New Zealand’s hospitality elite met at Auckland’s St Matthews Church on Monday June 8th, anxiously awaiting the results of the 2015 Cuisine Magazine NZ Good Food Awards. Once again Pegasus Bay was named top of its category and awarded a coveted Chefs Hat.

As New Zealand’s only national hospitality rating system the Cuisine Magazine Good Food Awards have quickly become the most important benchmark for the industry. First launched in 2005, Pegasus Bay received one of only two awards given at the time for NZ’s Best Casual Dining Restaurant.

The Winery Restaurant category was established the following year. Since then Pegasus Bay have continued to dominate winning top of category an unprecedented 6 times.

New Zealand has 37 ‘Hatted’ restaurants throughout country. The ‘Hat’ system is based on that used in Australia and comparable to the European Michelin star system.

The Canterbury region as a whole excelled in the awards, with Roots Restaurant in Lyttelton awarded NZ Restaurant of the Year Supreme Winner and Christchurch restaurants Harlequin House, Saggio di vino and Pescatore all being awarded a Chefs Hat.

“We are greatly humbled by such a result and are extremely proud of our whole team who have worked tirelessly to keep the standard constantly high. In particular I would like to acknowledge my wife, Belinda Donaldson, for the outstanding job she does managing the restaurant, and also our Head Chef, Teresa Pert, whose food continues to inspire, and our incredible Front of House Manager Bora Hong", says Edward Donalson.

Pegasus Bay was also recently awarded Best Local Cuisine Book in New Zealand at the 2014 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. The Vintners Table, published by Random House features 65 of the Donaldson family’s favourite recipes from five of their celebrated chefs, who have run the Pegasus Bay kitchen over the years. The Vintners Table includes the history of Pegasus bay, the wines, vineyard, winery, family and region, together with outstanding photography from Aaron McLean.