Squisito Trattoria is a woodfired pizzeria and trattoria on Jervois Road in Herne Bay, where the cooking is, as the team puts it, rustic yet refined. Owner and chef Christophe Jacqument has built a bespoke kitchen around quality produce and technique, offering an interpretation of traditional European cuisine with a Mediterranean accent — woodfired manuka pizzas, pastas, risotto, bouillabaisse and slow braises.
The dining room is run by front-of-house owner Buki Prekazi, whose warm brand of hospitality is meant to feel like a special evening with friends and a good bottle of wine. The wine list travels between New Zealand, Italy and France, with spritzes, a Negroni and Peroni on tap at the bar.
The practical bits: dinner from 5pm Tuesday to Sunday, lunch from midday on Friday and Saturday (closed Mondays), the full menu available for takeaway, a proper kids' menu, dietary requirements catered for on request, and gift cards available online.
On a leafy stretch of Jervois Road in Herne Bay, Squisito Trattoria does exactly what its Italian name promises — something delicious. It's a woodfired pizzeria and trattoria where the cooking is, in the kitchen's own words, rustic yet refined: traditional European technique applied to quality produce, served in a room relaxed enough for a midweek pasta but atmospheric enough for a long dinner with wine.
The restaurant is very much a two-hander. Owner and chef Christophe Jacqument has built a bespoke kitchen around quality produce and technique, turning out an interpretation of traditional European cuisine that roams comfortably from Rome to Provence. Up front, co-owner Buki Prekazi runs the room with his own warm brand of hospitality — the sort that makes an ordinary Tuesday feel like a special evening with friends and a good bottle of wine.
At the heart of the kitchen sits the woodfire oven, fed with manuka and turning out a compact, confident pizza list. The Margherita keeps things canonical — fior di latte, San Marzano tomato, basil and olive oil — while the Diavola brings salami and calabrian chilli heat, and the Tuscany goes earthy with truffle, fungi and pancetta. There's a plant-based path too: the Vegetarianana can be made vegan, stacked with wood-fired roasted eggplant, courgette, oregano, red peppers and olives.
Those flames reach past the pizza boards. The venison for the pappardelle is wood fired and cooked overnight with chianti and blueberry, and the smoked chicken on the Pollo pizza picks up the same gentle smoke.
The antipasti read like a tour of the Mediterranean shoreline: woodfired escargot with xo butter and sourdough, duck liver brulée with date, fig and apple jam chutney, burrata with avocado purée, capers and fresh calabrian chilli, and a crudo of fish with preserved lemon. The salads split allegiances — a Venetian with shaved parmesan and roasted walnuts, a Niçoise built on blue fin tuna, anchovies and eggs.
Secondi stretch wider still. There's bouillabaisse — the provençal fish soup loaded with calamari, mussels, prawns and rouille — beside saltimbocca di pollo, risotto all'anatra with roast duck and truffle, and boeuf bourguignon braised in chianti. Pasta anchors the middle of the list: bucatini carbonara with cured pork cheeks, spaghetti putanesca vegetariana, and a lamb shoulder ragu folded through tagliatelle. Small contorni — shoestring fries, seasonal vegetables, macaroni and cheese — fill in the edges of the table.
Bringing the kids? The kitchen simplifies happily. The children's menu covers spaghetti, pizza and grill dishes, and every one of them finishes with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce.
Dessert stays short and classic: tiramisu with mascarpone, coffee and chocolate, a white chocolate mousse with mixed berry, and a daily crème brulée with almond biscotti. At the bar there's a spritz for every mood — Aperol, limoncello, gin or peach — plus a Negroni, non-alcoholic versions of the spritz and gin & tonic, and Peroni on tap.
The wine list travels happily between New Zealand and Europe. Marlborough sauvignon blanc and Central Otago pinot gris and pinot noirs sit alongside Chianti, Montepulciano, Primitivo and a Barolo from Piemonte, with Chablis, Burgundy, Provence rosé and proper champagne on hand for celebrations.
Squisito opens for dinner from 5pm Tuesday to Sunday, with lunch service on Friday and Saturday from midday; Mondays are dark. The entire menu travels well — every dish is available for takeaway, ordered by phone from 5pm — and gift cards are on sale for the pasta lovers in your life. Reservations go through the website booking form or by phone, with the team confirming by email (mind the spam folder). Dietary requirements are catered for on request, and payment runs on eftpos and cash without surcharge, with a small surcharge on credit card and contactless.
Whether you settle in for a spritz and a woodfired pizza, order the venison pappardelle with a glass of Chianti, or collect a takeaway on the way home, Squisito delivers a rare combination: cooking with real technique, served without a whisper of fuss.