For an eatery which is technically in a mall, Gochu is fantastically fancy. Metal chairs and tables are interspersed by greenery, with big wrap-around windows overlooking the Ferry Building and, if you’re in the right spot, the Waitematā Harbour too. It’s also bright and bubbly — from the vibe to the food to the wine list — as befits a restaurant inhabiting a mall.

Drinks-wise, Gochu offers a selection of boutique gins, fun cocktails and a wine list that emphasises low-intervention and organic producers. The food orbiting the tables at Gochu is best described as a fresh take on New Korean. Playful retailorings of traditional Korean dishes burst with ingredients like Korean pickles, gochujang, crispy seaweed, doenjang and kimchi. Our favourite of these is (still) the charred chicken, which comes to the table on a hot plate. The chicken is tinged fiery red by gochujang and submerged in a Comté cheese and leek sauce. But we really like the cold noodles, too, with white kimchi, seaweed, pickled radish, gochu sauce and a glossy egg yolk to top it all off. Of course, Gochu is also home to the much-discussed spicy-pork-and-kimchi-stuffed milk bun, which is anointed with chive-flecked beurre blanc once it reaches the table — a dish that, even though the initial hype has passed, continues to captivate the city.