10 cheap VWOAP offers for those low on dough

July 30, 2018

If you’re low on dough, all the fun of VWOAP can feel out of reach. Fear not – there’s no need for you to cook the books to free up some funds. I’ve crunched the numbers and compiled this list of cheap eats and offers that’ll keep you and your bank balance happy.

1. $9 Burger: this year’s cheapest burger is Bao Boy’s $9 Baoger, but a low-price tag doesn’t mean it’s skimping on flavour: this burger packs in a mini Angus beef patty, smoked cheddar, iceberg lettuce and chilli jam in a steamed bao bun, with kettle chips on the side. Sounds like a perfect between-meals burger to me.
2. $14 and under Burgers: City Dining and Bar’s vegetarian Bash Burger ($10), Ekim Burger’s Gemma Lily Vegan Burger ($12), The Ramen Shop’s Don’t Worry a-Bao It ($12), and both the Mt Vic and Thorndon Chippery’s respective seafood burgers are a steal at $14 each.

   
   

   
   The Dine section of the VWOAP programme is chock-a-block with wallet-friendly deals, including Festival Dishes and superb affordable multi-course meals.
   
3. $20 Dishes: For just $20 you can grab yourself a seriously hearty lunch from The Bresolin (roasted pork sirloin with a warm salad of Jerusalem artichokes, lentils, silverbeet and beetroot purée), Annam Restaurant (a spicy firecracker salad with shrimp, pork, fresh herbs and vermicelli) or 1815 Café and Bar (onion dip, pork and apple sausage in a housemade roll, with crispy chilli chicken).
4. $35 Meals: Looking to treat yourself to a night out and still have change leftover? $35 will get you two courses at Basque, Scopa, Beach Babylon, Mr Go’s and The Botanist. If you’re feeling extra hungry, both Avida Bar and The Bresolin are offering three courses for $35.
   
   Cocktail Wellington is also a treasure chest for bangin’ bargains – you get both a delicious cocktail and matching tapas for the one price. Here’s a tip: the mocktail versions are even cheaper and they still come with the tapas - be sure to check them out.
5. $15 Cocktail: Annam Restaurant’s Me So Horny ($15) is a fizzy, Asian take on the classic margarita with tequila, triple sec, lime juice, dragon fruit and prosecco, served with a Vietnamese canapé on the side.
6. $16 Cocktails: Brew’d Boulcott’s Hot Goddess Demeter ($16) is sure to nourish with aged rum, allspice, cinnamon and brown sugar whip, garnished with whipped cream and nutmeg, and served with a mushroom and truffle arancini. After the uphill climb to Boulcott Street Bistro, you’ll have earned some sustenance in the form of their Scroggin cocktail ($16) featuring Whittaker's Peanut Slab-infused gin, sherry and Nicaraguan rum, with hot chocolate. Naturally it’s served housemade scroggin. It’s the Return of Pink Panther ($16) at Burger Liquor with a grown-up spin on the childhood classic: Bootleggers dry lemonade, house raspberry syrup and vodka, crowned with vanilla soft serve and whipped cream. Accompanied by housemade ruby red tea marshmallow.
   
   VWOAP Festival Events come in all shapes and sizes, and this is just the tip of the iceberg for what you can experience for under $50.
7. $10 event: To celebrate the 125^th anniversary of women’s suffrage in New Zealand, The Future of Food is Female is bringing together five influential female chefs for an evening of conversation moderated by Radio New Zealand’s Susie Ferguson. Monique Fiso (Hiakai, Wellington), Analiese Gregory (Franklin, Hobart), Maxine Scheckter (Sugar Flour, Wellington), Laura Greenfield (Field & Green, Wellington), and Anna Hansen (The Modern Pantry, London) will spill the T on what it’s like to work in some of the world’s toughest kitchens. Tickets for this event are just $10 and 50% of ticket proceeds will go to Eat New Zealand.
8. $25 Events: Naked Girls Reading has become a phenomenon around the world with saucy evenings of storytelling in the flesh. For VWOAP, Naked Girls Reading NZ are taking on classics in the culinary canon, reading excerpts from Julia Childs, Fast Food Nation, Margaret Mahy and much more. The Chocolate Bar and the Coffee Supreme team are joining forces for Beans and Bar: On-the-go to teach you about the bean-to-bar process, drawing parallels between coffee and chocolate. For $25 you’ll get to fuel up with craft chocolate and single-origin coffee tastings.
9. $45 Event: Feast Your Eyes: Can You Dig This is a special screening of the inspirational documentary about “Gangsta Gardener” Ron Finley, who will be on hand at the end of the film for all your urban gardening queries. The $45 ticket price gets you the film, a forage-themed cocktail, and an edible garden bed to snack on, but most importantly it includes a donation to Kahurangi School for their new orchard.
10. Free Entry/Pay on Consumption: Pop ups are the best way to guard your life savings – free entry and you only pay for how much you want to eat & drink (on second thought, these could break the bank. Proceed with caution!).