Urban Oyster Bar & Eatery sits at 278 Hardy Street in Nelson Central, serving lunch and dinner seven days a week. The menu is built around a raw bar of fresh oysters, shucked to order, alongside a wider kitchen menu that draws on the team's own backgrounds and heritages, spanning Vietnamese, Thai, Malaysian and Japanese-influenced dishes.
The oyster program is a centrepiece, with a rotating set of dressings from a simple natural mignonette through to soy-ginger-horseradish and a tempura togarashi preparation, available individually or by the half or full dozen. A daily happy hour runs from 12-1pm and 4-5pm with discounted oyster pricing.
Beyond the raw bar, the kitchen turns out shared plates like ceviche, poke, beef tartare, Bún Chả Hà Nội, and a rotating list of "Urban sliders." For bigger appetites there's a chef's selection sharing menu, plus a separate function menu for groups of 12 or more, arranged directly with the restaurant. The team welcomes walk-ins but recommends booking ahead, especially at peak times, and can accommodate dietary requirements with notice.
On Hardy Street in the heart of Nelson Central, Urban Oyster Bar & Eatery has built its menu around two things: fresh oysters shucked to order, and a kitchen that draws directly on the backgrounds and heritages of the people cooking in it. The result is a sharing-plates menu that moves confidently between Vietnamese, Thai, Malaysian and Japanese-influenced flavours, anchored by a proper oyster program.
Oysters here come with a choice of four dressings - a classic natural mignonette, a soy and fresh ginger and horseradish preparation, a Thai-leaning red chilli nahm jim with crispy shallot, or a tempura version finished with togarashi. They're available by the individual oyster, half dozen or full dozen, and weather and public holidays permitting, shucked fresh to order. A daily happy hour, running 12-1pm and 4-5pm, brings the dozen and half-dozen pricing down across the natural and tempura styles.
Beyond the oyster list, the "Kai" section of the menu is where the kitchen's range shows. Market fish ceviche in spicy coconut cream sits alongside sea run salmon poke crisps, beef tartare with nuoc cham gong and Vietnamese mint, and Bún Chả Hà Nội - grilled pork with vermicelli noodle salad and crispy spring rolls. There's a seared "crying tiger" skirt steak with tamarind and toasted rice, a Malaysian fried chicken thigh with kaffir lime chilli and sambal aioli, and a crispy pork belly finished with samjang and cos lettuce. The "Urban sliders" rotate regularly, so it's worth asking the team what's currently on. Sides include hand cut chips with a bonito-flecked dashi mayo and roasted kumara with pickled red onion.
For dessert, the short "Sweet As" list keeps things simple: a keylime cheesecake with coconut meringue and passionfruit, and a spicy ginger and white chocolate cookie served with vanilla ice cream and sesame caramel.
Diners who can't decide can hand the decision over entirely, with a chef's selection sharing menu offering four to five courses drawn from the restaurant's signature sharing plates, for a minimum of two guests. Larger groups of 12 or more are catered for through a separate function menu, arranged directly with the restaurant by email.
Urban Eatery is open for lunch and dinner every day of the week, from 11:30am. Walk-ins are always welcome, though the restaurant recommends booking ahead, particularly during peak times, since tables are allocated by party size on a first-in, first-served basis. Dietary requirements can be accommodated with notice, either at the time of booking or on arrival, and public holiday hours are posted on the restaurant's Instagram and Facebook pages.