Cuisine Restaurant Of The Year – Open For Entires

MEDIA RELEASE: 29 JULY 2005

AND NOW FOR A TOAST… “TO NEW ZEALAND RESTAURANTS”

Cuisine Restaurant Of The Year Awards 2006 – Open For Entries

Cuisine magazine, New Zealand’s leading authority on food, wine and good living is calling for entries to the second Cuisine Restaurant of the Year Awards in association with Singapore Airlines.

Cuisine aims to promote excellence in the food, wine and restaurant industry throughout New Zealand by putting the spotlight on the best establishments nationwide.

Lauraine Jacobs, food editor of Cuisine and Head Judge of the Cuisine Restaurant of the Year Awards comments, “Last year we saw some terrific talent. This is an industry that moves quickly and already we have seen newcomers making a real impact. We look forward to applauding the very best. This year we have revised the judging categories to recognise excellence in city and provincial areas and have introduced a new winery restaurant category, reflective of the many that have been opening across the country. Our focus now, is to encourage restaurants to enter in order to have an opportunity to be shortlisted.”

Cuisine Restaurant of the Year Awards 2006 categories are:

- Best Restaurant - Metropolitan (Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch)

- Best Restaurant - Provincial

- Best Winery Restaurant

The supreme winner – Cuisine Restaurant of the Year 2006 - will be chosen from these three categories. Excellence will also be acknowledged across finalist restaurants with Cuisine Highly Recommended awards in areas such as outstanding service, food and/or wine programmes.

The judging panel is:

- Lauraine Jacobs: head judge, restaurant critic and food editor of Cuisine, Auckland

- David Burton: restaurant critic and food writer for Cuisine and The Dominion Post, Wellington

- Natalia Schamroth: chef and Cuisine food writer, Auckland

- Pip Duncan: restaurant and food industry consultant, Auckland

- Karl du Fresne: restaurant critic and wine writer for Cuisine and Sunday magazine, Wairarapa

- Jeremy Jones: former restaurateur and chef, Marlborough

- Charmian Smith: restaurant critic for Cuisine and editor of the Good Living section of the Otago Daily Times, Dunedin

- Simon Wilson: editor of Cuisine, Auckland

Last year’s inaugural Awards were hugely successful with all finalists and winners experiencing an increase in patronage and profile of their restaurant as a result. Mark Limacher, owner of Café Bastille – the 2005 Supreme Winner comments, “I would urge all restaurants of a high standard to enter these Awards. We knew we had something special and so did our regulars but to be applauded on a nationwide scale has not only taken us to a wider audience but has encouraged us to work harder at continuing to raise our standards.”

Entry forms are available online at www.cuisine.co.nz (from August 1). Any restaurant reviewed by Cuisine in the last six issues will be automatically entered into the awards.

These awards are an annual event, open to any restaurant in New Zealand, generously supported by associate sponsor Singapore Airlines.

The deadline for entries is 26 August 2005. 20 finalists will be announced in October 2005, with winners announced in February 2006.

ENDS

© Scoop Media