Although it may seem like a new wine bar/restaurant is opening on Karangahape Rd every other week, it would be a crime to forget about Apéro, a restaurant that has featured in our Top 50 year after year after year, and for good reason. Huddled in between Cosmic and the Saloon Bar, Apéro opens up into a lovely brick-walled room, saturated with a genuine love for food and wine.

Co-owner and chef Leslie Hottiaux hails from Toulouse in south-west France, which informs her cooking philosophy: local ingredients served simply. You can see this in Apéro’s succinct menu, which features plenty of tasty things to nibble on: a paper bag of bread and butter, warm marinated olives, some falafel scooped up in a side of coriander buffalo yoghurt. The ultimate grazing option is the charcuterie platter, which we may or may not have hoovered up completely on our own.

You can also pop in and wander down the back for a late-night drink at the bar. Apéro’s other co-owner, Ismo Koski, usually handles the wine side of things. The long list is ever-changing, with plenty of smaller producers and lesser-known drops, many by the glass, to keep things interesting. And if you’re finding it hard to choose, leaving it in Koski’s hands is always a good bet.