8 minute read
PUB STAPLES: THE CLASSIC HITS
The classic hits
Deb Jackson speaks to publicans about pub classic meals and how they can put their own unique twist on these meals to keep their patrons coming back for more.
CLASSIC MEALS like chicken parmigiana, fish and chips, burgers, and steaks are essential for any pub menu, but with peoples’ palates evolving towards a cleaner style, how can publicans ensure that their menus are hitting the spot for their patrons?
Australian Hotelier spoke to publicans from around the country to find out how traditional pub classics fare on their menus and asked whether they had evolved these traditional pub dishes to give their venues a unique offering.
Jane Jesberg, director/owner of Rix Hotel, whose award-winning restaurant Beast and Barrel offers a broad assortment of meals including pub classics alongside higher end dishes and dry aged meats, says the classics are a clear favourite with patrons.
Beast and Barrel was the winner of the Queensland Hotels Association’s Best Restaurant – Regional this year. And according to Jesberg, its traditional dishes such as the Panko Crumbed Chicken Parmy and the Ale Battered Barramundi, not only own their place on the menu, but are among the highest sellers at the restaurant.
Being situated in the heart of cattle country in rural Queensland, Jesberg says that they would have been “laughed out of town” if they’d left these traditional meal options off the menu. But what they’ve done is gone the extra mile with their execution and put their own unique spin on the recipes.
“From the get-go we wanted to offer an unforgettable experience; a level of sophistication not seen in the bush, but we knew we had to remain true to our hotel heritage and offer the very best of pub grub and the best food for booze. For us it was never an option [to leave the classics off the menu]. The balance however was to put our twist on each, that was in keeping with the style of food and the experience we were offering,” she says.
“We made a conscious decision to not comprise on quality; for our Crumbed Steak, we chose a higher-grade piece of beef, and we crumb it inhouse and serve it with salt dusted chips and a lashing of tangy slaw. Our Parmy is fresh chicken breast and panko crumbed, and is also made completely in-house right down to its traditional Neapolitan sauce topping. We also have our spin on fish and chips with the barramundi and pale ale.
“Not compromising means we take a slight loss on those dishes, but we make it up elsewhere. We do what we do, and we do it well.”
Over in regional Victoria at the Healesville Hotel, which was taken over by Matt Vero and Scott Connolly in June, the food menu has had a complete refresh with a public bar menu focusing on the classics and a bistro menu based more around seasonal food with fresh local produce.
Healesville Hotel is situated in the Yarra Valley wine region, so is a big tourist destination attracting many weekenders, families, and weddings. It’s also ideally placed just over an hour outside of Melbourne, making it the perfect destination for day trips.
Speaking to Australian Hotelier, Connolly said that Healesville Hotel has always been a foodie’s destination, so in reinvigorating the menu, they wanted to remain true to the hotel’s history, while also being true to themselves.
“We are pub-goers, so for us, it was inconceivable to not have a parmigiana on the menu,” he said.
Keeping this in mind, the menu includes a classic Chicken Parma with smoked ham, napolitana sauce, mozzarella, dressed leaves and chips, alongside a slightly elevated version of the classic schnitzel in the Pork Schnitzel with caper and parsley slaw and garlic butter.
When establishing the menu, Connolly and Vero asked their chef if there was one go-to dish that they love to cook and do well, and the answer was the Pork Schnitzel, which coincidentally has become one of the most popular dishes on the menu.
So, when asked if he could offer one piece of advice to a publican when it comes to putting together a pub menu that includes the classics, Connolly said, “Don’t overdo it, just do the simple stuff really well. And always back your chef and what they’re passionate about”.
With things like burgers, pizzas, and schnitzels, there is always a question mark around what the right number of variations is to offer, both to give to customers choice, while also ensuring that kitchen staff doesn’t become overwhelmed.
For Connolly, the answer is the keep the menu reasonably tight but to ensure that the dishes are being created to a high standard.
“We like to focus on what we are doing, and that we are doing it really well, rather than having 25 different options of something on the menu,” he said.
Likewise, over in Tasmania, Di Warren from the Plough Inn in Launceston, says that they run with the motto of “keep it simple” on their menu.
“Our customers come to The Plough for the experience, to have a drink and catch up with friends. No one wants to be confused about their meal choice or not have anything that suits their taste. Our menu is extensive as we wanted to cater to everyone. Our kitchen team is strong, reliable, calm and works very well under pressure. That is a huge key to creating an experience and meal that people come back for week in and week out,” she says.
The standout item on The Plough Inn’s menu is the chicken parmigiana, and the team has capitalised on this by creating a range of variations and by offering special ‘parmy days’ at the pub.
“Since opening we have added garlic prawn, pesto prawn and Hawaiian parmies to the menu for those more adventurous diners, but our classic parmigiana continues to be our most popular,” says Warren.
“We offer parmy days, steak nights, duo-of-scallops day and burger nights. We have continued to keep these days the same every week to avoid customer confusion and it works well.”
Understanding your clientele and adapting your menu to suit them is key. For Warren, The Plough Inn is frequented regularly by football players post-training who are after a big burger, so they have adapted their menu accordingly.
“Our list of burgers has grown over the last 12 months due to our creative Chef Yogi trialling new burgers for our special’s board, which ended up being so popular we added them to our main menu.
“We get a lot of footy players popping in on a Thursday night and we have discovered our chicken BLT (with chipotle) is an absolute hit with them all.
“We also recently added pizzas to our menu with a new pizza oven, which cooks our pizzas in eight minutes, so it’s very easy for our staff to whip up a pizza.
“We have found by not deviating our menu too much allows the kitchen staff to have mastered each dish to perfection and also means our front of house staff are very knowledgeable on all dishes on our menu,” she says.
Elevating the classics
It seems that across the board, a focus on fresh produce and an elevation of classic pub dishes, is emerging as a trend that is appealing to patrons.
At the Healesville Hotel, the team is utilising its outdoor barbecue area to elevate the classic chicken and chips by offering a rotisserie chicken dinner, which Connolly says has been a hit with patrons.
Meanwhile Jesberg at the Rix Hotel says that their salmon with mashed potato and seasonal greens has emerged as an overwhelming new classic.
“It rates well above the traditional pub grub and sits just under our steaks, which of course are our biggest sellers. It is hands down a must have on our menu. It offers that clean option which is so popular.
“Keeping it green is also our Turmeric Chicken Caeser Salad and our Pumpkin and Haloumi Salad; both hold their own surprisingly well in cattle country. Another newcomer to our pub grub is a crowd favourite on our Food for Booze menu is our Zucchini Fritters – they fly out the door, a little bit of goodness mixed with some delicious fried badness,” she said.
Beast and Barrel also this year embarked on dry-aging beef, which has become a popular menu item that is flying out the door.
“The level of sophistication in the bush is often underestimated and we are proving that. We offer four different steaks and alternately offer two dry aged cuts of beef. So, it makes sense that our Steak Sandwich with a 200-gram Bottle Tree Rump has become iconic. The lighter option, our Southern Fried Chicken burger though has emerged as strong pub grub contender.”
To summarise the importance of pub classics on any pub menu, Jesberg says it best: “Pub grub is anything you want it to be and it’s certainly evolving towards a cleaner style but some of the oldfashioned classics will never change and the adage of ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ rings resoundingly true.”
