Fries, wedges, breads and dips, olives, perhaps? Bar snack menus have been known to dish up some pretty basic, alcohol absorbing, carbohydrate loading fare. Kathy Ombler spoke with Wellington bars, breweries and gastro pubs about the more innovative tapas-type, bar snack offerings they’re plating up.
Barbecues in Bangalore
Wellington’s new Bangalore Polo Club (BPC) has quickly become a hit with the after work bar crowd and it’s not just the stuffed animals, 209 birdcages and British Colonial piss-take theme that’s drawing them.
The bar food is also rating up there. Pizzas, platters and barbecues, all of them very classy, old chap. Oh and don’t forget the peanuts. Having everything made fresh on the premises is the key, says general manager Dave Steward.
While there’s space for more than 100 seated diners and a full restaurant menu, Steward estimates a quarter of the food spend is from bar snacks. However there’s no strict menu division between what’s snacked at the bar and plated up for sit-down diners.
“A lot of our entrees are designed to be shared and eaten at the bar,” he says. By this Steward means the huge, five-metre bar itself as well as big chunky leaners and secluded booths spread throughout the “club” and courtyard.
“Our shrimp cocktail for example, is really popular. We serve it retro-style in a glass and make the Thousand Island dressing ourselves but not the generic kind, we put a bit of zing into it.”
Steward says the shared tasting platter, a selection of menu entrees, is very popular with bar patrons.
Current menu “tastes” include the aforementioned shrimp cocktail, plus little chicken drums in a soy crumb coating with home-made Gion dressing, cured meats and tuna, chicken liver pate, cheese, cucumber pickle, olives, sundried tomatoes, crispy squid, bread and crackers, plus umai, described as Malaysian-style cold cooked fish with pickled lettuce, carrot, red onion, coriander and chilli.
Next on the BPC popularity stakes come the pizzas, especially with big groups, says Steward.
“Probably the best feature is that all the ingredients are prepared and cooked here. Lots of bars use store-bought toppings; ours bases, sauces and topping sauces are all made from scratch. The bases are crispy, not too doughy so you can pick a piece up and it stays together.”
Most popular of the six flavours on offer are Surf and Turf (prawns, prosciutto, cherry tomato) and Spicy Meat Deluxe (wild pork bacon, chorizo, chicken, spicy garlic sauce).
Not content with the full kitchen and the double-decker pizza oven that can be firing up 14 pizzas at a time, BPC has also installed a dinky little barbecue plate onto a gas heater in the street-side courtyard. Custom designed by Living Flame, the hot plate sits tucked against the wall, out of the way when not in use and simply slides over the gas heater for Friday and Saturday evening cook ups.
Our barbecue caters to the very casual diner, says Steward.
“Depending on the season we’ll offer whitebait patties, prawns, chicken satay skewers, teriyaki beef skewers or paua patties, $11 plates cooked to order. We use a rosemary twig as our oil brush and the aroma coming off that is amazing, it’s probably the biggest attraction of all.”
Barbecue covers nearly doubled in the first two weeks of operation and BPC is thinking that bacon and egg butties for brunch could also do well.
Wellington’s Bangalore Polo Club is the second in New Zealand. Sadly the first one, in Christchurch, has become an earthquake demolition victim. Steward previously worked there. He says there are differences between the Christchurch and Wellington market, one being that Wellington patrons tend to stay a bit longer.
“They’ll tend to stay around and have a longer evening. The bar also gets busier earlier in the week so that translates into more bar snacks.”
And the peanuts – we nearly forgot. Peanuts, in their shells, are handed out as generously as the beer is poured. Conversation goes hand in hand with shelling. Regular patrons have learned not to leave unopened bags on the floor. Steward is unfazed.
“At the end of the night the floor is a sea of shells, it’s a constant battle for our cleaners, it’s also one of our most recognizable points of difference.”
Cicchetti and coca at corner Bar Avida
Switching from an Irish pub to Mediterranean tapas-style bar was more a rationalisation of styles than a sign of the times, says general manager Stephen Morris at Relk Management Group’s new Bar Avida. Relk also owns the Featherston Bar and Grill (homely pub food) and Leuven Belgian Beer Café (mussels, bowls of them) on opposite street corners so the Mediterranean move has been to offer something different.
Avida’s menu describes “a taste trip around the Mediterranean that spirals out along the North African coast and into Europe, from bite sized Cicchetti to tasty grilled coca breads, shared plates, full platters and more”.
Chicchetti are the small plates traditionally served in bacari, or bars, in Venice. Morris calls Avida’s offerings tapas but whatever the name, he says the concept is increasingly popular in New Zealand, whether as a bar snack or sit down meal.
“People now aren’t looking for a plate of meat and three veges, something sweet then away home they go. They are becoming more adventurous and they want a lot of tastes of a region. Even degustation dining is a move to that path, offering smaller plates of tastes rather than one large main as our curiosity grows.”
Bar Avida’s menu includes up to 15 chicchetti, or tapas, four coca grilled breads and about eight “larger plates”. Morris hesitates to call them mains.
“We set the tables with a side plate that’s a decent size so it’s subtle encouragement for people to share, to be communal and convivial. Sharing plates brings on a chatty, buzzy atmosphere,” he adds.
Every dish has a core flavour.
“Be they clams, strawberries or mushrooms, as much as possible we leave the ingredients to speak for themselves. Portobello mushrooms, for example, are sautéed until just caramelised and that’s it. They’re done to order on high heat really quickly, all you taste is the mushroom. For our little neck clams with potato, parsley and white wine, we just cook off the potatoes, steam the clams and add a serve of parsley. It’s simple, fresh.
“By nature a lot of our dishes have a fast turnaround so when we’re busy, we’re busy. Having said that a lot can be prepped in the mornings, and we’re not doing foams and fancy stuff,” he adds.
Each day’s menu includes two or three specials, which gives chef Glen File plenty of flexibility. Morris says one such special; octopus, chick peas and tomato puree worked well.
“It took two days to tender down the octopus and it was fantastic. People were really interested in trying it so it gave them opportunity to be adventurous.”
Other dishes have become sought-after regulars.
“Our slow cooked ox cheek (with cauliflower cream, wild mushrooms and salted lemon) is so popular we are keeping that on the summer menu. Also popular is market fish and prosciutto medallions, salsa verde, rocket, currents and pine nuts. We use monk fish, which is general available, or groper, which is a good firm fish for this.”
The coca, traditional Catalan-style grilled breads, are proving popular with a beer at lunchtime. Coca toppings on the current menu include shrimp, whipped feta, chilli, confit garlic and oregano; Serrano ham, rocket manchego with walnuts and olive oil; and spinach, gorgonzola and caramelised onions.
On whether coca is the Catalonian precursor or answer to pizza Morris refuses to be drawn, in any case Avida add their own take to cater for Kiwi preference.
“Traditionally you don’t put cheese on Coca but people here want cheese on flat bread. We’re not trying to be classic Spanish or Catalonian.”
The best feature about the coca, from the point of view of chef Glen File, is the gas oven he has to bake it in. Custom-made Kiwi-style by a “sheet metal engineer and mate of the owner”, it heats quickly up 300 degrees and keeps its heat.
“We can cook our breads fast, nice and crispy. We also use it to cook whole fish, fast and crispy.”
Beer and more beer at the Fork & Brewer
The beer comes first, in the kitchen as well as behind the bar, at the Fork & Brewer.
“We’re taking food and beer matching to a new level,” says general manager Colin Mallon, who credits head chef Anton Legg for the innovative menu design.
“We’re designing our dishes around our beers, we are using beer in our cooking wherever possible, we are using by-products of the brewery in our food and on the menu we are matching our dishes with beers.”
The Fork & Brewer offers full lunch and dinner menus as well as bar snacks, however with the nature of the layout; a big circular bar, leaners including one massive 9.5-metre ‘surrogate bar’ leaner scattered among sit-down tables, there’s a regular mix and match of entrée and bar-snack dining going on.
Mallon quotes several by-product successes. For example, spent grains, sourced from Tuatara brewery, dried and ground, are a component of the dry rub used for the Brewhouse Chicken Wings.
“These have become legendary. The spent grains tend to add texture rather than flavour; they add a rough, crispy coating that works really well for gripping hold of the barbecue and hot chilli dipping sauces we serve with them. We match them with Tuatara APA or Epic Pale Ale and go through about 100kg each week.”
Spent grains also add crunchiness to the pastry case for the goat’s cheese and pear Spent Grain Tart. Unfermented beer, or wort, is used to make a granita, a sweet and malty palate cleanser served between courses.
Other dishes incorporate the natural beer and food flavours. For example, says Mallon, hopped pale ales such as Tuatara APA go really well with chilli spice and warmer Moroccan spice flavours.
“We do a twist on rarebit, we make a rarebit fondue, a sauté of bacon, mushroom and onion and in the sauce we have Coopers Extra Stout. The robust flavour of the stout goes well with the earthiness of the mushrooms and blends with the cheese as well. Served on toasted bread it’s a good bar snack, people start with a bit of dipping then they’ll want to get into it with a knife and fork.”
Our mussel fritters probably offer the best food and beer match,” says Mallon.
“The mussels are shucked fresh, diced and pan fried, served with a nice kumara and watercress salad and matched with Tuatara Pilsner. With the fresh saltiness of the mussels and crisp, citrus tones of the Pilsner it’s a perfect match. I’m always eating them on the hop and they’re perfect for not getting too full.”
Looking ahead, when the Fork & Brewer brewery is up and running (any day now!) a dish will be created for every new beer release to complement and highlight that particular beer.