My flatmate Dan was away in Auckland (New Zealand) this weekend, and although the house was slightly quieter and cleaner with him gone, we’re glad to have him return. While updating us on his weekend up north Dan told of his search for an A-grade Indian restaurant.

His explanation went something like this,

“I didn’t want someone nasty handling my food – there were a lot of B places, but I wanted an A.”

He wandered the Auckland streets and after something like 5 restaurants found his A-grade premise.

Auckland assigns A (see right), B, D and E grades to restaurants, and awards excellent facilities a Gold A. Obviously Dan was unaware of the Gold A when searching for a place to eat. That’s one of the issues with restaurant grades – lack of consistency. While Auckland uses letter grades, Wellington awards Excellent cards. A consistent grading system may aid consumers like Dan in their quest for a safe place to grab a bite in a new city.

Restaurant grades in Auckland can also be found online, here.