Restaurant Month always provides the perfect excuse to revisit old favourites or finally book the table that’s been sitting on your list. This August, Commercial Bay is giving diners another reason to indulge with the return of the Fork & Fame Awards.
To celebrate this welcome return, Denizen is giving one lucky gastronome the chance to win a dining experience for two at Ahi, where Ben Bayly’s celebrated Restaurant Month menu showcases the very best of New Zealand’s seasonal produce overlooking the Waitematā.
Valued at $89 per person, Ahi’s three-course lunch or dinner begins with its signature scampi corn dog, made with Auckland Islands scampi and served with American-style burger sauce. This is followed by Hāmana – Akaroa salmon with kina crème fraîche, apple and salmon roe, finger lime and Ahi ponzu. For the main event, diners can choose between Hīpī – Hawke’s Bay Matangi lamb with carrot and kawakawa pavé, carrot piccalilli, sheep’s labneh, walnut and toasted yeast crumble and Brussels sprout – or Ika, featuring Aotearoa steamed fish with Jerusalem artichoke, pickled pioppino, smoked whey beurre blanc, puffed buckwheat and sorrel.
Now in its second year, the Fork & Fame Awards invite diners to crown the very best of Commercial Bay’s dining precinct, with more than 35 restaurants, cafés and eateries in the running. From destination dining at Ahi and the bold Middle Eastern flavours of Advieh, to neighbourhood favourites like Fatima’s, Kome and the ever-popular Harbour Eats, the awards celebrate every style of dining, from quick weekday lunches to memorable special occasions.
The categories are as entertaining as they are delicious. There’s Bang for Buck for the dish that overdelivers on value, Best Date Eats for those worth lingering over, Don’t Wear White for the gloriously messy meals, Don’t Need Meat for standout vegetarian dishes, Save Room for Dessert for sweet finales, and Zero Forks Given, celebrating the best meals eaten entirely with your hands. Rounding things out is the People’s Choice Award, recognising the restaurant diners return to again and again, alongside the delightfully irreverent Mayo ’Mazing Award.
Voting is open throughout August via the Commercial Bay Concierge, QR codes across the precinct or online, with every vote automatically entering diners into Commercial Bay’s own draw to win lunch for a year, courtesy of a $5,000 dining voucher.
For Denizen readers, however, there’s an even more compelling reason to get involved.
To celebrate the return of Fork & Fame, we’re giving away dinner or lunch for two at Ahi, where one lucky winner and three guests will experience Ben Bayly’s specially created $89 Restaurant Month menu at one of Auckland’s most acclaimed restaurants.
Ahi’s Restaurant Month menu is available for lunch from 12pm until 2pm, or for dinner from 5pm, with the last seating at 5.45pm. Subject to availability.
