2 March 2005
Judging underway for Metro Corbans Restaurant of the Year
Judging of the 2005 Metro Corbans Restaurant of the Year Awards is underway as Metro magazine prepares to announce the
winners on 23 March.
The judging panel for this year's Awards includes Metro's regular restaurant reviewers as well as food writers, chefs
and professional foodies. As in other years, the identity of the 2005 judges is being closely guarded so that all
restaurants can be visited anonymously so that results reflect the average diner's experience.
Unlike other awards, restaurants cannot enter or be nominated for the Metro Corbans Restaurant of the Year. A panel
selects up to twenty restaurants to be included in each category, with all category winners eligible for the supreme
award.
The categories for 2005 are Best Fine Dining, Upmarket Bistro, Seafood, Italian, Chinese, Japanese and Thai restaurants,
Best New Restaurant and Serious Neighbourhood Restaurant. Awards will also be presented for Best Service, Dessert, Wine
List and Best Room.
Every restaurant in each category will be visited once, before around half of the contenders are eliminated. The
remaining restaurants are all then re-visited, after which a final three for that category are selected. The final three
are then visited again before the category winner is decided.
"The Metro Corbans Awards offer a depth of judging not offered by other restaurant awards," says Nicola Legat, Editor of
Metro magazine. "All the restaurants are visited anonymously and the winners will be visited three times so that every
detail of their operation can be checked."
"No other New Zealand restaurant awards go to such lengths to assess all the details that go into creating the finest
restaurants in their class. The three stage judging process means that each category winner has demonstrated that it
delivers a consistently outstanding service," she says.
Judging will take place over an intense three-week period, when the quality of each restaurant's food and wine list,
service and dining environment will be scrutinised by the judging team. Judges are also on the look-out for the X-factor
that makes a dining experience memorable.
Former supreme winners of the Metro Corbans Restaurant of the Year include The French Café (2004) and Otto's (2003).
"Corbans and Metro are both pioneers in their respective fields. Corbans, with its history as a leading New Zealand
winemaker since 1902; and Metro, with over 23 years experience in restaurant reviewing," says Kate Mathias Brand
Manager, Allied Domecq Wines (NZ) Limited. "Corbans is delighted to be involved with Metro in these prestigious
restaurant awards."
Further information about the Awards is available at www.metrorestaurants.co.nz.
The winners will be announced at an Awards event at The Auckland Fishmarket on 23 March. Full details of the winning
restaurants will be published in the April issue of Metro, on sale March 28.
ENDS