Two Porirua eateries have made the final five in Burger Wellington 2026, giving the city two chances to take out the region’s top burger title.
Elemental Eats in Kenepuru and Sushil’s Musclechef Café in Aotea were named among the finalists in this year’s Visa Wellington On a Plate burger competition.
Elemental Eats is in the running with What’s the buzz?, a $22 burger featuring a smashed beef patty with bacon, mozzarella, onion crisps, Elemental Coffee espresso BBQ sauce and aioli in a brioche bun.
Sushil’s Musclechef Café made the final with The Street Whisper, a $34 burger inspired by chef Sushil’s childhood in Chennai.
It features South Indian spiced twice-cooked chicken in Manchurian sauce, Napa cabbage coleslaw, crispy noodle sadeko, pickled red onion and kimchi ketchup in a curry leaf milk bun, served with Sichuan-spiced fries and momo sauce mayonnaise.
A vegetarian and vegan version is also available.
The other finalists are Bellbird Eatery, Lazy Juan and The Old Quarter.
The five finalists will now face final judging to decide the 2026 Burger Wellington champion.
Burger Wellington ran from August 3 to 23 and featured more than 240 burgers across the Wellington region.
With two of the five finalists coming from Porirua, the city is well represented in the race for this year’s title.