50-50 restaurant — Restaurant in Wellington

Innovative! Exciting! Superlative!

Chef Helen’s unique blend of flavours, fusing some Japanese culinary styles with incredible local produce and her own visionary ideas, offer the customer a taste delight to savour always. The incredible presentation is just so appetising too. Definitely world class. The best of the best!

Imagine: edamame pannacotta and pickled wakame (seaweed) with smoked salmon!! Perfectly roasted lamb with curried beetroot and piko piko (local mini ferns that reminded me of Springtime fiddleheads in Canada 40 years ago). I’m salivating again at the memory…

To cater for a guest’s shellfish allergy, Helen solicitously replaced a crayfish broth with a mushroom one in which was steamed the fresh asparagus dumplings. Perfect.

Each course is perfectly matched with a very fine wine. My favorite this time was the Greywacke pinot gris – probably the best PG I’ve ever tasted, so I’ll be looking to go and buy some more.

One of our party doesn’t drink alcohol but we were so impressed that she too was offered a special drinks match with each course. I regret not having noted each of her intriguing drinks – I only recall what I think was a carrot juice with star anise? – but this was yet another great focus on the customer.

Helen’s passion and attention to every detail is matched by the service of her team, especially maitre d’ John. An expert at his job! Credit too to the young server Jenna (sp?) who has been well trained and who clearly shares the customer focus and food passion of the others.

Dining at 50-50 is always a unique and very special occasion. Not...

Not really know what’s going on this place. Heard lots of good comments from friends.Good reviews from several magazines. However that was a huge disappointment. If it classified as a fine dining restaurant, I would expect better on everything. They only supply one red damp towel for whole service instead of napkin or serviette. I don’t think it is hygiene enough. There was only one type of wine glass for matched wine and it is a heavy glass that means the glass is cheap. Only one front house to run 8 tables at same time even chef did help a bit but that was still too much. Have a proper 9 courses dinner I would like to have more introductions from the food and the place or the background of chefs.I would say to have an experience not just a rush service. It is a shame to have a decent wine match menu but only the whites were newly opened and the reds were a bit stale. The place was busy but as the standard I expect the food serving speed should be balanced. The waiting time between the courses were huge different. If the food was the only reason for me to visit, I would say it was a bit boring. I was attracted by a couple of interesting items from the menu. For example, yuzu jam mixed with perfectly cooked sushi rice. Creamed caper and raisin purée with the cauliflower soup. Other than that you don’t get the punch flavors from the small...

Helen has the most innovative approach when designing her menus, her incredible ability to combine diverse and interesting ingredients to create phenomenal flavours and textures makes her food exceptional. In the 4 years since I’ve been going to 50-50 I’ve rarely had the same dish twice and I’m consistently surprised and delighted with the range and creativeness of the courses on offer, each dish is beautifully presented with flair and attention to detail. Helen’s commitment to using, fresh, local, foraged and healthful ingredients and her generosity in accomodating dietary restrictions has made 50-50 my most favourite restaurant in New Zealand. Having had the privilege to enjoy degustation meals at top restaurants around the world for over 20 years, I feel qualified to say that 50-50 is not only outstanding value for money, but it’s also a world class dining experience which I highly recommend at my own peril (as it’s already impossible to make a booking at short notice). Many thanks Helen for your outstanding commitment to providing such an awesome dining institution in Kapiti....