Where possible, we buy goods and services from local businesses whose practices and products we respect. We'd rather see our money support the business ecosystem in New Zealand than be siphoned off overseas by big corporations.

Food and Drink

• The China Kitchen - Stella Li runs an unassuming, completely honest eatery, with what we think is perhaps the best Chinese cuisine in Christchurch. She's from the south of China, but she deals out north Chinese and Japanese with equal fidelity (so far as we can tell). All meals are about $9-$10, and you can't go past their fresh-made dumplings. Our fave dishes as of the last informal survey: Szechaun Chicken, Singapore noodles, Spicy Beef noodle soup, and Spicy Chicken on rice. Located in Hereford St. midway between Colombo and Manchester. Open Monday-Saturday from lunch 'til 10pm.
• The Twisted Hop - Proper beer, real ale. We at the Effusion Group have a perpetual booking Fridays at 5pm. Come down an join us sometime! Located in the new Poplar Lane precinct between Lichfield and Tuam streets, near High Street. Pays to book for Friday evening.
• Hot Shot Espresso Bar - bloody good coffee prepared by Raj, one of the top baristas in Christchurch (update: 4th place in the NZ-wide 2008 barista of the year competition). Located on the west side of Manchester Street near the corner of Cashel (Hereford Street side). Open until 4:30pm 6 days.
• Vivace - perhaps the premier coffee in Christchurch (only by the slimmest of margins) along with excellent service - Tando often has your coffee extracted before you even get to the counter to order it! Location down Hereford Street near Oxford Tce, opposite Scorpio Books.
• Joji's - excellent traditional Japanese meals from $8-$12, including bento boxen. High quality sushi as well, with a low-price take-away option. Located on corner of Worcester and Manchester.
• Topkapi - a great Turkish kebab house. Elly and Hamza take good care of us - and their lunchtime kebabs are tasty. The challenge: do you have what it takes to eat them with your hands... Open for lunch and dinner, 6 days.
• Ginko's - yummy Szechuan style Chinese cuisine. The decor is lush and the concierge, Wendy, is very good value and always good for a laugh, and the food is very authentic. Egressive favourites include Szechuan Pork (spicy, sweet and sour), Bacon on rice (sounds funny, but is totally yummy - some of us experience intense cravings), and the somewhat mysterious sounding Dandan noodles (you have to try it to find out - spicy!). Open for lunch and dinner, but closed from 2:30 to 5 if you're looking for a late lunch.

Computers and Parts

• Insite - wholesaler of reliable, good value PCs and laptops based on commodity hardware with outstanding support and service to back them up. Insite have recently introduced the ability to specify "no Microsoft operating system" on their online machine quote builder - this applies to all locally assembled servers, workstations, and notebooks.
• Dove Electronics - a huge range of parts and devices delivered to our door in a jiffy.

Bandwidth

• Unleash - wholesaler of high quality broadband, with a hosting facility in Christchurch, and points of presence in Wellington and Auckland and elsewhere... Providing redundant bandwidth suppliers, and excellent fail-over support.

Other Stuff

• Ground Effect - for proper, hard wearing yet socially acceptable clothing, specifically designed for cyclists. Made right here in Christchurch - we strongly prefer to buy kiwi made (and to hell with that "designed in NZ" crap trying to get in on the national pride action).
• Trade Aid - for socially responsible gifts and, more importantly, your supply of the world's 2nd most widely traded commodity (Coffee!!), talk to Trade Aid, or visit one of their many local shops. We purchase our roasted pre-ground or whole beans by the kilogram, at wholesale prices. Do the world a good turn while enjoying the righteous taste of 100% fairly traded coffee. Oh, and their fairly traded Belgian dark chocolate is without rival - the perfect balance of cocoa and sweet.