Kiwi clothing label Rodd & Gunn opened its first dual retail-hospo experience – The Lodge Bar – in 2016, on the shores of Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown. Its Auckland sibling, The Lodge Bar & Dining, opened in 2020 on the ground floor of the Commercial Bay precinct (and was followed by Brisbane).

At the entrance, you can swing right to browse the Rodd & Gunn boutique or left into the restaurant. Like all Lodge venues, the fit-out is warm and sophisticated. There are light-toned sheepskins and blankets on the backs of the pale chairs

Food-wise, the seasonal menu celebrates New Zealand produce. It features topnotch oysters (we recommend you order a selection of fresh and fried), and there are playful nods to Kiwi classics in the snacks section, including meat-pie croquettes and a snack-sized take on fish’n’chips (a bite of cured snapper atop a batter crisp with tartare sauce). With a Josper charcoal oven in the kitchen, meat is a focus. You might order confit organic pork belly; coal-roasted coastal lamb; or a 600-gram, 32-day dry-aged Angus beef steak.

All Lodge Bar menus are overseen by executive chef Matt Lambert, formerly of Michelin-starred New York restaurant Musket Room. Head chef Logan Clark is in the Auckland kitchen day-to-day, and the wine list was compiled by master sommelier Cameron Douglas.