Third time could be lucky for Dunedin's Plato restaurant which has again been shortlisted for Cuisine magazine's New Zealand Restaurant of the Year awards.
The waterfront eatery was a finalist in 2007 and runner-up in the metropolitan best casual dining category in 2008.
This year's 39 finalists were selected for the quality of their food and wine and the excellence of their staff.
Plato's co-owners Nigel Broad and Rebecca Tansley said their staff were "an incredible team" and the food was "consistently good".
"We don't tend to play round with food. It's treated with respect," Mr Broad said.
Cuisine magazine had previously described him as an "expert seafood cook".
Other Otago finalists are Amisfield Winery Restaurant, of Lake Hayes, Botswana Butchery, of Queenstown, and Saffron, of Arrowtown.
The winners will be announced next month and profiled in the September issue of Cuisine.
