Lillius is a small, owner-operated Auckland restaurant created by Fraser and Shannon McCarthy in 2017. Both trained as chefs and worked in New Zealand kitchens before spending time as private chefs in France, experience that now informs an intimate dining room with an open view into the kitchen. Fraser and Shannon continue to shape the restaurant together, while Benjamin Walls leads the front of house, giving this polished Grafton destination a distinctly personal scale.
The cooking begins with seasonality and the restaurant's relationships with growers and producers around New Zealand. Rather than holding tightly to a fixed collection of signatures, the kitchen changes its combinations as produce becomes available, using contemporary technique to make less familiar ingredients approachable. Diners can choose individual dishes or hand the pacing to the kitchen through a five or eight course menu, but everyone at a table follows the same dining format.
The current menu shows how widely that produce-led idea can travel. Crispy boar jowl and a flounder, fennel and kelp tart open the savoury side, followed by combinations such as Matangi beef with Szechuan and smoked egg, Berkshire pork with pāua, dill and blue peas, and market fish with pumpkin and shellfish. Coastal lamb is paired with artichoke, date and mushroom, while desserts move from chocolate with olive oil and yam to citrus with saffron and passionfruit.
Service spans dinner from Wednesday to Sunday and weekend lunch, with Sundays adding a bring-your-own-wine option. Advance notice gives the kitchen time to assess allergy requirements, an important consideration for menus that change with the season. The room can also be arranged for private occasions, from a seated gathering around the restaurant's booths to a larger standing event with canapés, so the same close-knit operation can accommodate both a carefully paced meal and a celebration.
Address: 19 Khyber Pass Road, Grafton, Auckland 1023, New Zealand
Been to Lillius? Be one of the first to rate it.
+ Log your visit
