St John to the rescue

It's a wet weekend in Wellington, for the first time in weeks. Unfortunately, it was too wet for our planned scavenger hunt around the city, so a few of us met for a long leisurely brunch instead.

The Brewery (Mac's) on the waterfront used to be a favourite brunch venue of mine. We were disappointed to find that their brunch menu had shrunk in proportion to their rise in prices. I'm happy to pay for quality food or coffee, but find $17 for eggs is ridiculous, no matter how good they are. So we popped next door instead.

St Johns Bar is now in its second incarnation. A former St John Ambulance station, it's quite different to the trendy club it used to be in my student days and is now more classy and refined. The brunch menu was great, with a good selection and reasonable prices. My 3-egg omelette was absolutely huge with yummy bacon, cheese, and sundried tomatoes. The buttermilk pancakes looked great, the big breakfast was just that, and a friend managed to use two huge, fluffy hash browns to absorb his three black ales.

We spent a lazy Sunday afternoon debating important global issues, including a heated discussion about the effect technology has on society, then set about solving the world's problems. All in a day's work, really. So, if our scavenger hunt is rained out again next week, we know what we'll do instead.