Higher Taste Restaurant

Don't expect fancy food, but it's quick and easy, good value for money, and tasty food.

Don't wonder about it, just do yourself a favour and go try this place! Lots of different options, good prices and tasty food! So good I visited twice on my two days in Wellington. My only advice would be to take some headphones so you can drown out the repetitive music (no offence)!

The staff is helpful and will guide you through the menu, especially if you're vegan. My favorite vegan items are A) Masala dosa - huge and filled with curried potatoes, comes with sambar, tomato chutney and coconut chutney. It's amazing and very satisfying, plus very reasonable for the portion size. B) Veggie Pakoras - go in the morning around 10AM when they're fresh. Trust me, they will be crispy outside and soft and fluffy inside. Don't forget to use the sweet sauce available at the counter. Pakoras make a delicious breakfast! C) Their daal is delicious. I get it whenever I opt for the buffet bar. Vegan items in the bar are usually daal, mixed vegetables, papadum (they fry it to perfection so it's always light and crispy, yum!), poori, red cabbage slaw, and pickles. The bar is a good deal when I'm in the mood for daal, especially because you're allowed to pile your plate as high as you want. It's a single visit bar, not all-you-can-eat, so make the most of it and use the rice to create a pond for the daal.

I went down to wellington for business and being a new vegan I was looking to support local vegan business, popped in and they guided me through the buffet meal and we're just so friendly! Thanks again recommend this restaurant!

I visited Wellington in December last year and this is probably where i enjoyed eating the most.

The place was hard to find, though. The mall it's in was easy enough to locate, but it's hidden on the lower level. I passed by the inside and outside entries a few times without noticing them, so if you're finding it hard to spot, it might pay to ask someone that works in the mall.

There were a good range of vegan choices, and like other Hare Krishna places, the food was wholesome and satisfying. Even so, Higher Taste could take a leaf out of the book of Govindas in Surfers Paradise, Australia, who converted to all vegan food in 2015.

I appreciated the quiet atmosphere inside, which allowed me to pause and reflect while i was eating, instead of being bombarded by a cacophony of voices and blaring muzak.

I would give this place 5 stars, but it's not vegan, so take one off.
Updated from previous review on Tuesday January 19, 2016

Quite good food but annoying music. Good place for a quick lunch but I wouldn't go here for special occasions.

Visited in October 2014. The lunch time buffet is good value. Unfortunately the staff didn't seem knowledgeable on what was vegan and what wasn't, but the third guy could tell me.

There’s a self-serve buffet with small, medium or large plates costing $9, 11 and 16. Seven out of eight of the warm, savoury items were vegan on the day I visited. It was tasty food. Other items are available for separate prices, such as samosas. Bottled drinks and self-serve water are available.
Not especially friendly service, and the repetitive chanting music was too loud. It does not appear to be staffed by Hare Krishna devotees.

Simple & tasty Indian food of good variety (plus nicely roasted potatos). Piled the big plate before having to catch a bus, and practically enjoyed it all - grabbed paneer cheese by mistake, but I am not dairy intolerant or super strict, so I allowed myself an exception: it's actually quite nice, but alas I have to skip it next time. You can educate yourself on their religion a bit by reading while eating, and make a donation to the temple, which I did - everything that preaches respect for living things gets mine too. Handy location close to Wellington transport hub, cozy and warm (downstairs from the street).

We had lunch at Higher Taste yesterday - it was wonderful! You take a plate (3 sizes, ranging from $9 to $16) and fill it with whatever you want from the buffet. Everything except 2 dishes was vegan. All were delicious and the tastes were varied. They even had a grain pudding, which was sweet (I had a small taste).

The lighting is a bit dim, but it did not dampen our enjoyment.

The food here is plain but very nice. Plenty of variety of curries and salads to choose from and very reasonably priced.

I love Higher Taste... I love the food and the peaceful environment. They are making a great effort to provide a wider range of foods like salads, smoothies and so on and they definitely deserve support.

The staff was not that friendly, the food was so average it would have been the same if not better at an indian food court. Very oily and extremely salty... The last straw was the staff telling us "only one paper napkin allowed! thank you"

we're part of couchsurfing.com
and we meet here every weds for lunch
its cheapest in welly but always love aunt mena

I found this place to be only average. As of October 2008, you can choose the NZ$7.50, 9.50 or 12.50 size plate and then fill it up at the buffet. It's all Indian-style food. One of the items was way too spicy and I couldn't finish it. The other items were OK, but nothing special. There was very little protein at all in the food. At this meal I got all my protein from the rice. They need to add gluten or tofu to balance out the meal. I didn't finish all the food on my plate. The atmosphere is OK, but the background music was way too loud to be called "background".