PortSide Bistro & Bar on Cobden Street in Westport is all about exceptional, well-prepared, consistently delicious food paired with an outstanding range of wine and beer. Whether you want to relax with friends over a couple of drinks, celebrate an anniversary with family, or just enjoy a chilled-out afternoon, this is the neighbourhood spot locals and West Coast travellers keep coming back to.
The all-day menu runs from breaky (served until 2pm) through brunch, lunch, snacks and sweets — think eggs benedict with crispy hash brown, the loaded PortSide Big Breakfast, sticky BBQ chicken bites, tempura fish and chips, and a bistro burger whose flavour rotates on the specials wall. There's a dedicated kids menu of little meals for little people, plus a dessert menu for sweet finishes.
The drinks side is a genuine drawcard: the fridge holds some of the West Coast's best beers, matched with expertly chosen wines, exceptional craft cocktails, mocktails and top-quality espresso — all of which pair stunningly with the food. Dinner service runs from 4pm on Mondays and Tuesdays, from 11am Thursday to Friday and from 9am on weekends, with the kitchen closing at 2pm during day hours and reopening at 5pm for dining. Closed Wednesdays.
PortSide Bistro & Bar keeps things simple and does them well: exceptional, well-prepared, consistently delicious food, and an outstanding range of wine and beer to go with it. You'll find it on Cobden Street in Westport, and it's built for every kind of occasion — a couple of drinks with friends, an anniversary dinner with family, or a long, chilled-out afternoon that turns into dinner.
PortSide's menu is deliberately all-day: breaky, brunch, lunch, snacks and sweets, with breakfast available until 2pm. Early in the day it's comfort classics done properly — eggs benedict on a toasted muffin with hollandaise and a crispy hash brown, avocado toast with poached eggs and feta, creamy mushrooms over hash browns and toast, waffles baked with berry compote and chocolate, and the PortSide Big Breakfast: a full plate of toast, fried eggs, bacon steak, tomatoes, onions, chorizo, creamy mushroom, hash browns, onion jam and garlic mayo.
From late morning the small plates take over — sticky BBQ chicken bites, crispy mozzarella bites, salt and pepper calamari, kaffir lime fishcakes and loaded fries — before the larger plates arrive: fish and chips in a light tempura batter, a Thai beef bowl, chilli coconut prawns, slow-roasted pork belly, pan-seared steak on cheesy baked mash, and a bistro burger whose flavour changes with the specials wall.
The drinks list is a genuine point of difference. The fridge is stocked with some of the West Coast's best beers — the Stoke range from pilsner to dark ale, Boundary Rd Brewery IPA, plus familiar names like Speight's, Steinlager Light, Corona and Heineken — alongside expertly chosen wines by the glass and bottle, from house pours to Waimea Estate, Giesen and Diggers Law pinot noir.
Cocktails run from the Lost Lagoon — blue curacao, vodka, coconut rum, melon liqueur, mango and fresh lime — to the celebratory Nan's Pav with vanilla vodka, strawberry liqueur, passionfruit, whipped cream and meringue. There are mocktails too, top-quality espresso, hot chocolates, kombucha and a long leaf-tea list.
If you're in on a Friday or Saturday night between 5pm and 8.30pm, the weekend combos make the maths easy: two cocktails paired with bread sticks, a small plate or a dessert.
Families are genuinely catered for — the kids menu covers breakfast (bacon and scrambled egg on toast, banana chocolate and maple crepes), lunch and dinner (mini hotdogs, crumbed chicken bites, a small beef burger with fries) and sweet treats like ice cream sundaes and banana berry splits. Gluten-free ingredients are used or available across much of the menu, vegetarian and vegan options are available, and the kitchen simply asks that you let them know about any allergies. Dessert gets its own menu too — check the table talkers for the current sweet lineup.
PortSide opens for dinner from 4pm on Mondays and Tuesdays, from 11am on Thursdays and Fridays, and from 9am on Saturdays and Sundays — so weekend brunch is very much a thing here. The kitchen closes at 2pm during day service and reopens at 5pm for dinner, and the bistro is closed on Wednesdays. Bookings can be made by phone on 03 789 7133 or through the website's booking form, and if you book dinner through First Table, the early bird gets the deal: a discount on your meals, with terms and conditions applying.
As one visitor passing through on a tour of the West Coast put it: "Love, love, love this place… we were completely blown away by the quality of the food and the friendliness of the staff."
That's the pitch in a nutshell: generous plates, a serious drinks fridge and a warm welcome in Westport.