The Winners of the Metro Restaurant of the Year Have Been Announced
Celebrating excellence in the Auckland dining scene.
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
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