When Lilian opened in the summer of 2019, it was immediately busy. Owners Hugo Baird, Willy Gresson and Otis Gardner Schapiro had transformed the old Siostra space, filling it with light, textured walls, romantic lamps and luxurious dark-red booths that made you feel as if you were on holiday, not in the middle of Grey Lynn. People descended on the place in droves, perched outside on the streetfront with a spritz or glass of wine in their hands.

Gardner Schapiro’s food ensures that Lilian is more than just a place to be seen. Dishes that emerge from the woodfired oven, from the puffed-up bread to the pizza, are hearty and comforting, but with a lively freshness.

Of the pizzas, we like the prosciutto with grapes, and the tuatua and fennel cream. That style of food is carried out through the rest of the menu — a lamb rump comes with fig mostarda and crème fraîche, brussels sprouts with chicken skin.

There’s also a long list of wines by the glass, featuring both New Zealand and European producers, plus bright, well-made cocktails to slowly sip on. You could try your luck at a seat up at the gently curved bar if you’re after a drink, but more often than not diners will have already snapped up the spaces.