Nine New Restaurants Make Top 50 List

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Nine New Restaurants Make Top 50 List Despite Recession

Metro magazine’s annual list of the Top 50 restaurants in Auckland has been released. And despite many restaurants feeling the pinch during last year’s recession, nine restaurants that opened last year were good enough to gain a coveted place in the list.

They were: Casita Miro (on Waiheke), Coco’s Cantina (Karangahape Rd), Ella (Ponsonby), La Cigale (Parnell), Mondial (Grey Lynn), Ponsonby Rd Bistro (Ponsonby), Sidart (Ponsonby), Teppan Dining Bowz (Epsom), and The Mulberry (Mt Eden).

Winners in 15 categories and the Supreme Winner of the Metro Audi Restaurant of the Year Award for 2010 will be revealed next Monday night at a gala dinner attended by representatives from the 50 top restaurants, media, and distinguished guests.

The biggest growth area in the Top 50 was bistro or bar-bistro, with all but two of the new restaurants in these categories. Devoted to informal pleasure, often with a noisy, good-humoured, busy bar, these restaurants have surprisingly good food.

Bevan Rapson, Metro’s Editor, said “Aucklanders are getting a much wider choice of friendly, informal, affordable places. This is the new heart of Auckland dining, and stuffier places need to take note.”

Ponsonby is also re-asserting itself in 2010 with three of the new restaurants, plus others in nearby Karangahape Rd and Grey Lynn.

Fourteen restaurants however dropped off the Top 50 list since last year. This was due to a few common problems. Cost cutting was apparent at many places: good chefs had been replaced by mediocre ones, floor staff were not trained well, poorer quality ingredients were being used.
Capital spending was deferred, leaving some places with scuffed furniture and fittings. Some restaurants had closed altogether.

This year, in addition to the sophisticated fine dining establishments and cool inner city hangouts, Metro has identified some excellent family-friendly places (such as The Mulberry, Monsoon Poon, Casita Miro). There’s no reason not to eat well and have a damn good time, says Metro, just because you’ve got kids in tow.

Details of the restaurants recognised in the 2010 Metro Audi Restaurant of the Year Awards will be published in the May issue of Metro (on sale Tuesday April 27) which also includes a free guide to Auckland’s Top 50 restaurants.

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