the Italian fare are outstanding. I have visited this…read morecorner restaurant right on the River Avon in beautiful Christchurch 3 or 4 times. My last visit Christmas week of 2024, I was very hungry and ordered the steak. I was not thrilled at how it was cooked or all the sauce they pour on it. Next time I'll ask for well-done and no sauces. But service, location, atmosphere and most everything else is worth a visit. It won't disappoint!

My wife and I attempted to have dinner here both of our dishes had chicken that was not fresh or…read morebad. We complained about the meals yet the chef insisted it was fresh. We explained we would pay for the sides we order but not our mains. The manager was not acomindating fighting for the dish. We eventually were able to only get one dish taken off the bill since we were exhausted with dealing with the restaurant.

Bad service and food. Veggie Kabab was raw onions and mushrooms with no seasoning whatsoever.read more

Yet another brunch/late night option in Merivale. While it's best to make a booking, there are…read moreplenty of tables inside and out that walk-ins in small numbers (2) should be fine. We made a booking and were seated immediately at a cute little table overlooking the patio seating. The cafe is cute and no frills, but offers a full lunch menu (after 3pm, and looked amazing) and serves breakfast until 3 pm. Our coffee orders were taken immediately and water was brought to the table. We waited for over 10 minutes for our coffee to be served (one barista making coffee for the entire restaurant = sleeping zombies grumbling at tables) and for our food order to be taken. Finally someone came to our table and we ordered pancakes (with bacon, cream and strawberries) and the Big Breakfast (tomato, mushroom, bacon, sausage, poached eggs, toast, hashbrown). The food was served much quicker. The Pancakes: large and fluffy (looked whole wheat maybe?) slightly overcooked for my taste. Not enough syrup (and I don't even care much for syrup) but the bottom pancake was soggy with a concoction of strawberry juice and syrup. The bacon was cooked perfectly and the cream pairs well with the pancakes if you're not a big syrup person. Very filling meal. The Big Breakfast: The sausages were spicy for my palate, but someone with a (American) southwestern flare will love them. The bacon was cooked perfectly and the eggs were poached to perfection. I didn't try the toast, hashbrown (golden brown and crispy), tomato or mushroom as it wasn't my breakfast, but my husband cleared the plate. Overall, the food is slightly above average but no stand-out to the rest of the options around Papanui Road. The service could have been slightly more efficient, but with only one barista and a small service area, that would be hard to change. I won't rush back here for breakfast, but it definitely is a decent option if you want a quick and filling breakfast. I'll update again once I try out their lunch.

Brigittes is a merivale institution and for good reason. It is spacious with a variety of places to…read moresit. If its sunny and no wind then the outside courtyard is lovely, but if the wind comes up there is plenty of room inside and in the sheltered marquees. They have a good music selection playing, and not to obtrusively either. Service is good and attentive but not exceptional. I come here for brunch occasionally and cannot go past the mushrooms on toast. This meal is divine, huge mushrooms on pesto focaccia with truffle oil, a poached egg, and hollandaise. It basically combines everything I love breakfast wise into one delightfully delicious dish. My sister says the pancakes are equally amazing. I've had the salmon omelette and the eggs bene on previous occasions which have been good, not a step wrong. Brigittes is a popular place, and if you know you want to eat here it is well worth ringing for a reservation. I will be back to Brigittes, nothing will keep me away from the mushrooms on toast!

Decent food with a great location, but the service was severely lacking. I'm not sure whose…read moredecision it was to have only two waitresses on duty on a Saturday night, but the ladies were completely overwhelmed by a half-full restaurant. I'm hoping that our group just caught this quaint little place on an off-night, because I was really hoping to like it a lot more than I did.

One of the best brewpubs I have been to in the world. Whatever else we may want to say about the…read moreEnglish, they understand the science of crafting a good pub, or at least they used to. Wooden tables and floors with a comfy interior that beckons you to sit, drink, think, and talk in a convivial mode. The twisted hop has all of this as well as great food and beer. They brew their own beer, or rather Jim brews it, and they specialize in English style "real ales" although they have other varieties of beer and wine as well. Real ales are ales that are cask conditioned, that is, they continue to ferment in the cask. They are also dispensed with a hand pump instead of a C02 tap. This makes them delicate and amazingly flavourful in a way that typical lagers and "bright" ales are not. The beers at the Twisted Hop are great and you will want to give yourself some time there since you will want to try them all, maybe more than once. The food, despite The Twisted Hop's English DNA, is really good as well. They have Scotch eggs (ask, or maybe don't ask, what is in them), excellent chips and fish, and everything else looked good too. If you live in Christchurch, you should be reading this while seated at the Twisted Hop. For those traveling to Christchurch, this should be on your list of stops.

We visited The Twisted Hop on the 4th of July. They were promoting a 4th of July celebration event…read morethat evening and we decided to check it out. The first small victory was the private parking the back. Though there aren't many spaces, it was nice not to have to fight street parking. We entered through the back patio door which leads onto a covered, cozy patio great for enjoying a beer with a friend on a warm day. The restaurant inside is dark and rustic, but the bar is aglow with the colorful chalkboard promoting the beers on tap that day. We spent some time with the bartender discussing the beers available and he helped us find the perfect fit for our palates (pilsner for me!). We sat at a four top table near the wall of books at the front where you can buy a book for a donation that benefits the Nepal Earthquake Relief Fund. I can get behind that! There is a spot for a stage and a counter full of board games. Awesome. For dinner, we stuck to the American-theme menu and ordered tacos and wings. They were delicious, but the tacos were definitely my favorite. Next time I would like to try something off of their real menu, which looked wholly filing and belly-warming. Do you have a favorite brew? They take special requests and will do their best to stock it for you! Definitely recommend this a top bar to spend the afternoon or the evening imbibing craft brews and devouring delicious snacks.

This place was very busy on a Saturday, but we managed to get a table in the bar by at 6.15pm…read more Not being hugely hungry so early in the evening, we opted for 3 small plates - courgette hummus, salmon ceviche and house falafel. All delicious. I particularly like the seeded biscuits that came with the hummus. We washed that down with a nice Sauvignon, leaving just enough room for a passion fruit mousse {vegan, GF, DF}. A lovely meal, only marred by the ever-increasing volume from neighbouring groups, which by 7.15 had reached the shouting stage, to the point that any music being played was totally redundant! So yes, l lovely food, but try to get a table in the restaurant, not the bar!

Fiddlesticks is serious! I did not realize how long they've been around until I saw food pics here…read morethat are 10 yrs old. From the pics, it looks like they've really upped their game! We got in here on a Friday night without a rezy and so glad we did since most people have one. First time I've had an alcoholic ginger beer, with a twist of lime, so divine! Our server gave us the low down on what were the serious kitchen movers, which was spot on! We started with the fried chicken thighs appetizer, just brilliant presentation and tasty with homemade "ranch-like" drizzle, pickled onions, and micro greens. Our mains were the lamb and the grilled salmon. The attention to detail was impressive. The server explained that the potato's used for the lamb are roasted with wagyu fat, which have gave them a smoked, perhaps beefy flavor. The tastiest roasted potatoes I have ever tasted. The salmon was perfectly seared at medium rare, but I think my American palate has become use to medium texture, but still divine! My only suggestion would be to use French green beans as they are more tender than the typical green bean and would better compliment the presentation of the salmon, but that's just getting into the Minutia, perhaps the name for Fiddlesticks next location!

This is a great pub in Ferrymead that's well worth the drive from Merivale for quiz night on…read moreWednesdays. (You definitely need to make a booking if you want to play.) The bar is right off the water and the outdoor patio seating receives a nice cool, salty breeze. There is plenty of seating inside from tall top tables to more intimate seating and group tables. There are plenty of TVs to catch a game or catch the clues for quiz night. The menu is limited but good quality. The chicken sandwich is hearty and topped with an aioli dressing and bacon. The side of chips are thick-cut and soft on the inside. You can order aioli or ketchup on the side. I have seen a fish and potatoes ordered, the fish are smothered in a sauce and, as a non-pescatarian, I find it sloppy and unappetizing. The onion rings as an entree would be a good choice as they are crispy on the outside and slimy onion on the inside..just the way any good onion rings should be. I recently tried the three ice cream and warm chocolate chip cookie which was heavenly. The cookie is thick and crumbly and the ice creams were stellar (double chocolate, vanilla with cherry and mint chocolate chip). There are on Monteith's beers on tap and some rotating summer options. There are other beer options by the bottle if you prefer as well as an adequate wine selection. Soft drinks and well drinks are available, too. The staff is great (our table loves Alex) - they're quick with orders and always wandering around looking to help. Definitely the best drinking establishment in Ferrymead and worth a stop if you live in the area.