The progression of one of Palmerston North’s most popular bars can be traced in the flavours being plated for a regional cuisine contest.
Brew Union is a finalist in the formal dining category of Plate of Origin – Made in Manawatū, and the increasing comfort with which the brewery bar can sit next to the word “formal” speaks to how the venue has matured.
It had become the social space punters wanted more so than what owners Jules Grace and Murray Cleghorn first envisioned when they introduced a Portland-style brew pub to Broadway Ave in 2017.
“We originally didn’t plan to do full restaurant and garden bar,” Grace said. “The plan was for a 50-seat brewery with pizzas and fries.”
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Brew Union head chef Ben Ng with the ingredients for his Plate of Origin dish, which showcases the produce of Eketahuna Country Meats, Cartwheel Creamery, and the brewery’s own Swampton Stout.
Though the bar staples remained on the menu, it became a 100-square-metre bar and restaurant that could cater for 300 people, and an atmosphere that dressed up or down depending on where you rested your drink.
“How we wanted to do things was a lot more casual than how we actually do things now. We adjusted pretty quickly to what people wanted,” Grace said.
“We wanted casual, very relaxed service, and that was the original business model; small brewery, great beer, pizzas, chips, couple little flavour bombs from the fryer.
“But how people wanted to treat this space, particularly when they saw we could do all this stuff with it – the restaurant area, outdoor area – people wanted to have restaurant main meals, they wanted to have two- or three-course dinners.”
WARWICK SMITH/Stuff
Brew Union owners Jules Grace, left, and Murray Cleghorn
Some of the elements of an American brew pub were retained, because they were important to Grace and Cleghorn, and core to Brew Union’s identity, but the business was there to fulfil a need, so they listened to feedback and adjusted.
“Which is cool, because we love doing all those things,” Grace said.
For Plate of Origin, a celebration of the region’s restaurants and food producers, head chef Ben Ng considered the local suppliers he wanted to showcase and created a dish around them.
It’s serving Eketahuna Country Meats’ wild venison backstrap, with a columbus hop infused salt and pepper crust, Cartwheel Creamery Epitome broccoli purée, mizo glazed baby carrots, with a boysenberry and Swampton Stout reduction.
Warwick Smith/Stuff
Brew Union’s Plate of Origin competition dish: Wild venison backstrap, with columbus hop infused salt and pepper crust, epitome broccoli purée, mizo glazed baby carrots, with a boysenberry and stout reduction.
Brew Union’s connection to Cartwheel Creamery was special for a number of reasons, Grace said, made poignant by the recent death of master cheese maker Adrian Walcroft.
Cartwheel cheeses had been on the Brew Union menu since it opened, while the creamery often washed its cheeses in Brew Union beer to add complexity to flavours.
“So it’s always good to use those guys. They’re awesome people, it was really hard to have Adrian pass away.”
His first meeting with Adrian and Jill Walcroft was on the same day he and Cleghorn visited the site for the brewery and realised they had something that could be quite special.
“They were actually the first people we met in Palmerston North when we started this whole process … We sat down and had cheeses with them at their kitchen table and had a bit of a chat.”
Renee Emma Photography/Supplied
A great environment is part service, part food and part atmosphere, says Brew Union co-owner Jules Grace, and when punters are having fun it’s enjoyable for the staff. “It’s a great little circle when you’ve got it going right.”
It was also important to acknowledge the brewery was a local supplier itself by using their own stout in the dish, and it made for a great combination of flavours.
“You’ve got sweetness from the boysenberry and chocolate notes and bitterness from the stout in there, and that just goes really well with the venison.”
Mixing grounded hops pellets with the salt and pepper for the venison crust also provided a “brewery twist”.
Grace said it was a no-brainer to be involved in Plate of Origin, it always provided an opportunity to have some fun with food, and they loved to support anything that promoted local produce.
Brew Union even extended the concept to its monthly gin club night on September 12. Five new dishes, including the Plate of Origin entry, each showcasing three local food producers, were paired with gins.
Supplied
A bao bun dish from Brew Union’s five-course gin club night, where each dish kept to the Plate of Origin concept of showcasing three local producers.
The venue has found a sweet spot in a dining scene that leans casual, forging a reputation as both a destination and as a pit stop for a couple of drinks before customers move on to another restaurant.
“And that’s the thing, a lot of the restaurants, we all share the same customers,” Grace said. “The competition in the industry, it’s not competition, we all get to share the same people. There’s no point being competitive about it.
“You do your thing, you do it well, and we all get along really well with a lot of the people around the place.”
Diners who order Brew Union’s wild venison backstrap or any other Plate of Origin dish at participating restaurants in September are invited to submit a score for the People’s Choice Award and go into the draw to win a $300 Air NZ voucher.
Tickets are on sale for the Plate of Origin dinner at Awapuni Racecourse on October 11, where the award winners will be announced.
