Wellington is often pegged as New Zealand’s brunch capital, but August Eatery owners Lisa Lee and Tanase Antipas wanted to offer something that stood out from the crowd.

The pair settled on a seasonal Mediterranean menu. The Istanbul eggs are a regular favourite, poached and served with Greek yoghurt, Aleppo-pepper butter, dill and sourdough. Or there’s the tsoureki French toast, which features the sweet Greek bread soaked in vanilla and eggs, and served with seasonal poached fruit, macadamia crumble and labneh.

For lunch, you might go for slivers of persimmon with burrata on a salad of witlof, parsley, mint, wild rice and hazelnuts, or charred pita bread with skewered lamb and Jerusalem artichoke.

Beans come courtesy of Coffee Supreme and there’s a concise selection of smoothies, Almighty juice and sodas.

August Eatery seats 50 inside and up to 20 outside on pastel pink Martino Gamper stools. With its pitched roof, you can see orb-shaped lights glowing through the large front windows. The warm, rust-toned colour palette was inspired by Tanase’s Greek background, and echoes the doors of the heritage-listed Methodist Church rising up behind.