I have just emerged from a 3 hour nap digesting a very late lunch / early dinner at 181 Restaurant (Northlands Mall).

That's the restaurant that was purchased over Trademe for $181 a while ago, then sold king-size CookieTimes on Trademe to raise the funds to actually open. I went in at a quiet time and was the only one eating there, so I had the chance to chat with the manager and later Theresa herself about how things were going.

From an eat-in perspective they do an all day breakfast, regular meals and a selection of gourmet burgers.
- Upon enquiry they can do most of the regular meals gluten free on request but not the burgers.
- They have a vegetarian burger and some of the breakfast options don't include meat but veggie options are otherwise limited. I expect the salad could be made -without- bacon strips.

I likes my burgers, so I ordered one of those. I expected something of size for the price (mid-teens), but was still impressed by the small mountain (plus salad and chips) which was delivered to me. I recall there was a price option for 1/2 burgers noted on the menu which is good, because it was the size of meal I can only manage when very hungry. Luckily a late light brunch had left me in a suitable condition to address it properly.

My lifetime membership (which came with the cookie) makes all meals 25% off - which turned an already good value meal into a stupidly good value meal.

I will have to return at one of their busier times and see how they handle that. But I enjoyed practically having a restaurant to myself :D

~~~
Side note - menumania.co.nz wins over dineout.co.nz for reviews because menumania doesn't require you to sign up for an account before you can leave a review!

My 181 fundraising cookie arrived (along with a CD and my life membership) :D
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A woman who bought a Christchurch restaurant for $181 has found it tough to reopen the eatery as the recession bites.

However, Theresa Cowan has decided to bite back with some cookies.

The 27-year-old Aucklander bid for a former Spagalimis pizza restaurant on the internet auction site Trade Me in February and won.
...
Cowan will be fundraising by selling pizza-sized limited-edition Cookie Time biscuits on Trade Me.

The cookies will go on sale for 24 hours from 7.30pm tonight.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/christchurch/2337651/Cowan-bites-back-to-save-restaurant

I may be spamming this just a little, but the situation is sufficiently audacious and also so Age of the Internet that I think it deserves publicity :D