The Windsor Room

In central Auckland, just off Queen Street, The Windsor Room is an intimate hideaway steeped in Art Deco ambience. Once an ice-cream and soda parlour in the 1950s, it now channels that golden-age nostalgia into a dining room with a gentle hum and a sense of occasion. Here, time slows, stories linger, and supper becomes a small ritual.

The kitchen, led by Chef Jay Edejer, champions simple pleasures and honest cookery, elevating cherished European classics with modern touches and high-quality, local ingredients. A raw bar sets the tone: Clevedon oysters dressed with shallot and Champagne mignonette, and Marlborough crab brightened by cucumber jelly and a lick of brown butter.

From the grill, 10-day aged lamb rump and a charcoal-kissed scotch fillet arrive perfumed with brown butter, thyme and garlic. Comfort finds finesse in hand-cut beef tartare, a nostalgic scotch egg, and mains such as Lumina lamb noisette or beer-battered market fish with triple-cooked chips. To finish, think sticky toffee pudding or an Eton mess. Book in, settle back, and let nostalgia lead the way.