Pumice brings restaurant award back to Hamilton

Hamilton continues to claim the high ground for fine-dining choice, with Pumice Te Rapa bagging the best restaurant title at the prestigious Hospitality New Zealand Awards for Excellence.

Just two years ago that national honour went to Hamilton’s Smith & McKenzie chophouse in Chartwell.

The Yardhouse in Dinsdale was recognised for excellence in gaming for the second year.

Pumice Food Group director David Kerr said he was ‘‘really proud’’ of staff at the Te Rapa restaurant, the group’s flagship which also offers cafe, deli and private dining services.

Pumice had been a finalist before in the best restaurant award, and in another category, but winning at the awards was a first, he said.

Kerr is one of four owners of the Pumice Food Group, Waikato’s biggest wedding caterer and fast becoming one of the region’s biggest hospitality players. With wife Lisa, and close friends and business partners Jody and Ryan Ladbrook, Kerr has in the past year nearly doubled the size of the company’s operations, with four new ventures, including the cafe planned for the new Avantidrome near Cambridge.