Satchmo Cafe Pizzabar

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Address

8 London St
Lyttelton
Region: Canterbury
Licence: Fully Licensed
Cuisine: Pizza
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Contact

Phone: 03-328 8348
Fax: 03-329 8740
Email: satchmo2002@hotmail.com

Open

10am - 9pm 7 Days

Comments

Our menu includes light meals including fresh fish for lunch and evening menu includes steaks,pork, chicken and seafood.
Live music Sunday afternoons, some Friday nights and in warmer months Saturday afternoon if fine.
Jam session Monday Nights

Overall DineOut Score based on 16 reviews

Total		7.7
Food		7.7
Dessert		8.2
Presentation		7.1
Service		8.1
Environment		7.6
Toilets		6.3
Child Friendly	Yes

Review by: Mr Lu [DineOut VIP] (381) on 23rd August 2010

Total		7.9
Food		8
Dessert		N/A
Presentation		7
Service		8
Environment		8
Toilets		N/A

Dizzy Gillespie was behind me and Marilyn Munroe on top of me….well, on the wall above, if you must know. The black and white photograph is undoubtedly one of Marilyn’s most provocative and eternally mesmerizing; an image so powerful and enduring that no red-blooded man could merely glance at it - for maximum personal & masculine edification this artistic gem requires a lengthy, longing look to fully appreciate the sheer sexiness of the pose, the immeasurable beauty of the subject and the skill and perceptiveness of the photographer.
Yes, I was at the wonderfully themed Satchmo Bar and Café in London Street, Lyttelton, for a spot of late lunch and handfuls of atmosphere. This café epitomizes that prevalent Christchurch style whereby an old retail shop is recycled, rejigged and reborn as an eatery. You have the wonderful, aged, well-worn wooden flooring, the ill fitting joinery, the comfortable old clothes, favourite chair feel that comes with the dust and a long-standing flirtation with time. An inestimably pleasant place to find oneself in, like a cubby-house from the past or a secret tree-house in the back garden of the family home.
Notwithstanding the above, Satchmo’s is a professionally run restaurant/bar, with a more than adequate wine list, enticing menu, appealing specials and long hours, 7 days a week.
There’s clearly a desire on the part of the proprietors to deliver their fine product, garnished with live entertainment as often as not, to us, their people. It’s a creditable thing to do!
Six large Keneperu oysters (Crassostrea gigas) in shell were one of the entrée ‘specials’ of the day and when the three ‘Kilpatricks’ and the three ‘Mornays’ appeared I couldn’t resist a knowing glance back up and over my shoulder at Marilyn. The glint was still in her eye and, in a flash, approval was given to start.
As many of you will know, oysters come in many varieties and tastes, and are best eaten raw, but there’s nought wrong with “fitting” the food to the establishment. Satchmo’s is big on comfort food, I suspect, and these six wise bivalve molluscs were perfect in this setting. Comfort food is described in Wikipedia as:
The term "comfort food" (added to the Webster's Dictionary in 1972) refers to foods consumed to achieve some level of improved emotional status, whether to relieve negative psychological affect or to increase positive.
Immediately following the finish of my glass of sparkling wine in honour of the entrée, and spurred on by an improved emotional status absorbed from the soft, saline refrain delivered by the shellfish, I couldn’t resist ordering yet another of the day’s specials, Jambalaya, as a main.
The coloured, well-burnt candles in wax-coated wine bottles stood silent in observation as I looked about the dining room at images of Dexter Gordon, Geoff Stern and Billie Holiday. Marilyn again nodded as I made my choice and I waited in urgent expectation for my bowl of Louisiana Creole cooking.
The good people of the Boundary Vineyards in Waipara had supplied Satchmo’s with a Kings Rd Pinot Noir and it was this that I sipped alongside the warm, rich, tawny, edible patchwork rug of interesting ingredients in the Jambalaya. Without doubt I would have loved a much larger bowl but then my grandmother always used to chide me for always eating more than I needed. How much of a good thing is too much?
Step out the back of this café/bar and you will find a tiered fantasy-land of steps and stumps, bricks and blocks, posts and pavers underneath various canopies of trees and tarpaulins. It is in this quixotic wonderland that you can while away a relaxing Sunday afternoon in the filtered sunshine, your glass of wine gently coaxing you into the realm of exotic unreality, your co-conspirators cementing the true bonds of friendship with you that you know you need and want so dearly. All this amidst the strangely enervating but helpful caress of live jazz.

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Review by: col [DineOut VIP] (71) on 11th October 2009

Total		8.1
Food		8
Dessert		N/A
Presentation		7
Service		9
Environment		8
Toilets		8
Child Friendly	Kind of

great place for lunch on a sunny sunday afternoon for a hrad to please chef and his delightful partner.
the wine was superb (perhaps a tad over-chilled for my liking btu thats just being picky) and the food was really good but special mention must be made of the service, which in this day and age when a lot of service people seem to have forgotten the art of "service with a smile" is almost a rarity indeed.
first time i have personally been to this place but certainly will not be the last :)

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