Auckland restaurant best in country

Auckland eatery The Grill has been named New Zealand's best restaurant.

The SkyCity Grand establishment on Federal Street took out top honours at Cuisine magazine's Restaurant of the Year Awards held last night. As well as restaurant of the year, it was also named best new restaurant and an elite five star restaurant.

Chef Sean Connolly said he was "blown away" by the acknowledgments.

"You work really hard to create something you hope people will like, so it's genuinely thrilling to be awarded New Zealand's best restaurant - it means we're doing something right and we are determined to keep it up in the months and years to come."

Mr Connolly says he likes to "keep it light" in the kitchen.

"Anyone who knows me will know I'm not one of those growling, howling chefs - and hope this is reflected in the food and service at the Grill."

Reviews on website MenuMania give an average of 4 stars out of 5.

"I had a great experience here. Beautiful food and the staff were great, friendly and attentive," one customer noted. "It has an upmarket layout but gets very casually dressed traffic from tourists from the Skycity Grand and Skycity Hotel nearby, so it doesn't seem like a pretentious atmosphere."

A review in the NZ Herald describes it as being a "real man's place" with "man-sized menus".

The Grill's menu says it has a "distinctly Kiwi accent."

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