Mapu Test Kitchen is a chef's table and test kitchen in the historic port town of Lyttelton, near Christchurch, run by Chilean-born chef Giulio Sturla. Sturla deliberately doesn't call it a restaurant: there is no signage and no fixed menu, the space seats just six, and bookings are made through an online ticketing system.
Each evening is a multi-course experience of around four hours, built on snacks and courses that each carry a story, using seasonal ingredients often foraged from the Banks Peninsula or grown in Sturla's own garden. Sturla prepares and presents everything in front of guests. He has called New Zealand home since 2009, co-founded the not-for-profit Eat New Zealand movement, and previously created the celebrated former Lyttelton restaurant Roots.
With a maximum of six seats and a single-sitting format, Mapu is a highly specialised, exclusive-use dining experience — suited to intimate incentive dinners or small VIP gatherings rather than larger functions.
Capacity