When La Buvette first opened on Richmond Road earlier this year, it arrived as a daytime café with a rather more compelling evening proposition still waiting in the wings. The eagerly awaited evening service is now well underway, and owners Romain Michaud and Bertrand Soalhat have swiftly transformed the Grey Lynn address into a busy French-leaning wine bar.

We stopped by after work this week to find a room already bustling with locals enjoying a glass of wine, in an atmosphere that has shifted entirely from its daytime incarnation. La Buvette feels like the kind of neighbourhood wine bar you might stumble across in France, where the food is serious enough to warrant attention, the wine is given equal billing, and no one is in any hurry to leave.

The menu leans confidently into French bistro territory without becoming overly formal or unnecessarily expensive. We were particularly happy to find the rare-in-this-hemisphere traditional escargot served hot with garlicky, herb butter, steak tartare, grilled scallops with njuda, and gloriously simple bone marrow, without all the usual faff. The pleasure of ordering several plates and a decent bottle of wine to share feels comfortable without becoming an occasion requiring financial recovery.

Wine, naturally, is taken seriously. Michaud and Soalhat have spent years immersed in it, and their knowledge gives La Buvette access to a broad and genuinely interesting selection, spanning natural and biodynamic wines, lesser-known producers and bottles you are unlikely to stumble across on every other list in town. Rather than labouring over the vast options, we chose to simply tell them what we liked. The resulting combination of French Chablis and a surprisingly delicious Chenin Blanc from Marlborough showed their expertise. 

La Buvette takes its name from the French term for a neighbourhood place to gather for a drink, and now, in its fully realised evening form, the name makes perfect sense. It is lively, relaxed and already consistently busy, bringing a welcome touch of France to Grey Lynn without feeling contrived.

Opening hours:
Café hours: Tuesday – Saturday 7am – 2.30pm
Wine Bar hours: Wednesday – Saturday 4.30pm – 10pm

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