Petition, in the heritage State Buildings demonstrates how an all-day neighbourhood restaurant in the heart of the CBD can be all things to all people.

Whether you’re sharing prawn crudo with a business associate, meeting mates for a quick lunch or tucking into sneaky mid-morning huevos rancheros, Petition – tucked into the heritage State Buildings in the city’s CBD – makes like your second home, just with way better food and service. Much of that has to do with lauded chef, Jane Collins, a Kiwi who confidently pushes the creative envelope with her take on local, seasonal produce. Confit duck leg pedestrian? Never, especially when it shares a heady, fragrant broth with enoki, mushroom, kale and doughnuts stuffed with duck meat.

Confit duck leg pedestrian? Never, especially when it shares a heady, fragrant broth with enoki, mushroom, kale and doughnuts stuffed with duck meat.

Equally mesmerising is a tender beef rump cap drizzled with perfectly piquant chimichurri and served with a side of crisp triple-cooked chips. Making diners feel even more at home are staff members who are as likely to nonchalantly pick up a dropped serviette as they are to share their knowledge of wines chosen by State Buildings drinks director Emma Farrelly.

To that point, a visit to the attached Wine Merchant shows off more of the range, and offers the option to drink in at one of the city’s best and best-stocked wine counters, or to take away, while beer drinkers can head straight to the Beer Corner, where they’ll find solace with a rotating tap of 20 beers from both here and around the world. Never have the words ‘something for everyone’ been truer.