Wellington’s outstanding restaurant, cafe and bar named

Monday, 2 December 2024

Chef Max Gordy, co-owner of Graze Wine Bar, at his restaurant in Kelburn. (file photo)

Graze has been named the top restaurant, Dee’s Place the best bar and Customs the number one cafe at the Welly Hospo Awards tonight.

The ‘’unofficial’’ awards celebrate the city’s most loved restaurants, bars and cafes, as voted by people working within the industry.

Dee's Place - a whisky bar - on Cuba Mall has been named the best bar in Wellington.

They capped off a challenging year in hospitality, in which the Restaurant Association postponed its annual Felix Awards to 2025 and t Concord, Hiakai and Elements Cafe closed.

As a result, a small group of hospitality professionals set up a PledgeMe campaign to fundraise for an alternative awards night. That was met with an outpouring of support from the industry, raising more than $10,000 in 19 hours.

WHA committee member Beth Brash, of Visa Wellington on a Plate, said the support was a “testament to the grit of this industry and shows the true meaning of the word hospitality is in their bones”.

Customs took out the gong for outstanding cafe.

Voters had to either work in hospitality, or supply to hospitality to vote, and nominees were not allowed to vote for themselves or their own venue.

The award categories ranged from ‘’outstanding bar’’ to ‘‘outstanding beer list’’, with the first round seeing more than 800 nominations come in.

“Given the year hospo has had, these awards felt like the perfect way to acknowledge and celebrate all the incredible things that are happening in Wellington hospitality at the moment”, said Floriditas and Loretta co-owner and committee member Dominique Fourie-McMillan.

In total, the donated product and cash support from suppliers, brewers, restaurants and more, wasi estimated about $60,000.

More than 300 people attended the awards ceremony in the ballroom of Foxglove on Monday evening.

The category winners:

Outstanding bar: Dee’s Place

Outstanding restaurant: Graze

Outstanding café: Customs

Outstanding everyday eats: KC Café

Outstanding bakery: Myrtle

Outstanding regional venue: Parrotdog Bar

Outstanding bartender: Devan Nesbitt – Dee’s Place

Outstanding chef: Max Gordy – Graze Wine Bar

Outstanding front of house professional: Paul Schrader – Rita

Outstanding barista: Sarah Green – Swimsuit

Outstanding beer list: Little Beer Quarter

Outstanding wine list: Puffin

Outstanding cocktail list: Dee’s Place

Outstanding sustainability practices: Everybody Eats

*CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story spelled Beth Brash’s surname incorrectly. (Amended December 3, 2024. 1.48pm)