There are restaurants that impress, and there are restaurants that make you want to treasure every bite. At Gilt, tucked inside Auckland’s historic Chancery Chambers, the goal has never been simply to serve excellent food. Instead, chef-owner Josh Emett and wife Helen, alongside executive chef Glen File, have created a neighbourhood brasserie that captures something they have spent years searching for themselves: the warmth, generosity and effortless hospitality found in Europe’s great dining rooms.

“I love the industry, I always have,” says Josh. It’s a simple statement, but one that quietly underpins everything about Gilt. Before the restaurant even opened, Josh and Helen already knew the building deserved something special. The question wasn’t whether to open a restaurant there, but what kind of restaurant Auckland was missing.

“We looked at what the positioning of the business is, what would work really well in that environment, what the city needs, what we want to cook, what we love. A really lovely brasserie style definitely fits with all of that.” The result is a restaurant shaped by decades of travel, experience and observation.

Elements of New York, France, Italy, Spain and other corners of Europe appear throughout the menu and dining room, but Gilt isn’t about imitation. It’s about recreating the feeling of those places where exceptional food is matched by genuine hospitality and guests are encouraged to settle in. For Glen, that experience extends well beyond the kitchen. “We want people to have a great time and to come back. Whether it’s recommending a dish or explaining an ingredient, I am here to look after them, no matter if they are a regular or a first-timer. That’s a big part of our business and it’s really important to us.”

It’s a philosophy that is reflected in every part of the restaurant. The elegant brasserie interior, attentive service and a carefully considered wine list all lead to the same destination – food that feels both familiar and exciting. “It’s approachable,” Josh says. “People recognise it, but it’s food they probably won’t cook at home. They can relax with their guests, they’re not intimidated by it and they enjoy the whole evening. That’s where Glen and I really hit our stride.” The menu celebrates classic European cooking elevated by excellent produce and considered technique. You might be treated to steak frites, a cheese soufflé, handmade pasta or the popular tomato schnitzel, which each demonstrate a confidence that doesn’t rely on unnecessary complexity.

Behind many of those dishes are stories collected over years of travelling. Some began in renowned restaurants overseas, while others arrived in far more unexpected ways. One recipe came courtesy of Gilt’s French waiter, Alex, whose grandmother shared a treasured entrecôte sauce recipe from her home in France. “She never had a written recipe with measurements, but he wrote down all the ingredients for us after speaking with her,” Glen recalls. “I made a version from that, and we kept testing it together. He’d say, ‘Closer, closer, closer.’ We tweaked it to make it our own.” This is exactly the sort of authentic collaboration that defines Gilt, respecting tradition while allowing each dish to evolve into something uniquely its own.

The baked oysters tell a similar story. Inspired by Glen’s time in New York, it has become one of the restaurant’s most memorable dishes. “It has buttered leeks, pickled radish, carrot and celeriac, and the oyster is gently warmed in burnt butter,” he says. “You can see the guest’s face kind of change, and you almost guarantee they’re going to like it. It can turn people from not liking a baked oyster to loving a baked oyster.”

For Josh and Glen, the greatest satisfaction isn’t recreating the restaurants they’ve admired around the world, it’s creating a place that gives Auckland diners a taste of those experiences without ever feeling removed from home. In a city thousands of kilometres from Europe’s bustling streets and neighbourhood brasseries, Gilt offers something remarkably similar: a restaurant where great food, thoughtful service and genuine love and passion for hospitality come together to make people want to return. giltbrasserie.nz MIA BENNETT