KEY POINTS:
Some restaurants left out of a top 50 list of eateries have banned the critics - but insist it's not a case of sour grapes.
The Nourish Group, which owns swanky Auckland restaurants Euro and the Jervois Steak House and Saloon, and Pravda in Wellington, took out a
full page ad in the Herald on Sunday banning what it claimed were "out of step" Metro reviewers from its premises.
Euro had been particularly hard done by, the group reckoned, so they
served up a recipe for Metro Food Critic Testicles - "balls to them" the ad finished before inviting people to try the place for themselves.
While it was fine for the group to suggest the recipe, group master chef Simon Gault said it would be "politically incorrect" to name the individual reviewers he was brassed off with.
It was not a case of sour grapes, he said. "I don't know if we're interested in being on the best [restaurant] list. We don't hold it in very high regard. It doesn't bother us - preferably we'd rather not be on it.
"We're not going to stoop to their level - it's just a bit of fun."
But the group was not just about offering a single course of revenge, it has also set up a blog for disaffected Metro readers to vent their feelings.
Auckland University of Technology senior lecturer David Williamson, who researches the language used in restaurant reviews, said Euro was one of Auckland's best, but it was fun watching the cyclical exchange of restaurants having a go at reviewers.
"One of the things about this industry is it's so snobby and so pretentious. It's like two snobs having a fight out on the street, when really they're totally dependent, they can't live without each other. I think they like it. It's just food."
Restaurants got off lightly these days compared with the 1980s when the magazine was far more savage, Mr Williamson said.
"They were known for destroying them."
The group's owners would be dining out on the ad's publicity for weeks, he said.
"It's a little bit of a game - it's all about advertising."
Metro editor Bevan Rapson couldn't be contacted but told the Herald on Sunday that restaurants were judged twice. Sometimes the magazine went back more than that.
"None of the decisions to omit, or include, was made lightly."