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Manuka in Manhattan

New Yorkers are dining on Marlborough mussels, Tasman Bay crab and tarts made from Manuka honey

Claiming to be the first New Zealand restaurant/bar in New York City, Nelson Blue has opened its doors to the public. Set on a cobblestoned corner of the Financial District, wedged between the touristy South Street Seaport and the venerable Brooklyn Bridge, the establishment is the latest ‘gastropub’ to hit the Big Apple.

“Gastropub is an English term,” says co-owner Pauli Morgan, a Nelson native and New York bartender for the past 18 years. “The gastropub ideology is a casual atmosphere with a neighborhood pub feel, where the food is at a different level than other pubs—it’s not just fish and chips.”

Nelson Blue’s menu includes several dishes not seen elsewhere in Manhattan, including mussels imported from Marlborough, crab cakes from Tasman Bay and fruit tarts made with manuka honey—all washed down with good Kiwi wine, of course.

In creating Nelson Blue’s design scheme, Morgan was inspired by his native home. Starting a year ago, he would meet regularly with an Italian designer, Maurizio Errico, trying to figure out a plan for the bar, but at first the two weren’t clicking.

“Finally I showed him the tattoo on my right arm and said, ‘This is what I’m looking for’,” recalls Morgan, referring to a patiki design, the Maori symbol of hospitality that now graces a canoe-shaped archway over the wood bar.

Ultimately, Morgan says, Nelson Blue is a place to do some flag-waving in a city full of Aussie pubs and restaurants, but until now missing any real Kiwi comforts. ”If you’re travelling around New York City and maybe feeling a little bit homesick, come to our place,” he says. “We’ve got Kiwi beer, green-lipped mussels and a guy behind the bar that will greet you with ‘G’day’. And you’ll know you’re home.”

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