The Backbencher Pub and Cafe

34 Molesworth St, Thorndon
Ph: 04 472 3065 Fax: 04 499 3937

Good points: Fireplace, good honest pub food, nice wine
Bad points: grease

Me: Antipasto
Friend had: Antipasto

Prices: $16-$25
Rating: 65%

The Backbencher is a charming Wellington institution for politicians and out-of-towners.  Charming, that is, if you like political jokes and looking at a manly puppet of Ruth Richardson while you eat.

My friend and I went there for dinner one Wednesday evening and decided to share the Harawira’s Antipasto ($25), with some sort of pinos gris each ($7).  The thing about the Backbencher is that each item on the menu is named after a current MP (well, Rod Donald has a tribute item), and there is also a little joke at the end of each menu item.  By joke, I don’t mean joke as in “ha ha” joke, but as in “lame, I now would rather chew on my own foot” joke.  

Simple public servant fare, the Harawira’s Antipasto we consumed consisted of “cerviche, salmon dip, chorizo sausage, olives, seafood wontons, pâté, risotto-mozzarella balls, blue cheese & honey, grilled breads”.  I don’t exactly know what “cerviche” is, but I suspect it was the dodgy white sauce in the little pottle.  Dodgy white things in pottles always remind me of the urban myth surrounding KFC coleslaw circa 1994.  Perhaps that’s just me.  The olives, blue cheese, and chorizo sausage were stand-outs, but perhaps a tomato or another bit of token vegetable would not have gone amiss.

On the whole, Harawira’s Antipasto was a great snack/meal to share with a friend, if a bit greasy.  Who would have thought that takeaway-fusion would become such a big hit?  Actually I seem to recall that the last time I was at the Backbenchers my Calamari was also quite greasy.  Dude, just because I’m ethnic doesn’t mean I belong in a fish and chip shop.  

To be fair to the Backbencher, the service was friendly and efficient, the atmosphere cosy and inviting, and the location convenient.  The Backbencher may serve pub food, but it is also a local institution with a history all of its own.  It’s also a great place to take people who are visiting Wellington, being right across the road from Parliament.  I know that when my out-of-town parents were last visiting I took them to the Backbencher.  Surprise surprise, they found the political jokes and manly puppets charming.

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