Wigmore Deli opens at 10am and closes when it sells out. There’s a big old bar and some Lundia shelving with pickles and the like for sale, and a few places to perch while you eat. Things are simple here. They sell three sandwiches a day: when we visited, we ate kimchi and provolone on sourdough. Sandwiches come with a handful of Proper Crisps, which is a nice touch. There’s filter coffee, too, and that’s kind of it.

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It’s in Kingsland, Tāmaki Makaurau, up the road from Here HQ. As we’ve said before, this suburb is a grab-bag of businesses. Thanks to its proximity to Eden Park, it’s a very good place to watch sport and drink beer, and it boasts no fewer than three craft breweries and two coffee roasters.

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But too often – and despite a close-knit community in the narrow streets of the neighbourhood – properly local joints are few and far between. All that changed a month or so back when the singer Gin Wigmore – recently returned from a decade in California – bought a fine old commercial building on the strip (which used to house The Fridge, RIP) and opened Wigmore Deli with friend and collaborator Aiden Williams.

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The door is red, and the shop is painted green inside and out, with hand-lettering on the window. Wigmore lives upstairs. “When I’m feeling a little lonely of heart,” she says, “I come down and just do a bit of work on the till, but mainly just be in the presence of this place. It’s a warm hug, you know.”

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It’s the kind of place that feels effortlessly put together, and all the more appealing because of it. Come October they’ll open two or three nights a week for wine and snacks on the back deck. We’ll see ya there.

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Wigmore Deli

507 New North Road, Kingsland, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland

wigmoredeli.co.nz

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