For this five-course degustation, Head Chef Nicolas Mentzas draws on his Greek heritage to present the flavours and textures of home through a refined, fine-dining lens. Often perceived as relaxed and informal, there is a quiet depth to Greek cuisine. It is shaped by season, coastline, mountain herbs, and generations gathered around the table. Dinner unfolds as a carefully composed menu that honours tradition while embracing precision in one of the world’s oldest wine cultures. Rather than a shared feast, expect elevated dishes rooted in Greek culinary history, reinterpreted with elegance and detail. Each course is paired with Greek wines, highlighting distinctive indigenous grape varieties and the growing confidence of the country’s modern producers. Throughout the evening, the Noble Rot sommelier team will introduce each pairing, exploring how Greece’s food and wine traditions complement one another in perfect harmony, at the highest level. Your ticket includes an amuse bouche on arrival, five courses, an arrival wine, and seven Greek wines paired throughout the evening.

After a barnstormer last year, Garage Project and Le Marché Français return with Cheese Bar, a carefully selected cheese and beer experience popping up for three nights at the Wild Workshop. This is à la bonne franquette: no bookings, no set menus, just exceptional French and locally sourced cheeses matched beautifully with beer. Build your own board from a counter display of soft, washed rind, bloomy rind, alpine-style, goat's milk, and blue cheeses. Comté in multiple ages, Brie de Meaux, Camembert-style options, chèvres, and French blues. Or order a guided tasting cheese and beer flight with Garage Project and Wild Workshop beers. Cheese-forward small plates, baked brie with seasonal accompaniments, raclette-style melted cheese over potatoes and cornichons, croque-monsieur-inspired toasties, cheese, and charcuterie boards, round out the offering.

Dilly Dally's Bryn and Jesse wanted to share their favourite Auckland restaurant with Wellington, and Pici's Jono, Gemma and Kaz were happy to make the trip south. Pici has built a devoted following on handmade pasta and trattoria energy: simple, generous food with no pretension, and good music. So a collaboration between the two restaurants makes sense, they share the same philosophy and vibe, and the menu will embrace that shared spirit: snacks, antipasti, two pasta courses, and dessert. Your ticket includes four courses. A selection of New Zealand natural wines is available to purchase on the night.

For Chef Shuchi dessert has always been the most emotional part of a meal. It's where people slow down, and where conversation softens. For this event you're encouraged to skip right to dessert for this five course dessert tasting menu each tied to a memory. Some from Shuchi's life, some shared in our collective memories, all rooted in the small, often overlooked moments that shape how we experience sweetness. Raspberry panna cotta tastes like school lunches and summer berries. Rich brownie with hazelnut mousse is the sweet thing you crave after a long day. The lemon cake that became Le Ciel's bestseller without anyone realising. Apple crumble soufflé carries memories of Shuchi's grandmother. Passionfruit posset brings the taste of home from Tanzania. Each course is plated with technique and restraint, refined, but never losing its warmth or intent. You'll spend an evening in the warm, slow space where dessert deserves to be. Your ticket includes five plated courses plus one palate cleanser.

Executive Chef Carl Maunder has spent two decades with truffles: exploring, refining dishes that let them truly shine, building an entire culinary philosophy around one ingredient. Indulge in five courses built around Périgord and Bianchetto truffles at the height of their season. Hand-prepared scallops with truffle, beef fillet Rossini reimagined, house-made truffle brie. Every course carries the same special ingredient, yet every course reveals something different about this heady ingredient. Carl shares insights throughout the long lunch: why this preparation, why this wine, what makes a truffle matter enough to shape a chef's craft. You'll taste the earthy weight of it, catch the aroma before the plate lands, understand the precision behind each dish. Each course is paired with a beverage chosen to meet the truffle's character.

The laneway beside Double Vision Brewing transforms into a full Mexican street fiesta. Expect a stacked lineup of taco vendors serving bold, authentic flavours, from slow-cooked meats and grilled proteins to handmade tortillas and cow tongue tacos (the crowd favourite that asks questions and gives bold answers). Mexican dancers and live entertainment bring the atmosphere to life from start to finish. Free entry, family-friendly, pay as you go. This year, there's an extra draw: three brand-new festival beers brewed for Visa Wellington On a Plate make their exclusive first appearance here. It's a sneak peek at what's coming, a celebration of Mexican culture supported by the Mexican Embassy since day one, and proof that the best food spreads through word of mouth, locals telling locals, friends bringing friends, the kind of buzz that fills a laneway.

The ocean sets the tone for this five-course degustation, where fish and seafood take centre stage from first course to final bite. Drawing loosely on the spirit of the Italian Feast of Seven Fishes, this is a communal appreciation of the ocean's jewels, exploring the breadth and finesse of premium ocean produce with precision and care. Each course reflects a thoughtful approach to seafood, drawing on seasonal catch and sustainably sourced ocean produce from around New Zealand. Expect considered technique and full use of the ingredient, treated with respect and imagination to reveal both delicacy and depth. The sommelier team has selected nine wines from around the world, fine Burgundy, savoury European whites, the occasional red, chosen to complement each expression of the sea. Your ticket includes an amuse-bouche on arrival, five courses, nine wines throughout the evening including an arrival wine.

This year, as the world turns its eyes to the football world cup, Noble Rot brings the competition to the table. For one night, the drama of football is reimagined in the glass, with each course framed as a head-to-head clash between two wine nations. The evening begins with a welcome pour before a five-course degustation unfolds in match format. Each course is served with two wines presented side by side. It could be Argentina vs Chile or Italy vs France. You're invited to compare style, structure, character and flair across the world’s leading wine countries. The final course delivers one last decisive pairing to close the evening. The Noble Rot sommelier team will guide each “match,” sharing insight into regions, rivalries, and defining characteristics that give every wine its competitive edge. Your ticket includes an amuse bouche on arrival, five courses, an arrival wine, and nine matched wines served head-to-head throughout the evening.

Bright lights, laminated menus, and paper-lined trays. Nate Auld, head chef at Mr Go's, rewinds the clock at LTD. with a 1990s New Zealand–style fish and chip shop, seen through a knowing lens. It's nostalgic and a little tongue-in-cheek: a highbrow, lowbrow take built for people who grew up on battered everything. Book a table or walk in for a one-hour sitting between 5–10pm and order from a succinct menu that treats the classics with care, without taking them too seriously. Mussel fritters that actually crunch, battered or crumbed fish done properly, hot dogs in their finest fried form, pineapple fritters dusted in cinnamon sugar, not shit chips, plus proper seasonings with lemon and housemade sauce. Drinks are there to smash back: Spritzes, crisp whites, and Waikato from the chilli bin. Dishes and drinks range from $6–$16.

At The Rumour Lounge, you'll arrive to the sound of jazz and step into an intimate speakeasy-style dinner party with performances by one of Wellington's premiere drag performers. The night unfolds in three phases: roaming canapés as guests settle into the space and mingle; a move to luxuriously styled long tables where generous shared dishes arrive, rich, warm, enhance flavours designed for conversation and passing plates; and finally, dessert canapés circulating through a lounge-style setting as the space softens into something even more relaxed. Between courses, your host returns with moments of performance, theatre, and playful storytelling, keeping the energy alive and guaranteeing your dinner companions will no longer be strangers by the end of the night. Your ticket includes a welcome signature drink (choice of edible cocktail, mini martini, or non-alcoholic option), canapés, shared mains, sides, and roaming dessert canapés. Additional cocktails available to purchase.

Before late licences and 3am closes there was the lock-in. When the doors officially shut, the real night began. If you were in the know, you stayed. Curtains were drawn, doors were locked and glasses filled. For one night only, The Thistle Inn is bringing that spirit back through an after-hours evening of drinks, canapés, long-table dining and live music. The Lock INN is a modern take on the after-hours tradition - an evening that begins with drinks and canapés before guests gather for lavish long-table dining once the doors close to the public. Think generous shared plates, flowing drinks, and the kind of feast that’s built for passing, pouring and lingering at the table. As the evening unfolds, a live band shifts the atmosphere as the night carries on, as things move into a more social close. It will be a little indulgent, a little rebellious and entirely unforgettable. Your ticket includes canapés, a five-course shared feast, four drinks served throughout the evening, and live music.

Language and food belong together, add history and the story deepens into something altogether different. Lustre's taking the words we use every day and turning them into dishes. Cool as a cucumber becomes a palate cleanser, a piece of cake arrives as something entirely new, and every course speaks to the way culture lives in how we talk about food. Seven courses of interpretation, each one teasing out a different idiom from around the world. There's a German one about sausage and indifference, an Indian one about something fishy in the pulses, moments where the kitchen challenges and entertains in equal measure. One surprise dish waits mid-evening, your job is to guess which idiom it is. The menu shifts with the seasons and the whims of Lustre's local farms, but the game never changes: food as language, language as history. Your ticket covers the seven-course Lustrous banquet menu and an idiom-inspired arrival drink. Alcohol is available to purchase.