Lillius is the fine-dining restaurant at the Khyber Pass and Symonds Street corner in Grafton. Lillius Grafton is the room run by chef Fraser McCarthy and co-owner Shannon Vandy. Metro lists it as a Top 50 restaurant and names it runner-up for San Pellegrino Best Fine Dining. Use the phone, email or website button on this listing. It is not a cafe and not a walk-in family diner.
Metro calls it approachable fine dining with local produce, velvet banquettes, an open kitchen and a low street profile behind gauze curtains. Dishes Metro has named include seaweed custard with shellfish and quinoa, yellowfin tuna with apple and frozen wasabi, a chicken and sweetcorn plate with a fried wing, crisp skin and a clear broth, and Fiordland wapiti with savoury oats and bitter leaves. Urban List names sustainably collected paua from Tora Collective with peas, seaweed and dill, and a scampi-stuffed crispy chicken wing. Menus move. Three-course and six-course formats have both been listed. Locals still mention the lockdown sourdough and the Sunday steak menu with a BYO option.
A December 2024 r/aucklandeats post booked lunch through First Table. The eight-course menu was listed at $195, halved on that deal, with a minimum spend on drinks. The poster named crispy boar jowl, wild-shot venison with heritage carrot and bone marrow, and an olive-oil parfait with sorrel, strawberry and black olive. Cocktails were called decent and expensive. That is one diner’s account of a discounted lunch, not the standard dinner bill.
The restaurant site lists Monday and Tuesday closed, dinner Wednesday to Sunday from 5.30pm, and lunch Saturday and Sunday from 12pm. Metro lists dinner from 6pm and Sunday lunch 12pm to 2pm. Urban List shows a shorter dinner window. Use the website button for the live book, or the phone button. Private events go through the email button. Seated functions are listed up to 32 guests, or 42 including the round booths. Standing functions are 40 to 60, canapés only. Book early for a weekend.
A booked dinner, a weekend lunch, or a small function. It is not the hospital cafe and not FLUFF. Children are not the published audience. If you need a quick meal between appointments, use Columbus Coffee or Pita House.
The corner is busy. Allow time for street or building parking. Sunday steak and BYO are worth asking about, because Metro treated them as a local habit rather than a permanent menu line. First Table discounts are not the normal price. Lillius Grafton needs a booking.
More Grafton listings are on the Grafton suburb hub and in Family-Friendly Dining and Outings. The official page is Lillius.
There are no reviews yet.
Columbus Coffee Auckland Hospital is the cafe inside the Grafton hospital precinct. Weekdays from 6.30am, weekends from 7.30am, closed by mid-afternoon.
Small Mercies Grafton is the Korean twisted-doughnut cafe on Mount Eden Road. Closed Monday and Tuesday. Flavours sell out, so go earlier on open days.
FLUFF Cafe Grafton is the thick-toast breakfast cafe on Khyber Pass, with gluten-free options. Daytime only. Saturday hours differ, so check before you go.
Lillius Grafton is the Metro Top 50 fine-dining room on Khyber Pass, chef Fraser McCarthy. Dinner Wednesday to Sunday, with weekend lunch. Book ahead.
