Cellar 495 Menu

Cellar 495 brings three related ideas together on Heretaunga Street East: a bistro, a tasting room and a specialist wine shop. Master of Wine Michael Henley leads the drinks side, while chef Carlita Campbell shapes a seasonal New Zealand food menu designed to sit naturally beside the cellar. The result is not simply a wine store that serves snacks; lunch and dinner have enough structure for a full meal, with bottles, flights and food sharing the same conversation.

The opening plates are compact but highly specific. Oysters come with lemon and Chardonnay vinegar, and focaccia is paired with nduja butter and roast garlic. An anchovy potato doughnut compresses salt and crispness into a small bite, while raw kingfish is layered with orange, soy, sesame, avocado and chilli. Matangi beef tartare takes a richer route through parmesan custard, pickles and capers, giving the menu several very different ways to begin.

Larger plates retain that attention to contrast. Pig cheek is matched with scallops, ginger, hot-and-sour pears and master stock, while lamb rump arrives with onion gratin, eggplant, chickpeas and black garlic. A halloumi dish with bulgur, beetroot and asparagus offers a substantial vegetable-led alternative. These are composed bistro plates rather than generic accompaniments to wine, and their sweet, acidic and savoury elements create plenty of possible pairings from the shelves.

Diners who prefer to hand over the decision can choose the kitchen's Just Feed Me sequence, with an optional matched-wine progression. Crème brûlée and lemon semolina cake provide two distinct dessert finishes, and affogato or sorbet offer lighter alternatives. Monthly winemaker dinners add another reason to visit, placing a producer's bottles into a small, focused event where the relationship between the kitchen and the cellar becomes the main point of the evening.

Address: 319 Heretaunga Street East, Hastings 4122, New Zealand

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