Logan Brown, New Zealand's best?

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Permalink Reply by Stu McKinlay on August 19, 2009 at 10:41pm

I've been meaning to go for a couple of years... Boulcott Street Bistro, Great India, Manon and Charlie Bill keep sidetracking me though (they're my top 4 in Wellington)... last time I went, 4 years ago, they had a pretty solid little beer selection. Up there with Boulcott - who'd usually dropkick everyone else to touch.

I must say though... the overwhelming feeling of Logan Brown was great food, good beer, too quiet.


Manon is, without doubt, the best dining venue in Wellington. But we'll be happy to keep that to ourselves.

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Permalink Reply by Geoff Griggs on August 19, 2009 at 11:11pm

If they've got a "pretty solid little beer selection" it's a shame they don't bother to include it on their website.

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Permalink Reply by josh scott on August 20, 2009 at 9:03am

I Have these "Discussions" with Resturants all the time, great food, great wine list(in fact sometimes amazing) but a pathetic beer list, I could write a list, pages and pages long of places that fall into this catergory
However tide is changing!

My Two cents, Logan Brown, Excellent!

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Permalink Reply by nzbrewer on August 20, 2009 at 9:17am

Tide is changing , but very slowly. These foodies have no concept that beer is more than fizzy cold lager.

I was at CIBO at the weekend, and they had a selection of five lagers. Their desert menu was over a page long, with nearly four times the choice of desert vs beer. And don't even ask me how many pages they had for wine.

It sucks that you have to drink wine when having really nice food, cause it isn't always the best combination.

I did get a shock recently when contacted by Mantra Restaurant in Henderson, Auckland, that they have been stocking Epic Pale Ale because it goes really well with Indian curries. WHAT!?! Someone actually tasting the beer and food together.

I think most of these beer & food matches are token gestures, especially the Monteith's Wild Food Challenge. I was a judge for a number of years, and it was easy to find the winner as they were the only restaurant that actually tasted the beer and food together. Some got it so wrong that the beer and food were disgusting together.

Anyway Mantra Restaurant have now added Armageddon to the menu. Go figure, IPA with Indian food. :-)

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Permalink Reply by Stu McKinlay on August 20, 2009 at 9:43am

Hmmmm... this has got me thinking.

2010 BrewNZ Beer and Food Challenge. Anything goes.

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Permalink Reply by Alelover on August 20, 2009 at 9:51am

Cook'n with Gas in Christchurch had a good selection of quality beers last time I was there. But like it is being said, they are in the minority.

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Permalink Reply by James P on August 20, 2009 at 10:28am

I highly commend resturants for including craft beers etc. However what is concerning is the markup they add to the drinks which potentially makes them less desirable?

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Permalink Reply by josh scott on August 20, 2009 at 10:36am

I don't think these Mark-ups are two bad when you compare to wine

For a good quality wine you will be paying $12-$15 a glass for 140-175ml of wine,
where as for $12-$15 dollars you are gettting between 330-500ml of a very good quality craft beer.

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Permalink Reply by nzbrewer on August 20, 2009 at 10:48am

Agreed, but the biggest hurdle is changing peoples expectations for what value they put on beer in this country.

I give the example of some guy I talked to who was complaining about a glass of Epic Armageddon IPA at $10 for 500ml on tap at Brew on Quay. I said did he think he was getting $2 more value than if he had purchased a 4% $8 500ml glass of Macs Gold. He totally got the point.

Permalink Reply by Darryl on August 20, 2009 at 10:57am

Also it's the price point and reputation of some places that mark the prices up. I was at cooking with gas a few weeks ago and if you go back and look at the rest of the beer menu you will see that a bottle of steinlager pure 330 is $8.50 and an Epic pale 330 is $9.00 they are making a lot more from the pure than the craft beer.
The place has a great rep and has won heaps of awards so can sustain a higher price point across the board.
Its not like they or most other top restaurants are serving the $10 steak and chips with an expensive beer,
I went there and had a great night, drank heaps of great beer, had some fantastic food and the bill wasn't any more than i expected for a top restaurant.

Permalink Reply by James P on August 20, 2009 at 11:20am

I think the markup is specific to you paying for the atmosphere not so much the beer...

If you wanted to go down the track of economy then yes, they are making a a good profit from some of the other brands based on a direct wholesale vs retail pricing. I would also suggest that their COGS would be a lot higher too.

Permalink Reply by Stu McKinlay on August 20, 2009 at 12:55pm

Well said Darryl... people often lose sight of the fact that there is much more in the price of a beer than $/volume/abv.
It's not a "how much to get toasted" ratio.

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