Deliciosa slides very much under the radar in my opinion. Tapa style dishes, with both indoor and outdoor seating; it is tucked away below the road right near to Hawthorne Coffee. It was Dad’s birthday, Andy and I were up visiting from Wellington and my brother is also currently living at home – so in addition to my Dad’s girlfriend, it was the perfect number for a sharing style meal.

There was a huge selection of both food and drink. Once we were all settled in with our beer (I love coming across Wellington beers in other cities, especially when it’s my favourite beer of all time – Garage Project’s Garagista) we turned our eyes to the menu. We all threw out suggestions that appealed to us, and then we worked out which of those suggestions we had in common. We ended up ordering the duck, squid, fried chicken, pork belly, lamb, artichoke dip and fried cauliflower.

The dishes were staggered, allowing us to savour each dish individually. We discussed each of our favourite orders, and somewhat surprisingly not one person had the same ranking as someone else. My favourite was artichoke dip and fried cauliflower (the two vegetarian dishes, which given all that meat was also somewhat surprising!) followed by the lamb. The fried chicken and squid were both delicious, but not necessarily stand out squid or chicken from other places that I have tried it. The pork and duck were both quite sweet, which saw them topping other people’s lists, but on this occasion not mine.

Dessert saw me order the biggest piece of rocky road I think I have ever seen in my life. We also tried the coconut chocolate pot which was satisfyingly decadent without being overly sickly, and the creme brulee which was pretty extravagant in its appearance: it also came with ice-cream and fruit.

Deliciosa: 21 Napier Road, Havelock North