Volco

It's a sourdough shop and inventive café by day, and smart restaurant by night.  Volco on Egmont Street brings together the best of bakery, lunch, and dinner. The menu is inspired by restaurant classics and the fit-out invites you to linger. 

Found in the quiet lane between Ghuznee and Dixon Streets, Volco blends its much-loved bakery goods with a full café and restaurant experience that’s anything but ordinary. Classic brunch lovers can still get eggs on toast. But for the more adventurous (or culinary-minded), there are often seafood-inspired options. Think prawns, tuna, or even soft-shell crab, depending on the season. Why? “Because seafood is yum!” laughs Volco’s head chef, Kirran Buckland. The evening menu features pasta and a wide selection of generous small and large plates. 

Kirran brings his background as a restaurant chef to the menu in clever, unexpected ways. “I love taking restaurant dishes and adapting them to fit into brunch or pastries,” he says. “We want to create products that are fun for us to make and enjoyable for people to eat.” 

With three other locations across Wellington, the team at Volco has made a name for themselves by offering reliably fresh and delicious bakery treats alongside location-specific specialties. Find pizza in Kelburn, sandwiches on The Terrace and a shared retail space in Thorndon with cycling enthusiasts iRide. For several days a week the Egmont Street location swaps one delicious menu for another as day turns to night. The warm and attractive space invites you to sit and savour no matter what the time.

Of course, there’s a packed pastry cabinet for those on the go during the day. It’s crammed with buttery croissants, sweet and savoury danishes and Volco’s famous cinnamon scrolls. Hugely proportioned and very affordable, it’s no surprise they sell by the hundreds each day. The coffee machine is stocked with a special blend created in collaboration with local roastery People’s Coffee. Kirran describes it as “the best in New Zealand” — and visitors can also grab a bag of whole beans to take home. 

And while the food and coffee are a major draw, Buckland hopes it’s the energy of the place — and the people behind it — that sticks with visitors most. “We want people to walk away from Egmont and remember us the next time they want to have a good time. We absolutely love what we do, and we want people to feed off of that same love.”