WHY CHOOSE THIS RESTAURANT?

Aro Valley feels like the place where interesting things happen in Wellington, with Rita, Garage Project and Aro Video all calling it home. Octo has now arrived with something entirely different: a Japanese-style listening bar, where every last detail is accounted for. The room itself feels like you have somehow been magically shrunken down into a beautiful, vintage record box. It’s all dark wood, floor-to-ceiling rare vinyl, and a bar behind which talented people pour excellent drinks and other talented people cook things carefully over fire and in hot oil. On weekends, the decks at the bar have professional DJs, other times keen amateurs are invited to take a turn. If a good time out is measured equally between food, drinks and music, then Octo is exactly what you have been waiting for.

ABOUT THE MENU

The menu is Japanese-focussed, with most things cooked over the hibachi grill or in the fryer – all of it designed to sit comfortably alongside a few drinks. It’s the sort of place where you will come for a quick plate and a beer before suddenly realising you have ordered half the menu. Just as in Japan, chicken here is treated with real respect. The hearts come perfumed with yuzu pepper. Thighs are cut differently for yakitori, leaving them fatty and plump, almost like tiny roast chickens on a stick. Both come charred and blistered on the outside but perfectly tender. And it’s not all meat: carrots with caramel, feta and mint are such a playful yet simple combination – the feta is almost curd-like rather than heavy and salty, lifting the perfectly cooked carrot that sits in a light caramel under a scattering of mint. And then there are the chips. Fried curry leaf, curry mayo, a snowfall of sharp cheese and Japanese curry powder all over absurdly crispy, crinkle-cut chips. These may well be the best drinking snack anywhere in the country. This is just a taste. What Octo does is take familiar things and push them into slightly unexpected territory, finding the tiny margins where only a few ingredients can be transformed into something considerably more profound.

ABOUT THE TEAM

The whole place is the result of three passionate individuals whose coming together demonstrates the power of a really strong collaboration: Ben James, record store owner, oversees the music; Zuyi Woon, owner of Aotearoa’s only manual coffee shop, Pour and Twist, looks after the food; and licensee Jeremy Hollis is on the drinks.

OF NOTE

A no-reservations policy means a seat here on a Friday night is one of the hardest to nab in the city, but your persistence will definitely be rewarded.

102 Aro St, Aro Valley, Wellington
Small plates $8-$16
@octo.aro