Urban Oyster Bar & Eatery — Restaurant in Nelson

My partner and I had been unimpressed by the majority of the recommended restaurants on TripAdvisor all over South Island. Many of them were overrated and lacked real quality. Urban Oyster Bar and Eatery is not of those places. We went there 3 times in two days, because the food was on a whole different level to anything else we’d had on South Island. It is an Asian fusion restaurant featuring very inventive and innovative dishes, each one intricately and painstakingly designed by the chefs. By the time we left, there was nothing on the menu we hadn’t ordered. Having come from Sydney I can say this place would hold it’s own in the top 10 in any big Australian city. Matt (the head chef/manager) is Michelin-trained, and has worked with extraordinary chef’s like Marco Pierre White, so guess it is to be expected that the food would be this good.

Summary: Food - 9/10 outstanding. Almost every single dish blew our minds. Recommendations include venison tataki and the pork belly bao bun. Of course the oysters were delicious.

Service - 9/10 despite being extremely busy at times the staff were very attentive, always up for a chat and never made a single mistake.

Prices - 8/10 most of the mains are between $20-$24 however every dollar spent is worth it. As the dishes are designed to be shared, ordering 3-4 dishes would mean about $50pp. Altogether a very fair price for fine dining level food.

If you are a fan of good food or are looking for the best meal in the South Island,...

The brainchild of michelin trained chef Matt Bouterey, Urban is a relaxed, casual but excellently executed little joint that nails it on all the important things and deserves the reputation it has earned for itself.

The lighting is atmospheric without being too dark, the music the right volume to still be able to talk, and with a choice of tables depending on how social you're feeling. The balance is right. The staff are all attentive and know the menu well, impressive considering how often it changes to suit what's seasonal to just what the chefs are vibing with. I would recommend following their advice on what not to miss, they've nailed it every time.

The food itself is, of course, excellent. They're happy to do smaller portions of most dishes to give you a chance to try everything, proposing the idea unprompted, and the menu is designed accordingly to facilitate this. Of course, being an oyster bar, there's a range of oyster preparations to choose from too. I ran with the lovely ceviche tacos, a delicious japanese escabeche, firey and flavoursome pulled pork korean dumplings and rounding out with a delightfully jiggly kiwifruit and meringue panna cotta. The fish is fresh, the fruit and veges matched wonderfully, and the flavours vibrant. It's hard to go wrong.

Overall it wasn't the cheapest night out but for the quality it was worth every cent and I would visit again without hesitation. In fact I may end up doing just that if the end of this...

We were early diners and could see the place was going to be busy but we were basically ignored on entry and had to ask if they were open. Once we got settled at the bar overlooking the street (there were dirty dishes and crumbs etc to be cleared) we ordered oysters and scallops crudo and some Pinot noir. Fresh oysters with mignonette dressing delicious though very salty in brine. Scallops were delicious too and also very fresh. We had also ordered hand cut chips which came out hot and slathered with mayo and bonito flakes as well as another sauce. We’d been assured this was all going to be gluten free but the gut doesn’t lie and something definitely wasn’t gluten free in that dish! We tried to get the attention of the waitress to order more but she was having a sit down with someone (seemed like the manager) and we truly couldn’t grab anyone’s attention. Eventually ordered crispy pork with Cucumber Kimchi on cos lettuce and a glass of champagne. Champagne was as expected. Crispy pork was quite bland and not seasoned even though the kimchi was enjoyable. I didn’t take a photo but it wasn’t inspiring or interesting in flavour. Overall a very disappointing early meal. It was buzzing when we left and obviously a popular spot. We must have seemed we were not going to spend much they thought. A mother and daughter dinner. Not...