The Winners of the Metro Restaurant of the Year Have Been Announced

Contemporary Indian restaurant Cassia has been named the Supreme Winner of this year's Metro Restaurant of the Year Awards. Now in its fourteenth year, the awards celebrate excellence in the Auckland dining scene, as determined by a judging panel made up of restaurant critics, food writers and people from the hospitality business.

Inhabiting an underground bunker down Fort Lane, Cassia is the brainchild of Sid and Chand Sahrawat, the team also behind fine dining experience SidArt (named Restaurant of the Year in 2014). Cassia utilises a combination of local ingredients with the flavours and cooking techniques of India to create refined dishes that challenge traditional notions of Indian cuisine. Instead of your commonplace curry, rice and naan, the restaurant offers mouthwatering delights like: soft shell crab with kasundi, radish and curry leaf; venison tartare with beetroot, cabbage and macadamia, and free range pork with vindaloo, apple and ginger.

As well as taking home top honours, Cassia was also named Best Smart Dining Restaurant and was a finalist for Restaurateur of the Year, Best Chef, Best Service, Best Wine List and Best Bar.

Ponsonby bistro Orphans Kitchen came in runner-up for the supreme award but managed to scoop Best City-Fringe Bistro and head chef Tom Hishon also secured the coveted Best Chef award.

Last year's overall winner Depot came away with the award for Best Inner-City Bistro, and the restaurant's Nick Gallagher was judged Peugeot Restaurant Personality of the Year.

See the full list of winners below.

SUPREME AWARD: METRO RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR 2016
Cassia

BEST FINE-DINING RESTAURANT
Merediths

BEST SMART-DINING RESTAURANT
Cassia

BEST INNER-CITY BISTRO
Depot

BEST CITY-FRINGE BISTRO
Orphans Kitchen

BEST NEIGHBOURHOOD BISTRO
The Engine Room

BEST DESTINATION RESTAURANT
The Oyster Inn

RESTAURATEUR OF THE YEAR
Michael Meredith: Merediths

BEST CHEF
Tom Hishon: Orphans Kitchen

PEUGEOT RESTAURANT PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR
Nick Gallagher: Depot

BEST SERVICE
Cibo

BEST BAR
Apero

BEST WINE LIST
Molten

BEST NEW RESTAURANT
Saan

BEST ALL-DAY RESTAURANT
Federal Delicatessen

BEST NEW FITOUT
Saan

BEST VALUE FOR MONEY
Apero

PEUGEOT PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD FOR AUCKLAND'S FAVOURITE DISH
Pork belly, The Tasting Shed