Palmerston North

Little India Restaurant | Palmerston North

What a great find Little India Restaurant Palmerston North was! As soon as we walked in I was surprised by the modern fit-out, it just wasn’t what I was expecting. A lovely lady greeted us warmly and found a table.

I love their menu, it’s like a book (beautiful, thick, glossy pages) and it tells the story of the restaurant, with recipes from their Grandmother. Check out the pic for the story or click here.

The lady who served us was wonderful. She helped me to choose the wine (a nice and juicy Pinot Noir) and again with our meal selections, explaining the dishes to us and about Indian cooking and their Chef. Excellent service the whole way through dining.

We ordered the mixed platter entree to begin. I couldn’t believe the amount of food that came out! An excellent option if you like to try a bit of everything. There were vege samosas, onion bhaji, tandoori chicken and lamb skewers (Barra Kebab) – delicious! Loved the mint sauce with the meats and bhaji and the mango chutney with the popadoms.

Honestly, I was nearly full at that point.

Then came out mains. A deliciously creamy chicken korma for Mum (traditionally a mild dish cooked in a creamy sauce, made of almond paste, cream and spices. Kashmiri) and a Chicken Saagwala (an abundance of spinach, cooked with tomatoes, ginger, garlic and spices) for me which was beautiful and creamy and rich. We shared rice and garlic naan. The food was just delicious. Rich and flavorsome just as you would expect with great Indian.

We couldn’t eat too much of them though as we were so full! So we ended up packing it up to take home for lunch – it was delicious the next day too.

The service was fantastic the whole way through, we were constantly checked on to ensure we were happy, if we needed anything or had any questions. There’s some cool booths at the back and as you walk in that would be great for drinks and snacks and bigger parties.

I didn’t even know it was there, tucked away by China Inn on Broadway. Great find and highly recommend a visit to Little India Restaurant if you’re in Palmerston North!

Little India Palmerston North Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Noodles and Dumplings Palmerston North

I never knew Noodles and Dumplings Palmerston North existed so close to home! Probably lucky as I would be twice my size if I had! 
Noodles and dumplings is on the Square tucked in by Trumps, my brother’s girlfriend recommended it otherwise I would never have known.

The five of us ordered:

  • 2x leek & pork steamed dumplings
  • Pork & vegetable steamed dumplings
  • Pan fried pork dumplings
  • Pork buns
  • Sweet & sour pork
  • Chicken fried rice
  • Bok choi in garlic

So upon reflection I can see that I did order too much. At the time though, it seemed like the right amount. Little did we realise that each plate of dumplings had 16 of them on there… We massively over-ordered. But damn were we happy!!

Dumplings for days! And at $9 a plate super cheap. They were all delicious. The steamed pork and vegetable were probably my faves. We ate and we ate and we ate.

There’s free (weak) Chinese tea, average service and decor but it’s cheap and the dumplings are awesome. I will be back to Noodles and Dumplings Palmerston North each time I go home from now on!

 

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Yatai, best Japanese around

You can’t beat Yatai for Japanese in Palmerston North. In fact, it’s probably my favourite restaurant in the Manawatu regardless of cuisine type.

Fantastic, attentive service.
Great atmosphere.
Most incredible menu, food and presentation.

You just can’t beat it!

Barbara, the host, is always welcoming and very informative. Even though we only go for special occasions, she always remembers us and the plates we like.

Hands down, the beef tataki is my favourite. I can’t even start to begin how delicious it is. Imagine, mouth wateringly tender beef, seared then chilled, served with fried garlic and a citrus, soy dipping sauce and spring onions if you will. The combination of the flavours makes for a happy little party in your mouth. It literally melts.

Their sashimi is always high quality and fresh, the curry is hearty and flavoursome, the gyoza perfect and every plate I have tried I have adored. I have probably tried 80% of the menu there.

The desserts are succulent as the sake selection impressive. If you’re feeling like something sweet, try a glass of Ume wine – a sweet, chilled plum wine. You’ll love it.

Huge congrats to my Brother, Daniel, he graduated yesterday hence our celebration!

Enough from me, here’s the pics from our meal last night.

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Yatai Japanese Izakaya on Urbanspoon

Pulse Urban Art Festival

On Saturday my family went to check out the Pulse Urban Art Festival at Te Manawa in Palmerston North.

Awesome community event with loads of activities and things to see with live music. There were DJ’s, reggae groups, spray painters, chalk artists, pole dancing painters, pirates, characters on stilts and best of all, body painters.

We had perfect timing to see the body paint models come out and my goodness they were amazing! I was actually blown away at how cool they were. I couldn’t get a decent pic to show how great they are but you’ll get the gist. Two girls made to look like concrete gargoyles. They even had eyes painted on their eyelids! So talented.

There should be more community events like this – it’s nice to see everybody mingling and enjoying the cultural festivities!

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Arohanui Hospice Store – somebody’s trash is another’s treasure.

I’ve never been one for second hand/ vintage shops. I’m still not. BUT I do have a newfound appreciation for them. It’s so true that one persons trash is another’s treasure.

My Mum volunteers once a week at the Palmerston North Arohanui Hospice Store. All the workers are volunteers and the proceeds go to the upkeep of the hospice so it can remain free for terminally ill patients in the area.

One of the things I wanted to do while I was home was go do a shift with my Mum at the hospice store. I had no idea what I’d be doing and as an extra was just happy to do whatever they needed.

I spent my morning vacuuming dust out of the ridges in a mattress before graduating to tidying shelves and colour coding the clothes racks. Later on I cleaned up a huge cabinet that had been bought in and it sold immediately. Probs just my cleaning style that made it so attractive haha.

Mum mans the checkouts and really enjoys her time there. She loves meeting the customers and chatting with the other volunteers as well as having a look around the items in store when they are quiet.

There are many people that volunteer, from all walks of life. Mainly they are women and quite often have had some kind of interaction with the hospice.

It’s awesome to see people contribute and donate so much stuff to the store, not just personal items but businesses will also drop off unsold goods like shoes which can go a long way to helping someone who can’t afford a new pair usually.

Some people purchase the products to sell for a profit on trademe.co.nz (similar to ebay) but that’s fine, the hospice are happy with their sale prices and glad that it has sold.

If you’re ever in Palmerston North, pop in and have a look! It’s next to McDonalds on Rangitiki Street.

I’ll be cleaning out my room while I’m home so I can donate all my unused gear to the hospice 🙂

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