Lulu brings South Pacific flavours, late-night energy and a strong sense of design to Courtenay Place. The room uses natural timber, warm light, lush plants and iridescent colour to suggest the tropics without turning the restaurant into a theme park. Food is written for sharing, so dinner can move at the table's own pace rather than through a rigid sequence of courses. Regular live music and DJ sessions add movement after dark, yet the restaurant remains grounded in the generous, welcoming style of a neighbourhood bar and eatery.
The opening dishes establish Lulu's point of view clearly. Rēwena flatbread can be paired with smoked-fish pâté, a palusami-style dip or horopito chimichurri, linking an everyday sharing ritual with ingredients and flavours from Aotearoa and the Pacific. Ika mata combines fresh fish, lemon, coconut cream and coriander with prawn crackers for contrast. Pork-belly doughnuts, duck and palusami croquettes, rum-spiced chicken and several oyster and mussel preparations continue that pattern, folding coconut, chilli, smoke and crisp textures into plates meant to circulate around the table.
Larger plates keep the meal communal while giving it more weight. Steamed market fish arrives with spring-onion and ginger oil, coconut cream and miti, while kalua pork is paired with island barbecue flavours and pineapple salsa. Huli Huli chicken skewers, dry-aged sirloin with horopito chimichurri and braised lamb sit beside vegetable-focused choices such as Josper-roasted cauliflower with masala spice and eggplant roulades with kūmara and coconut yoghurt. Dietary markers and separate children's dishes help a mixed table assemble a meal without losing the kitchen's distinctive voice.
Drinks and dessert carry the same ideas through to the end of the evening. Lulu's Piña Colada uses house-made spiced-pineapple and toasted-coconut syrups, while the wider cocktail list moves through rum, guava, feijoa, passionfruit and seasonal fruit. Dark-chocolate mousse with koko Samoa, chilli-roasted pineapple with Piña Colada custard and panikeke with coconut caramel make dessert feel like a continuation rather than an afterthought. For larger occasions, the courtyard, function room and Kiki Bar support everything from platters and cocktail lessons to seated meals.
Address: 31 Courtenay Place, Te Aro, Wellington 6011, New Zealand
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