Sydney eatery to promote Wellington

A pop-up restaurant to promote Wellington dining and local produce in Sydney has effectively sold out before opening.

WLG opens in the Old Bayswater Brasserie in Kings Cross on Tuesday, showcasing local food and wine for a two-week period.

A team of 20 will fly across the Tasman to run the restaurant. The team will include chefs Shaun Clouston from Logan Brown and Boulcott Street Bistro's Rex Morgan and others from some of the capital's leading restaurants.

Organisers are preparing to fly a small mountain of food and produce from the Wellington region and Marlborough, including more than 100kg of Cook Strait blue cod, 50kg of Mojo coffee, dozens of bars of Whittaker's chocolate and 180 cases of Marlborough and Wairarapa wine.

More than 2000 bookings have been pre-sold with the remaining openings reserved, mainly for travel media and tourism operators.

David Perks, chief executive of positively Wellington Tourism, said the project was designed to demonstrate to Australians an alternative to New Zealand's adventure tourism market.

"Wellington isn't necessarily the first thing that Australians think of when New Zealand gets mentioned, and this is an opportunity to reinforce to people the fact that you can come to New Zealand, not just for skiing or bush walks, but for fantastic food in a city that loves being out and enjoying itself," he said.

The agency has been promoting Wellington directly into Australia through its "There's No Place Like Wellington" campaign, as part of a matched funding programme with Tourism New Zealand.

Tourist numbers from across the Tasman have been rising – visitors from Sydney to Wellington were up by 15 per cent in July over a year ago – but Mr Perks said the perception of Wellington for many Australians was either dated, or tainted by their view of their own capital city.

"Because of Australians' perception of their own capital city, there is a presumption amongst those who haven't experienced our capital city that Wellington is just the same as Canberra, when in fact Wellington is probably everything that Canberra is not."

- © Fairfax NZ News