The delightful thing about Beau is how distinctive it is to this part of the world. Unmistakably a wine-bar-meets-restaurant, it has the usual trappings of European dining: elegant bentwood seats, an excellent and slightly offbeat wine list, thoughtful plates of food which are designed more to complement the wine than the other way around. But then you’re welcomed in te reo and notice a mirror inscribed with a tino rangatiratanga flag and the words “Toitū te Tiriti”. These expressions of place should be the norm in Tāmaki Makaurau, but they just aren’t. More so than any other place in these pages, this is an eatery that feels distinctly and proudly rooted in Aotearoa.

Manaakitanga at Beau flows effortlessly by way of a team that includes Diva Giles and Logan Birch, who opened the restaurant in 2020, and whom you’ll likely spot on the floor or in the kitchen respectively. The team takes some of the traditional delights — funky French cheeses, fresh seafood, old, rare and expensive wines — you’d expect from a Ponsonby establishment and repackages them to be down-to-earth, welcoming and youthful. The restaurant is like a modern-day Prego for a generation whose parents probably frequented that long-running institution in their younger days.

Over the past four years, Beau has gained a comfortable confidence, becoming a regular go-to spot for locals. This has been helped by its early opening hours, which mean that a casual afternoon drink in the sun can easily expand into a more substantial meal. While the menu has remained largely unchanged (we’d like to see further evolution), it has done so for good reason — people keep coming back. The whole cauliflower dredged in tahini is a favourite, and we can never pass up the raw seafood. Novelty comes by way of seasonal fancies — like truffle freshly grated on to burrata during the season, or Bluff oysters when they’re available. 

Earlier this year, Giles and Birch sought to reproduce the magic in a daytime spot, next door, in what was previously Lord Ponsonby’s Delicatessen. The new Beau Deli seems to have pleased both previous regulars and other locals.

On a recent visit to the main space, we asked if we could take home a small mound of leftover butter on our plate. A member of the floor staff darted next door to the deli, key in hand. “I hate wasting nice food, too,” they said, returning with a takeaway coffee cup. We left with that tiny piece of butter rattling around in a paper cup — and utterly charmed.