Mr Go's fills a large corner of Hannah Laneway with neon, timber and a dining room divided into spaces that feel more intimate than its size suggests. Some tables have the brightness of a diner, others sit against warmer wood, and an all-weather outdoor area opens the restaurant to the lane. The name reaches beyond a playful sign: it honours Ah Go, a Chinese market gardener displaced from nearby Mount Cook in the nineteenth century, and frames the restaurant as a place where culinary traditions meet rather than stay in separate boxes.
Bao and dumplings make an easy opening order. The steamed buns come with twice-cooked pork belly and hoisin, fried chicken with peanut slaw and Sriracha mayonnaise, or tofu with Korean barbecue and black bean sauce. Pork dumplings bring ginger, pepper and Sichuan-spiced soy; mushroom dumplings use shiitake, cabbage and peanut chilli oil. From there, Taiwanese popcorn chicken, Korean-glazed chicken and fried tofu with smoky peanut satay show how freely the kitchen moves across East and Southeast Asian flavours.
The larger plates reward a table willing to share. Xinjiang-style lamb skewers carry cumin and a peanut-rich condiment, while miso yakitori pairs grilled chicken with lime kosho and plum-vinegar tare. Chilli-caramel pork belly is cut with apple and herbs, and wok-fried prawns bring fermented black bean, garlic and chilli. Raw fish with mango, cashew, lime and fish sauce adds freshness, as do an avocado-nori salad and a herb-heavy chicken salad with makrut lime and coconut dressing.
Dessert keeps the same cross-cultural energy instead of retreating to standard restaurant staples. Matcha Basque cheesecake is finished with white-chocolate mousse and raspberry, youtiao-style fried dough comes with tamarillo cream, and fried ice cream picks up ANZAC crumb, burnt honey and yuzu. Pandan and coconut panna cotta offers a lighter close. Cocktails, local beer and New Zealand wine suit the social format, and the split between bookings and walk-in tables lets the restaurant work for planned groups as well as spontaneous laneway dinners.
Address: 3 Eva Street, Te Aro, Wellington 6011, New Zealand
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