The Mussel Pot

We arrived in the morning with the Interislander Ferry from Wellington on the South Island of New Zealand. Already the entrance to the South Island revealed the breathtaking nature that this part of New Zealand has to offer. An optical foretaste with green hills, almost like in the Shire.

In wise foresight we had already rented a car in Wellington from the New Zealand car rental company OMEGA Rental Cars. Although the office was not yet open, the OMEGA team was kind enough to pick us up directly from the pier.

We can recommend this New Zealand car rental company to you. On the one hand, they were cheap, the car was brand new and the service was very courteous, on the other hand, they took away any fear of common rental tricks by emphasizing that OMEGA was “not on the Canary Islands”…

From here we took the very curvy Queen Charlotte Drive along the coast towards Havelock. A demanding route, especially if your stomach is not used to so many curves. But we took it a little slower and stopped from time to time in order to breathe deeply and enjoy the nature.

There would have been also the possibility to drive over the State Highways 1 & 6 – so to speak to make a hook – here the track is longer, but the road is much straighter and it should be almost ten minutes less driving time. But we didn’t want to miss the great view and with what followed later the “curve training” was a great thing.

When we passed the sign of Havelock after 35 kilometres it was again time for a short break. Havelock is not very big – at least seen from the through road. We just followed the next parking lot sign, parked our car and started to explore on foot. Already before we reached the village, we noticed some big basins on the sea side – but we did not know at this time that mussels are bred here.

This changed quickly when we arrived at the through road, as nearly all shops in Havelock seemed to have something to do with mussels. Of course, this suited perfectly, as we were more than open-minded towards a meal. So we headed directly to the next – apparently also the most famous – restaurant in Havelock, The Mussel Pot.

Sometimes – not always – it is good not to have been informed in advance, so the fact that there are very tasty mussels was a big surprise for us. It was about 14:00 o’clock and the restaurant was fortunately still open. We entered and were welcomed in the friendliest way.

The interior of The Mussel Pot conveys a very special atmosphere. Already from the outside this restaurant is decorated with huge green shells and a huge cooking pot on the roof. There is also a beer garden like area outside with a handful of tables. Inside, there is a lot of down-to-earth wood, Mediterranean colours and all kinds of objects lovingly made from mussel shells. The whole restaurant – whether guest room, bar area or the restrooms – everything was spotlessly clean.

It took less than two minutes and we could place our order. But this was easier said than done. I had made it easy for me and ordered a ribeye sandwich – that I would get some of the mussels was already clear to me here. My wife was quite “slain” by the offer – what should she order?

There were mussels in about 100 variations – with brew (tomato, wine, etc.), boiled, fried, grilled – gratinated with cheese, and, and, and… The choice fell on a kilo of mussels with classic tomato brew and another kilo grilled with garlic.

Not five minutes passed until our meal was on the table. The mussels were breathtaking – on the one hand huge…maybe 2 to 3 times as big as the big mussels at “the Italian restaurant around the corner” – on the other hand cooked to the point, soft, juicy and each perfectly seasoned. We were blown away from the quality – there were no closed, empty or smashed shells or even sand – and the taste. One thing was clear, they knew everything around mussels and I have to admit that until today these were the best mussels, I have ever been able to enjoy.

Yes, the ribeye sandwich tasted great too, but the mussels alone would be reason enough to travel to New Zealand again! The Mussel Pot is by far the best mussel restaurant I have ever visited. All ingredients – especially the mussels – are super fresh and of selected quality… it was a real stroke of luck that we “stumbled” over this restaurant.