Gabriel's Cafe and Bar, at Lawrence, was named best rural South Island cafe in the 2017 New Zealand cafe of the year awards.
Owned by Reuben and Shelley Hinton, the cafe has serviced Lawrence locals and travelling tourists for just over three years.
Mr Hinton said he was ''ecstatic'' after being told the cafe had won an award.
The pair had been asked to enter the cafe awards before but Mr Hinton felt there was no chance it would win against ''million-dollar cafes in Auckland''.
After he learned there was a South Island rural section, he felt more confident the cafe could win.
He said the success made him and his wife proud of all the hard work they had done.
''We've only had four days off [this year].''
Mrs Hinton believed the cafe won because of the consistency in the delivery of their meals.
Named for the historic gold mining area Gabriel's Gully, the cafe building was once the first bank in Lawrence, understood to have been built in 1886.
Two Dunedin cafes also won regional awards: Best metro/CBD cafe, Vogel St Kitchen; best suburban cafe, Starfish Cafe at the Esplanade, St Clair.
Starfish was credited by the judges as having ''a casual, happy atmosphere and friendly staff'' offering ''all the hallmarks a great cafe should - great coffee, great food and they even have an organic juice bar''.
Vogel St's use of locally sourced, mostly organic produce and use of a wood-fired oven made it ''well worth a visit''.
In their fifth year, the New Zealand cafe of the year awards highlighted ''the diverse, delicious and most delightful'' of New Zealand's cafe culture.
A media statement said Gabriel's Cafe and Bar had attention to detail and the owners took great care in every meal prepared.
''This family-run business has a focus on warm customer service and delivering beyond expectations.''
A further judging round now begins to identify the national winners of each category, to be announced at an event in Auckland in February along with the supreme award, the 2017 New Zealand Cafe of the Year.
