pravda cafe

great but not exceptional....

after reading all the reviews that gave pravda a 4 or 4.5 i needed to try it for myself.

the decor was neutral and classic. the wooden tables and warm lighting made the room feel inviting. the tables were full, so the atmosphere felt social but intimate. think typical european.

now the food.

my partner and i had the pork belly tostada starter. i had the fillet steak for my main and he had the lamb rump. we shared a side of garlic and chili veggies. i finished with a blue cheese plate. he was tempted by the bread and butter pudding.

the pork belly was tender, and the cabbage salad had a nice nam jim sauce. i felt it was slightly overdressed, but my partner said he loved the strong flavours. the cabbage kept the salad crisp. all in all a nice fusion dish.

my eye fillet was grilled to the perfect med rare (more on the rare side). it had a lovely crust and sliced as easy as butter. however, the red wine jus was nothing special and overpowered the beef. a simple butter sauce would have better highlighted the expensive cut of meat.

the lamb rump was cooked well, to a nice medium. the gremolata a tasty side that gave the lamb some needed saltiness. the courgette slices helped to cut down the richness of the dish.

the let down of the evening was the veggie side. broccoli, courgette and beans with garlic and chili. each vegetable was overcooked and slightly mushy. i could mash them with my fork. in addition, all i tasted was garlic, the chili was not present and it lacked any salt seasoning.

the final dishes of the night were pleasant.

my blue cheese was what i expected (though stone cold). i love kingsmead cheeses and the fresh fruit was refreshing after such a rich dinner. next time i would recommend letting the cheese warm up a bit before serving.

i am told the pudding was good. not too heavy and not too sweet. the dried raspberries added a nice hint of tartness.

we finished the meal with coffee and another glass of wine.

total bill = $220 with wine and coffee.

a nice evening out.

having eaten in this restuarant before we were looking forward to our meal on friday night. there was nothing wrong with the taste, in fact quite exquisite, however the size of the meal was minimal especially for the cost, a duck leg should have read duckling (1 bite). the fish, groper? doubt it and very small portions. two scollops on a small amount of parsnip mash, even for an entree at $18.50 that was pretty mean, especially as the waiter had told us there were three large scollops.
to end it all the coffee and hot chocolate tasted great but were cold.
when we commented on these failings we did not feel it was taken graciously at all. the staff may have been busy but they need a little more training on seeing that their customers have everything they need, having to ask twice for the ordered wine and sugar for coffee etc
shame we (three of us, two who were regulars) will not be revisiting or recommending this restuarant.

review updated below:

a cold wellington saturday. somewhere for coffee in the cbd. hangar and memphis too far away - pravda just round the corner sandwiched between zambezi and moochi. always good in the past.

large glass windows and doors at the street entrance lead into a bar area with a dozen small cafe tables; at the back steps lead to the long main dining area and kitchen.

enormous ceilings, polished concrete floors - from some major commercial past. faux-dirty apricot walls, long red leather banquette seating. huge gilt mirrors, dark tables and chairs, red cloth hangings with lenin in profile. eastern european railway station feel.

excellent, friendly service - two large trim caps arrived quickly. perfect texturing, almost as good as memphis belle, good flavour, unburnt - didn't peter out in the mouth or cup.

a quick look through the breakfast menu was tempting in the extreme but unfortunately lunch is booked elsewhere. the sautéed new potatoes and black pudding with spinach, tabasco and poached egg beckons next weekend.

23/5/15: returned in expectation to find a new breakfast menu !!! ok no problem - by a combination of eggs and sides i'll try to reconstruct the now defunct dish. ordered two poached eggs, potato hash with wilted spinach, some slices of shoulder bacon, black pudding and a little tabasco.

as usual the service was excellent- friendly and accommodating / the coffee (immigrants son) was perfectly textured and pleasant but without huge character.

the eggs were perfectly poached and provided a perfect sauce for the sides. the bacon was pleasant / black pudding rather homogenous in texture - bit flabby . the potatoes were rosti/hash browns that looked very tired with a flavour to match - as if the oil they were cooked in had already done significant service. the spinach had another slightly off unpleasant flavour that i couldn't identify.
the plate wasn't brilliant in fact very disappointing - rescued only by the egg and bacon.
my partner had porridge, mascarpone and honey with goji berries - rather bland and uninspiring - salt improved it a little.
all in all on this occasion pravda didn't come up to scratch - sorry.

had a not so good patch but 4 of us thoroughly enjoyed all our meals here recently. bruschetta , chicken, steak all delicious!! recommend!!!!

whatever i try, be it steak or pasta or salad, pravda's dish has been consistently great. staff members are friendly and very helpful, and the restaurant's ambience is unique and special. it has been among my favorite restaurants in wellington.

i recently celebrated my 5 year anniversary and emailed pravda and asked about the possibility of a degustation. i received a call from the functions manager who said that she chatted with the head chef and they would be delighted to accommodate my request. i had a quick meeting with him the following week to discuss the evening, state that i have an egg allergy, and he said he can take care of everything.

we arrived on the night and were taken to our seats, a wonderful cosy corner with the outlook of the entire restaurant and the kitchen. we had custom made menus just for our special night. the menu looked incredible and the wait staff were always so happy to serve us and answer any questions - we didn't have to ask for anything the whole night and were really taken care of.

the head chef came out to personally serve us a couple of dishes and talk about the food which was fantastic, so incredible that he was able to do this and that there was a bit of a fuss - this made us both feel on top of the world.

we got a touch nervous at certain parts of the meal because there was 'mayo type sauces' and gnocchi but without eggs! i'm often i'm reduced to having no sauce to speak of or very run of the mill, packety, type stuff - this was fantastic for me and the head chef shared a few nuggets of gold 'cheffy' information on how to's (fantastic!).

the food was absolutely terrific, the head chef is truly an artist and you can see the passion on the plate when we were presented with the meals. we were so impressed.

we have been foodies since before it was 'mainstream', we have travelled far and wide, close on 30 odd countries with a passion for tasting everything we could. our mind over the evening and for the week since has turned to our best dishes and dining experiences, the food and our experience at pravda is right up there.

the head chef (adam) is a ridiculously passionate and fantastic chef.

in wellington we have dined at the chameleon, boulcott st bistro, logan brown, shed 5, white house, matterhorn among others and pravda would be one we would revisit and recommend to our friends in a heartbeat.

do not bother with this place - wildly overpriced for what your get - the prawn and crab salard was three tiny lettuce leaves, artfully arranged, three small frozen bag from the supermarket prawns and i don't know which tin of crab meat they decided to throw in from afar - you certainly couldn't taste it for $24.00. i can buy a kilo bag of frozen jumbo size prawns at pak and save for this price. rip off.

very happy with breakfast at pravda! best coffee i tried in wellington, amazing eggs on potato hash cake with mushrooms and hollandaise. cooked perfectly. great service and atmosphere as well

great place to go when wanting a perfectly cooked steak.

beatiful venue and very very good hosts. had the steaks bought out for an introduction which was nice. food is 10/10. get the bread hand down. one of the best squids ive had. hanger wagyu is ace absolutely beautiful.

was not what it used to be. or maybe we are just spoilt for choice in wellington these days. had a pasta dish which was fine. partner had a burger which was fine. service was attentive though.

came on first table with three friends and felt like a great deal. warm way out of the wind and had a lovely time. lamb definitely seemed to be the favourite of the mains we got but the truffle fries and the bread are worth a mention!

had a good lunch experience here. it’s a beautiful space and we had very good service. the meals were pretty good without being exceptional - we had the burgers, so perhaps not hitting their main speciality (steaks etc). had two truly amazing cocktails.

went for dinner - the food was amazing 👌🏽the staff were lovely & overall it was a fantastic experience. got some great food recommendations from the waitress. the big hits in my group were the- blue cheese salad,beef eye fillet, truffle fries & berry creme brûlée’s. will definitely be back.

starting with a last minute decision to visit pravda cafe and an absolute gentleman of a host who did his best to accommodate us to a monday evening that found themselves booked solid due to local events

drinks selection was more than accomodating for all tastes. my wine selection was a muddy waters (waipara) pinot noir , as good as i remembered it to be.
i had the lamb with pear with yams, the yams were a little on the firm side but the flavours were superb.

we even had a little room to share a berry sorbet with creme brûlée - sublime and well presented

the decor was luscious and refined with an old world feel, wait staff were adorable and attentive

would highly recommended