There are often two menus offered to patrons who drop in to Madame George. Those who frequent the best bar in Auckland (see: our Top 50 bars issue) may not realise that you can opt in for the serious $95 set menu at Madame George, sampling flavourful modern Peruvian food in a lovely, lively environment. There’s the bright tiradito, a sliced raw fish dish doused in a vibrant chilli-citrus sauce that makes you want a bottle of the stuff. Then there's the anticuchos — meat or seafood on skewers —which are always changing (octopus one day, scallops the next), but always enticing with their smoky char. Then there are the large plates, which we are sure will be different by the time you read this (a seasonal, ever-changing menu seems to be the norm here). But if they’re not, then run, don’t walk, to try the aromatic Peruvian seafood rice.

Apart from the food, there’s an innate hospitality infused in the restaurant that’s hard to ignore, from the owner through to the front-of-house staff. You can see it in the service (excellent) and easy-going camaraderie between the employees. That’s what makes it such a good bar, too, so a pisco sour and some anticuchos would do you just fine as well, we think.