After having a break from the Auckland restaurant scene when Merediths closed in 2017, Michael Meredith is back at it again, this time with something a little more approachable than his fine-dining past. The restaurant is situated in Britomart’s Excelsior House, now covered in Shane Cotton’s Maunga and fitted out by Cheshire Architects in soothing neutral tones that lull diners into lingering over a long lunch.

Inside, Meredith can often be seen in the kitchen turning over octopus tentacles and slabs of meat, anchor­ing the middle of his team as they plate and tweeze around him. It’s intricate, supremely thought-out food, in an environment that wavers between casual and fine.

The waitstaff wear smart jackets, but you wouldn’t look out of place in jeans and a tee.

Snacks are priced per person: the pain au black pudding, which looks like a pain au chocolat, is our favourite, rivalled only by the salt and vinegar oyster mushroom that’s received a liberal dusting of freshly cracked pepper. Since the menu is light on dish descriptions — merely a list of ingredients — what you actually dig into is always a little different from what you’d imagined, and some extra sketching out from the waitstaff is often required. On a recent visit, the Swiss brown mushrooms in black bean, drizzled with a bit of sesame, were superlatively good — we were eternally grateful we’d taken our server’s advice.