shed 5

overlooking the stunningwellingtonharbour, shed 5 occupies a historic building which is now wellington’s premier seafood restaurant. when i recently returned for a trip to visit my friends in the city i used to call home, we dined at this luxurious waterfront restaurant and had an incredible dining experience!

the four of us arrived on a monday evening around 8pm to a busy restaurant & bar and warm, lively atmosphere. the restaurant is incredibly spacious, with decor of dark wooden beams and crisp white tablecloths creating a beautiful, classic look, and large windows showing off the gorgeous views of the harbour.

we were seated by a waitress who was friendly, attentive and patient all night long, and more than happy to explain & elaborate on menu choices for us and to share what was on offer. we started with wines before ordering our mains – mine a sparkling rosé.

because shed 5 specialise in seafood, much of their menu is seasonal. one of my friends and i chose the same main, salmon fillet, but with two different sides: 01. with roasted moroccan carrot & chick pea salad / fried halloumi / dates / coriander / lemon vinaigrette / garlic & herb labneh / spiced tomato mascarpone, and 02. with calamari & warmed nicoise salad – green beans / potato / tomato / olive / soft egg / shallot vinaigrette / anchovy & caper butter. i have to say my main was absolutely delicious! i loved the crispy skin of the salmon and juicy, succulent meat and every part of the side, but especially how the crispy halloumi and sweet, chewy dates complemented it.

my dessert was lime & coconut panna cotta with pineapple & macadamia toffee crumble, fruit salad, mango lassi foam and textures of passion fruit. it was wonderfully flavoured: sweet, but balanced with a creative combination of complementing flavours & textures. not to mentioned aesthetically presented!

we shared our food amongst the group, including my friend’s entree, half a dozen oysters, which were extremely fresh, clean, crisp & succulent, and my friend’s tuna main which was all our favourite of the night. he also ordered dessert with me, a summer berry trifle, which unlike my dessert was sweet but rich complemented by the tangy taste of strawberry, raspberry & blackberry.

overall, it was a very memorable dinner at shed 5. coupled with my first dinner inwellingtonin a year, shed 5 made this dinner extra special with their impeccable customer service, welcoming character and of course, amazing & skilfully made cuisine. i’d highly recommend shed 5 if you are looking for a glamorous dinner with some of the best seafood you’ll ever experience.

salmon fillet $31.50 (x2)

duck risotto $37

summer berry trifle $16.50

lime & coconut panna cotta $16.50

prices excluded: our wines, tuna, half dozen oysters

searching for lobster inwellingtonwe saw shed 5. however when checking the lunch menu it wasn’t there but they did it for us anyway.

great cocktail list. which i immediately spilled on the table, sorry!

salmon was good i liked the grapes for sweetness.

mushroom pasta was really nice something i will try recreate at home.

fantastic staff.

came here during the beginning of march during our trip down to wellington.
the service was lovely - although there were a little too many flies in the bar which really needed to be dealt with. there was also quite a long wait time for the food, although the waitress did reassure us that the food would be out soon.
we ordered the eye filet and the pork schnitzel, i loved the pork chop, and thought the apple slaw was very refreshing in contrast with the hearty pork.
the eye filet was good, however, was unsure with the pairing with the kumara underneath - it didn’t seem to have the refreshing feeling that the apple slaw had for the pork.

overall enjoyed the experience here, would love to come back if i’m down inwellingtonsometime again.

highly regarded as a top seafood restaurant inwellingtoni went in for the kill and ordered mostly that. while satisfied with my meal i was not blown away by the food. the waiter we had was a very cheeky young man but unsure whether all comments were quite appropriate. oysters fell a bit flat and werent the largest. dad had a great time though

celebrated our second wedding anniversary at shed 5 last night and had a lovely time! we booked through their website which was a breeze and received a confirmation email the night prior so we knew we were all ready to go. the restaurant was quite full for a monday (must be because it waswellingtonanniversary) and the staff were busy attending to everyone but it never felt as if they were in a rush. they also obliged our request to sit next to the water which was really appreciated and the maître d' wished us a happy anniversary as she seated us.

we had the beautiful warmed bread to begin which arrived within five minutes and our mains were out not long after that. i also tried their sav blanc that was featured in their monthly wine tasting (johner something?) and really liked it. hubby had the savannah angus eye fillet; it looked great and was beautifully prepared while i had the moroccan style market fish (choice of salmon or groper, i chose the latter) which is actually not something i would usually choose as i'm not a big seafood fan but "when in rome..." it was delicious and i was glad i branched out of my usual chicken and steak bubble. our waiter suggested we pair our meals with the rocket salad which we both devoured.

dessert did not disappoint and we should know - we ordered a lot! both of us wanted the valrhona kalingo chocolate mousse but in the interest of sampling more than one dish i ordered the lime and coconut panna cotta. on top of this, hubby also got a couple of the chocolate truffles and i ordered spanish chocolate fudge fig...just cause. everything was really tasty with a lovely variety of textures and flavours. the fig was very boozy and i heeded our waiters advice to save that 'til last lest it overpower everything else. shed 5 also helped to celebrate as they sent out a special dessert wishing us a happy anniversary - nice touch :-)

our waiter was great, too! wish we had got his name but if you get a charming irish lad you'll be in good hands. thanks shed 5!

had a terrible lunch here over the weekend. 
food took ages to arrive and was average. this is a restaurant where they are trying to be posh but really failing. we had 4 mains to choose from. all of which varied in size hugely, so half the table was starving and the other half couldn't finish the meal. cutlery was dirty, and we had to ask 3 times for a drinks menu, and they only bought 1 to share.staff we under trained and had no manners. to take our order the waitress just said "what do you want", never repeated the order or acknowledged what we had said. and later when meals were put in front of us, we said "thank you" and they said "of course".... what sort of a response is that!!!we were then overcharged as they messed up the bill. having eaten at most of the restaurants inwellingtonto ensure i can make good recommendations to customers, i will be making sure to remove this from our list and advising of the many cheaper, nicer and more deserving restaurants in town.

shed five is in the heart ofwellingtonand offers a great range of seafood dishes. one of the most delicious dishes we ordered was the seafood chowder which was creamy but not too heavy and had delicious fresh seafood in it. so my favourite was the scallops, perfectly seared and translucent in the middle, this was meal of the night! service was reasonably quick and the waiter was very helpful though there are only two waiters catering for about 14 tables. for my main i decided to order the seared tuna, which was really tasty and impeccably fresh.

altogether the meal was enjoyable, though bit pricey.

had a lovely lunch at shed 5 with family while inwellingtonover christmas. the occasion was a birthday and we were a party of 6. firstly, the service here was very good, our waitress was friendly and very attentive. she was knowledgeable about the menu as well. we went straight for the mains and most of us also had a dessert. 3 of us had the tuna, including me. i thought the dish was pretty average. the fish was fresh enough but it wasn't a very good cut. when you cut through seared tuna, the knife should glide through and the tuna should almost melt in your mouth. i didn't experience either of those sensations. maybe the tuna should have been sliced, and then seared. the dish didn't come with much - tomato, basil and mozzarella. not sure that the dish worked as a whole, although i still enjoyed it. it was tuna after all! for the most part, everyone else enjoyed their mains. the birthday boy also ordered one of the entrees to share between us when we were eating the mains. it was the beetroot cured akaroa salmon w/ chilli pineapple carpaccio. wowza! this little dish was amazing. who would have thought that salmon and pineapple could work so well together! on to dessert. i had the fruit salad with ice-cream. well, it wasn't your usual fruit salad and ice-cream, it was fancy! and it was delicious! everything on the plate was extremely fresh, the flavors and textures all worked really well together. i particularly enjoyed the pavlova ice-cream. yum! the entrée and dessert deserve a 5, but the main was a let-down. overall, this place is very good and a great spot for a special occasion.

ten days ago my partner and i took a group of international visitors to shed 5 for what we expected to be a special experience to mark the last night of their visit to new zealand. the meals were tasty and the service satisfactory - but not head and shoulders above many other greatwellingtoneateries as we had expected from their 4 1/2 star rating on this site. but the worst was yet to come - two of our six guests got food poisoning from their meals and spent their last night in new zealand throwing up in their hotel rooms. my partner rang shed 5 the next day to report this and was told the head chef would ring back but he hasn't. my partner rang twice more and left messages but still no call from shed 5. the same week we watched simon gault on masterchef berate two of the contestants for leaving a bit of dirt in the bok choy they served. this seems like the pot calling the kettle black. its time shed 5 put the same standards in place that their owner expects of amateur contestants on masterchef - and a little follow up customer service wouldn't go amiss!

we were lucky enough to celebrate a friends birthday at shed 5 on saturday night. wow what an amazing place. there was a large group of us and we each ordered something different and were all impressed with what we ate. the freshness and colours on our plate where simply delicious! the wait staff were perfect as well! so well done shed 5 and next time we are inwellingtonyou will be our first stop!

i took my mum here for a late mothers day lunch as we were down inwellingtonfor andy warholf exhibition.

we have dined at a fair number of up market restaurants previously and we were not disappointed with our experience.

the cocktails are reasonably priced and the hair of the dog (bloody mary) was exceptional. this set the scene for the rest of the afternoon.

we started with the warm bread and dips. i had two entrees of tuna capaccio - flavours and textures were out of this world. i went with my old time favourite of caesar salad - the take on this salad was exceptional. my mum had the fish of the day which she thoroughly enjoyed. we shared the crumble desert which was yummy.

we had our own waitstaff who was knowledgeable about the food and wine and shared stories from paris. his dedication to serving made the experience more enjoyable. we also liked the fact that we were not plied with alcohol like we have found in other top market restaurants.

we learnt never to judge a restaurant by the decor. we wish this restaurant was in auckland. we would recommend this restaurant to everyone who comes down towellingtonand will be back the next time we are down in the city.

the famous bluff oysters have just come into season and there is no better way to celebrate our wedding anniversary and bluff oysters by heading to shed 5 for some good casual seafood eats and is one of a few restaurants left that still does the good old stiff white linen table cloths with service to suit.

please visit my website for an indepth review and the other dishes that we ordered.

review from 19 may 2013 
great fine dining restaurant inwellington- where its specialty is seafood. i have been here on several occasions and have never been disappointed. it is not as expensive as you may think.. service is good and friendly and food is even better.

definitely recommend this place if you want to take your other half to a nice restaurant. it definitely is not noisy as some restaurants that you go to.

if you like bread, i recommend the trio of breads with accompanying spreads - they are my favorite!

always exceptional. best seafood inwellingtonand a great wine list, backed by a sommelier who knows what he is talking about, but i disagree on his opinion of waiheke wines. even though it's expensive, the quality of the food, service and atmosphere are well worth every cent. even though it's upmarket, it is not pretentious in any way.

we dined here recently on a girls weekend inwellingtonand had an excellent dining experience.

after seeing wow at tsb arena we headed across to shed 5 and were seated at a table by the windows, looking out over a little marina. i loved the location right beside the water and the converted warehouse decor, featuring wood floors, exposed brick walls, high ceilings and big windows, gives the place a really nice ambience. we ordered the venison special and the mushroom risotto, and they were both delicious.

now run by simon gault & his team, we thought the food was excellent, and the service professional and friendly.

we recommend shed 5 as a lovely dining destination for groups and for couples.