Caucus Restaurant

Tonight — I have flown down from Auckland to Wellington for no particular reason other than scoring a cheap seat through Grab A Seat, and knowing I have a free hotel voucher to use up before the end of the year with any of the Accor Group Hotels.
A little unknown to the Wellington dinning scene, I asked my good friend Saykay to come meet me at the hotel, and head out for dinner. On her arrival we looked at the restaurant menu, it is always very pleasing to be able to pick at least two or three items that I wouldn’t mind trying. Rather than having to force my self to choose one item that does not really inspire me at all.
The restaurant atmosphere was a little bit on the quiet side, but given that it’s a Tuesday night it’s probably fair to say six other diners is pretty good, the background music played matched perfectly with the restaurant, classic lounge /​jazz music which was loud enough to hear but still not overpowering the conversation.
We were seated by a very polite gentleman who was an Englishman, sadly their drinks menu was a bit lacking, but then I found their cocktail menu right at the back on the last page hidden on the right. One would have thought that this would be at the very first page at the top. For $ 15 per cocktail, it is normal charging especially since it is a Hotel which are notorious for overcharging. (Minibar Rates for a Red Bull is $ 8.00 per can!) This Mojitio did not disappoint! maybe a little strong and you wouldn’t want too many of them. but then again you are staying in the hotel anyway so maybe not so bad after all. The one down side I would mention here is, that it had too much ice in it which after 20min had diluted the drink so much it felt like you were just drinking water.
On to the main course, there were entrées, but having a late bite to eat during the day didn’t know if I could do it any justice. My toss-​up was between the seared salmon with beetroot risotto and brocolini $ 34 and the tried and true sirloin steak with beer battered fries and salad with balsamic dressing $ 34. I went with the steak (med rare) and Saykay went with the salmon.
The main was excellently presented, you know that you made the right choice, when you stop talking and immediately think about which to try first! The salmon looked alright. but just didn’t have that wow factor that I got with my steak. The chips were excellent, the salad was great and the steak equally pleasing, the one comment I would make is that there was a bit piece of fat /​gristle running through the side of which did not add anything to the meal.
Feeling pretty full after having devoured the chips, salad and the steak, we were presented with the desert menu and after casual conversation with the Englishman we settled on a glass of The Ned Noble Sauvignon Blanc. The first thing we noticed was the generous over pour by the Englishman, a bottle here was $ 45 for 90 mls. You could easily tell there was at least 45ml in each glass capping off an excellent dinning experience.
On the whole I would recommend The Novotel Wellington to anyone out-​of-​town and looking for a good meal amd a relaxing one at that, and if you are lucky enough to stay in this Hotel then you don’t need to look far!
Service ⁴⁄₅
Atmosphere ⁴⁄₅
Food ⁴⁄₅
Cost: Two Mains, Two Cocktails, Two Desert Wines, $ 180. Diners Tip — If you are an Accor Group Member you get 50% off you meal bill by dinning at any Restaurant of the Accor Group. This made the final bill of the night $ 90.00 for two.
Overall Rating ⁴⁄₅
— TheTownCritic–