The Auckland magazine held its first restaurant of the year event since 2022. At a church. With an open bar. Duncan Greive watched the show.

‘Running a restaurant – sometimes it feels like you’re running a charity for rich people’

Every so often a single comment can feel like it captures the mood and predicament of an entire industry. So it went when Jono Thevenard of Pici, Karangahape Rd’s perfect pasta spot, accepted the award for best casual restaurant. Hospitality in this city feels trapped in what should be a paradox. It’s vital, beloved, exuding creativity and full of practitioners who feel like they could make it anywhere in the world. Yet often (with rare exceptions) it’s hanging by a thread. Thevenard’s comment bottled that dilemma in one line: the amount of effort and care required to win one of these awards is immense, yet the rewards – for staff and for owners – are often elusive. Maybe he’s right, and the only ones really winning are the diners.

Chalk one up for the underdogs

Forest took out three categories (as well as runner-up in best chef) – a stunning result, and one few saw coming. It has always been admired, creating magical food from fully vegetarian ingredients, with a deeply felt emphasis on sustainability in a sector which can struggle on that front. But if its win for best smart restaurant raised eyebrows, then taking out the supreme restaurant of the year award dropped jaws. 

Forest seats just 17 and is only open four evenings a week, but this tiny, considered restaurant belied its self-imposed constraints to beat out an array of big names. Another underdog winner: Sake Bar Icco, which won best neighbourhood restaurant over former restaurant of the year Cazador. The Spinoff has a bias here as Sake Bar Icco is right on our doorstep, but it has long felt underrated, and it was heartwarming to see its delicate, beautifully made food and the warmth of Junko Matsumoto’s service recognised like this. One more underdog: Cazador’s magnificent Maitre D’ Simon Benoit won yet another award in that category – quelle surprise – but Cazador’s superb front of house, which might have been shaded by his win, also got acknowledged with their win in best service.

The Grove had its revenge

The Grove is perennially named among the best fine dining restaurants in the city, so it was not uncontroversial when it was absent from Metro’s top 50 in 2022. Owner Michael Dearth is said to have vowed that it would return, and better than ever. Its 2024 result is clear vindication. The central city institution maintains old school fine dining values, some of which have lost favour in an increasingly informal dining scene – but it celebrated its 20th year with a trio of wins, across chef, sommelier and fine dining, along with runners up in wine list and restaurant of the year. Not a bad comeback from not mentioned at all, it has to be said.

The show was tight and the wealth was shared

Sometimes it can feel like in New Zealand, we have awards to substitute for a functioning economy. It’s common for industry ceremonies to head north of 50 trophies, which cannot help but reduce the meaning behind each one. Metro restaurant of the year took in a relatively svelte 17 categories, and the ceremony lasted barely an hour. Partly that might have been down to Donna Brookbanks subbing in as MC with almost no notice, but it was also down to short, punchy (see: #1) speeches – even Wayne Brown’s was taut and funny.

It was also pleasing to see a broad range recognised: 11 different establishments or individuals took wins, while there were 19 restaurants identified as winners or runners up. While there were some surprising outcomes, in general it spoke of thoughtful and non-doctrinaire judging. More to the point, despite the generally harsh economic environment, the lineup feels like it speaks to a quality and depth within the city’s restaurants.

Hospo is lucky to have Metro, and vice versa

Awards shows are typically run by some variety of industry umbrella group or trade association. That might be the real reason for the endless category sprawl: everyone wants a prize. Metro’s Restaurant of the Year is different, in that it’s a proper, crunchy, deeply sweated set of awards which come from a publication. That meant much of the politics which can mar such events was absent – it really felt like it came from a deep desire to figure out who’s doing what best in this city when it comes to a particular type of dining out. 

The event was beautifully staged in a stunning venue in St Matthews in the City, and clearly the product of a tremendous amount of work and care. There are other worthy restaurant lists, but without a night to savour them, they don’t feel so consequential. Nights like this, recognising what goes into making a restaurant gleam, make the hard nights a little more tolerable. Likewise, a crowd this special imbues magazine journalism with meaning. Hospitality – there’s a clue in the name. It’s a group of people who dedicate their working lives to making people feel special, making that night out sparkle.

Restaurant of the year saw a few hundred of them in one room, with that work – which can be grindy and thankless at times – acknowledged among their peers. The mood was celebratory, and there was a genuine reverence for what the whole city’s restaurants collectively deliver. For an event caught between two industries (media and dining) enduring a brutal stretch, a night like this showed the value of each, and allowed a respite from the general bad economic vibes each is desperately hoping will soon clear.

The full list of winners and runners up

Restaurant of the Year: Forest / Runner-up: The Grove

Best Casual: Pici / Runner-up: Mr Lobster Private Kitchen

Best Fine Dining: The Grove / Runner-up: Lillius

Best Smart: Forest / Runner-up: Tokki

Best Neighbourhood: Sake Bar Icco / Runner-up: Cazador

Best Destination: Three Seven Two / Runner-up: Tantalus Estate 

Best New: Metita / Runner-up: Parro

Best Dish: Dry-aged duck with macadamia, prune, kombu, cacao – The French Café / Runner-up: Yellowfin tuna, apple and frozen wasabi – Lillius

Best Dessert: Olive oil ice cream, sherry vinegar caramel, vanilla sherbet and fresh black truffle – Forest / Runner-up: Pear and red wine, chocolate crumble, grapes granita – Parro

Best Service: Cazador / Runner-up: Hugo’s Bistro

Best Wine List: Gilt / Runner-up: The Grove

Best Bartender: Matt Venables, Bar Magda / Runner-up: Mangesh Shah, Tala 

Best Sommelier: Andrea Martinisi, The Grove / Runner-up: Leah Kirkland, Gilt

Best Personality: Poi Eruera, Hugo’s Bistro / Runner-up: Nora Kou, Mr Lobster Private Kitchen

Best Maitre D: Simon Benoit, Cazador

Best Chef: Cory Campbell, The Grove / Runner-up: Plabita Florence, Forest 

Best Restaurateur: Michael Meredith, Mr Morris & Metita / Runner-up: Jono Thevenard, Kazuya Suzuki, Gemma Hareb, Fraser Childs, Ooh-Fa & Pici