Sep 13, 2024 Metro Eats
I’ve deliberately kept quiet about it in this newsletter, but for the past few months, the daunting task of putting together Metro’s 2024 Restaurant of the Year list has coloured nearly every waking (and sometimes sleeping) moment. This week, we revealed our final top 50, with thanks to our sponsor, Stella Artois. It’s been two years since our last list, and this marks my first time leading the charge — and boy, was it an intimidating endeavour.
There’s a weight which comes with creating a list that honours both the immense work of those who make our dining scene tick and the diners, to whom we’re hoping to give the best advice we can as to where to spend their time and money. The final list celebrates some of the best of Tāmaki Makaurau.
To be perfectly honest, for many years as an outsider, while I’ve always appreciated ‘best of’ restaurant lists, I’ve also always struggled with them. Throughout the process, I found myself questioning it all. How do you make a list like this genuinely useful when dining is so subjective? How do you take into account the impact of these restaurants on people and planet? There’s also some big lingering questions around how these awards reinforce certain standards of what a ‘restaurant’ should be, not to mention the double standards between expectations for European cuisine and non-Western fare. Lists like these inherently carry a kind of elitism — which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it’s hard to not feel weird about it when you’re the one overseeing things. I didn’t think it wise to rock up as a newbie and attempt to resolve these quandaries (especially as I know I’m not the first person to question all this stuff), but I have made a few changes to the judging and the way we present the restaurants (which is better elaborated in the magazine, which will be on shelves next month).
This is a moment for restaurants, but it’s mostly for you, the diner — I hope you take a look through the top 50 and find some inspiration for a future dinner. There will likely be places that wouldn’t make your own top 50 — that nuance and dissent and multiplicity is what makes dining in this city so special.
Which brings me to something that literally kept me up at night: the absences. Some difficult decisions had to be made, and there are restaurants not on this list that absolutely deserve to be. Unfortunately, the nature of these lists is that they’re subjective, there’s only a limited number of spots, and sometimes it just comes down to bad luck — everyone has off nights.
On a lighter note, here are a few of my least favourite/most confusing moments from our judging: a $26 crudité platter consisting of two radishes, half a stick of celery, and half a carrot; overhearing chefs yelling at waitstaff; and the general lack of acidity on most menus.
And my three favourite moments: a waiter, laughing while fixing our wobbly table, explaining how understaffed they were (this is obviously not good — but I admired the positivity); seeing $200 worth of Aesop products in each toilet cubicle (alarming yet impressive); and having a velvet pillow promptly placed under my bag after I set it down on the floor — wonderful.
Hei konā mai,
Charlotte
P.S. Our Metro Restaurant of the Year awards night, presented with Stella Artois, is open to all and will be held on Monday, 13 October, at St Matthew-in-the-City. You can find tickets here.
P.P.S. A special shout out to Tempero (genuinely one of my favourite restaurants), which could not be in contention for this year’s list as it is co-owned by our commercial director, Tiffany, and therefore presented a conflict of interest.
Comings and goings.
I’ve long wished we had more tapas-style spots in the city — not necessarily Spanish, just places where you can order a bunch of small plates to nibble on in between sips of wine. That’s why I’m excited by the prospect of Nomiya Japanese Tapas and Bar, which has just opened on New North Rd in Kingsland. Taking over the old Japanese Lantern Bar space, they’re serving oysters five ways, sashimi, a bunch of Japanese-style tapas priced between $12 and $20, and the “kimagure box” — nine bite-sized appetisers for $15 (or just $5 with a drink!), which seems like an extraordinarily good deal.
Taste of Manila is a new Filipino restaurant in New Lynn across the road from Old Town Malaysian and Noodle Heaven . Open 9.30am–8pm everyday, except, curiously, Wednesday, it’s the first place in Auckland I’ve spotted puto bumbong — a purple rice cake steamed in bamboo tubes.
Dominion Rd Asian-fusion restaurant Love Exposure shut its doors only last month, but its space seems to have already been taken over by a new Chinese barbecue joint.
Also on Dominion Rd is Master Pig Pork Rice, a new day and night-time spot specialising in various kinds of braised meats (mostly pork), served on rice with pickles, steamed greens and a boiled egg — they also do unlimited side dishes and soup. I’m a big fan of their logo featuring a very jaded-looking pig sporting a chef hat and Balenciaga-esque oversized sunglasses — I see you, Master Pig!
It looks like we’re a few months belated with this (and therefore it’s not really that new) but we’ve just noticed the new(ish) Paradise outpost in Mission Bay. Unlike the Mughlai cuisine of its Sandringham counterpart, this East Auckland shop seems to be focusing on kebabs and fried chicken instead of curries. Interesting.
While it doesn’t seem to have quite opened yet, there’s signage up for a new restaurant called Pizza Twist on Dominion Rd. I’m eager to learn what the “twist” in the name refers to.
A few months back I noticed some signage on Khyber Pass which read “Buffett Buffet” (as in Warren Buffett). I can now confirm: it’s open and seems to be a buffet, as in an all-you-can-eat – but I remain unsure whether it has anything to do with Warren Buffett.
Hot.
Coconut coffee from Daily Vietnamese Cafe in Royal Oak. If you’re more central, the coconut coffee from Phin is also good, but is prepared more like a frappe.
My love affair with Lilian ’s non-alcoholic drinks continues: this week, I recommend their bitter yuzu aperitif, ginger, horopito option. (Also, I had a non-alcoholic cocktail at Mr Morris last night, which, in its mediocreness, underscored that not all non-alc drinks are created equal.)
Artfully stacked vegetables at Avondale Market.
Mintia packaging — cute!
Sala Dang. Make sure you ask for their “traditional Thai menu” which arrives in a photo album form.
This video, which has convinced me that I need to try an instant trifle kit.
The Memory of Taste: Vietnamese American Recipes from Phú Quoc, Oakland, and the Spaces Between by Tu David Phu and Soleil Ho.
Not.
Cookie dough M&M’s.
Blaming cycleways for everything!
Aucklanders’ early-dining habits.
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