A hotel in Rotorua has defended the tourist town after it was left off Cuisine Magazine's list of 100 best New Zealand restaurants.
The magazine announced its prestigious list in the lead-up to the Cuisine Good Food Awards, which will be held at Auckland's Civic Theatre next Monday.
David French, director of hotel operations at Princes Gate Hotel in Rotorua, says while the town's exemption from the list may suggest fine dining isn't available, those in Rotorua know that "it's quite different".
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"We have some very fine establishments in Rotorua of which we're very proud and which we think deserve a mention on that list, to be honest," he told The AM Show on Monday.
"The hospitality industry works very closely together and so the operators are not fazed by this - disappointed but not fazed - because we know we've got some very fine dining establishments, and Princes Gate is one of those."
Auckland took out the most spots on the list of 100 restaurants with a whopping 44 establishments recognised, while Wellington made up another 22.
The magazine also recognised establishments in smaller cities and towns in Otago, Canterbury and Hawke's Bay - but Rotorua was notably left off.
This is despite 1.25 million guests staying in Rotorua's commercial accommodation, according to figures from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment from the year ending July 2018.
"It's our customers at the end of the day that are the real critics and the real judges that we rely on, and they tell us quite positively how thrilled and delighted they are with the standards they receive when they come and stay with us and visit Rotorua," said Mr French.
Rotorua's food industry has been called out for "lagging behind" other regions in its use of food as a feature, and that the town could benefit from more promotion of local food.
A 2010 Auckland University of Technology thesis by Rose Steinmetz says with the exemption of the traditional Māori hangi, "the contribution of food in tourism has not been emphasised strongly by regional food/tourism stakeholders."
"This study argues that greater use of local food in the region's tourism offers a means of potentially strengthening the district's development and differentiation."
Rotorua's restaurant scene is described as a "global smorgasbord of gastronomical delights just waiting to be sampled," by the town's tourism website Famously Rotorua.
Culturetrip.com has listed the best restaurants to visit in Rotorua, with Ambrosia Restaurant & Bar topping the list, followed by Atticus Finch.
Newshub.