Café Crown Heads South - Again

7 December 2015

Café Crown Heads South - Again

Queenstown’s Bespoke Kitchen named country’s best café

If you’re looking for New Zealand’s best café, best you head south – once more.

For the third year in succession a ‘mainland’ café has been judged the best in the land. Queenstown’s The Bespoke Kitchen has taken out the NZ Café of the Year title for 2016.

It’s the fourth year of the Restaurant Association of New Zealand sanctioned competition with finalists from six regions going head to head for the title of best café in the nation.

The Bespoke Kitchen has a prestigious heritage. Owned by Rae Ellis, Michelle Freeman and Chris Vile it is a sister establishment to Queenstown’s pioneering Vudu Cafés and opened only in June this year. The café itself is embedded in the hills rising above the South Island tourist mecca with views of the Remarkables alpine area and Queenstown Bay.

The menu is organic as much as possible with many raw and vegan options supplementing traditional café staples. The Bespoke Kitchen’s skilled baristas serve organic coffee roasted in Dunedin. There’s even a stand-alone bar for ‘espressoholics’ to steady their day.

In the annual awards, cafés are judged on a range of factors including atmosphere and appearance, menu meal and coffee, service and staff interaction and overall impression.

This year winners were selected in each of four categories – Best Metro/CBD, Best Suburban, Best Rural and Classic Kiwi - from which the supreme winner of NZ Café of the Year for 2016 was chosen. The People’s Choice winner was determined through the public vote.

Supreme winner The Bespoke Kitchen also took out the award for Best Suburban Café while the title for Best Metro/CBD café went to Elizabeth Café & Larder in Tauranga.

There were joint winners of the Best Rural Café with the Red Shed Palazzo in Drury and The Clareville Bakery Café in Carterton taking the honours. The title of Classic Kiwi café went to Sweet Vanilla Kitchen in Lower Hutt.

The People’s Choice category was won by Nick’s Café in Waiuku south of Auckland.

Café of the Year head judge Kerry Tyack says the name Bespoke cleverly and accurately describes this year’s winner.

“A thoughtful and thoroughly user friendly layout combines with an equally considered menu to provide cafe aficionados with a world class experience,” Tyack says.

“The judging team was impressed with all aspects of the superb service and the coffee was unmatched. Best of all Bespoke Kitchen delivered consistent quality in every respect including counter food offerings, reading material and menu choice.”

CEO of The Restaurant Association of New Zealand Marisa Bidois says with record entries this year the competition has been tough.

“The café culture is such a big part of life in New Zealand and our social fibre so it’s wonderful to see such a diverse representation in the finalists. We give our big congratulations to the winners.”

Previous South Island winners were Nelson’s Jester House Café (2014) and Ironic Café in Dunedin (2015). In the award’s first year, the title went to Auckland’s Paper Moon Café in Mairangi Bay.

As well as the glory, the supreme 2016 NZ Café of the Year winner takes away a $40,000 editorial package in Dish Magazine, a ‘Great Cafés of Melbourne Tour’ valued at $10,000 and use of a Renault Kangoo for a year.

All finalist cafés and regional People’s Choice winners announced last month below will feature in a Top Cafés of New Zealand microsite due to launch today. The site will serve as a guide to top cafés across the country.

The judges are from The Restaurant Association of New Zealand and the event is supported by Wattie’s, Meadow Fresh, Renault and Dish Magazine.

The NZ Café of the Year winners are as follows:

· 2016 Supreme NZ Café of the Year and Best Suburban Café - The Bespoke Kitchen, Queenstown

· Best Rural – Red Shed Palazzo, Drury and The Clareville Bakery Café, Carterton (joint winners)

· Best Metro CBD– Elizabeth Café & Larder, Tauranga

· Classic Kiwi – Sweet Vanilla Kitchen, Lower Hutt

· People’s Choice - Nick’s Café, Waiuku, Auckland

This year more than 700 cafés entered to try and take the title from last year’s supreme winner, Ironic Café in Dunedin. Full info can be found on the NZ Café of the Year website - www.nzcafeoftheyear.co.nz.

About NZ Café Of The Year

NZ Café of the Year was launched by Image Centre Group (ICG) in 2012. More than 400 entries were received nationwide in the first year, 660 in 2013 and more than 1,000 in 2014. Regions are Upper North Island, Auckland, Lower North Island, Wellington, Christchurch and the South Island.

About The Restaurant Association of New Zealand

The Restaurant Association of New Zealand has hundreds of members covering the length and breadth of the country, representing every facet of the restaurant and hospitality industry.

The industry employs more than 100,000 people at nearly 15,174 restaurants and food outlets and generates sales in excess of $8 billion. Restaurant Association offers its members business tools, support and advice for growing their businesses and breaking new ground in the fast growing hospitality arena.

About Image Centre Group (ICG)

Auckland-based ICG is a diversified communications business with interests in printing, retail advertising, digital communications, video production and publishing. Founded in 1989 as a pre-press provider, ICG now employs more than 200 New Zealanders across eight brands with one vision – to satisfy the brand or communications strategies of all its customers. Full info at www.icg.co.nz

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