Ciao brings a European dining bar sensibility to The Welder, the central Christchurch precinct on Welles Street. Its menu is designed for the table rather than for rigid courses: guests can begin with a drink and a few snacks, add pasta or a larger plate, and let the meal expand with the table's appetite. Seasonal cooking and a rotating list of European and New Zealand wines give the restaurant a contemporary character while keeping the experience relaxed and sociable.
The smaller plates reward that shared approach. Warm focaccia arrives with parmesan butter, while olives and anchovies offer direct, savoury openings. Arancini provide crispness, and a combination of mortadella, pear, burrata, hot honey and pistachio layers salt, sweetness and richness. Akaroa salmon crudo and calamari bring seafood into the first round, making it easy to assemble a varied, generous spread before choosing anything more substantial. Those contrasts reward ordering several small plates at the same time.
Ciao changes pace across the day without losing its European focus. Brunch can move from pork belly Benedict to fried chicken focaccia or mushroom gnocchi. Later, the menu leans more deeply into pasta and dinner plates, with rigatoni, handmade lemon and herb fazzoletti and eggplant ravioli alongside dishes such as chicken piccata and garlic prawns. That breadth gives both casual daytime visits and evening meals their own identity, without requiring the same ordering rhythm.
Wine is woven into the format, with bottles and glasses selected from both Europe and New Zealand to follow the menu's changing flavours. Desserts such as tiramisu and dark chocolate cremeux continue the measured style made for sharing. The menu supports a table sampling across sections: a few salty bites, a vegetable or seafood plate, pasta, then something sweet to close without requiring an elaborate tasting sequence.
Address: The Welder, 24 Welles Street, Christchurch Central City, Christchurch 8011, New Zealand
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