Top New Zealand restaurant serves Hereford Prime
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A suburban Hamilton eatery, Smith & McKenzie Chophouse, the brainchild of Jason Macklow, Darrel Hadley and Toby and Nic Elliottyson, was named Supreme Champion at the recent Hospitality New Zealand Awards for Excellence.
The Chartwell-based restaurant scooped the coveted hospitality award from the nationally recognised Auckland-based Sale St and Soul Bar and Bistro.
The restaurant’s unpretentious décor pays homage to butchery history by using traditional butcher shop themes, warm wood, stainless steel, butcher’s blocks and vintage meat-hooks which were originally in the Horotiu meat works.
Hadley, Macklow and Elliottyson gradually developed the “paddock-to-plate” steakhouse-style and decided to tour famous United States eateries to fine-tune the concept. What they discovered cemented the Smith and McKenzie commitment to “let our beef do the talking”.
Quality beef from naturally grazed cattle provided by local suppliers is extremely important to Smith & McKenzie. They serve Hereford Prime scotch fillet, rump, sirloin and a 400gm T-bone.all provided by Magill Meats. They also serve Angus pure eye fillet.
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Chefs Tom Wepiri and Tony Elliotyson with the Hospitality Award trophy
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300gm Hereford prime served with onion rings
and a mushroom sauce glaze.
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The restaurant opened its doors in March 2009 and was a finalist in the HANZ awards that year and every year since. It has been destined for success from the start and there’s no doubt the concept is winning the vote of the dining public.
It’s been a multi-award winning month for the eatery, as they have also been ranked 13th on the Deloitte Fast 50 with an impressive 387 per cent growth in three years.
Smith & McKenzie, the only hospitality business on the Fast 50,was named Central North Island’s highest ranking company and the fastest growing retail or consumer product company in the region. It’s not just the menu and the turnover that makes the 150-seat restaurant so successful.
Regular quiz nights are packed with patrons and Smith & McKenzie’s loyalty card scheme, which also comes in a kid’s version, is thought to be one of the most successful in New Zealand.
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I visited the restaurant on a Monday evening and was surprised to see the dining room full before 6pm. I then noticed that most tables had small children enjoying a night out and I asked our waitress Nic Elliottyson if this was a normal occurrence and she explained that Monday night was a $2 night for young children. Kid’s meals were served at a cost of $2 but if the parents filled out a form with the name of the children’s school or kindergarten that $2 was then donated by Smith & Mc kenzie to their child’s school. It was a great promotion and certainly had appeal to lots of customers.
Add to that Smith and McKenzie has been honoured with the Beef and Lamb Excellence Award, which is assessed and awarded annually by culinary experts for excellence in beef and lamb cuisine. People’s Choice Awards is about to be launched in all participating Beef and Lamb Excellence Awards restaurants. Diners who choose beef or lamb from the menu during April can fill out a voting form rating the dish on various points, including presentation, tenderness and value for money.
At the end of the month, the highest scoring restaurant will receive the People’s Choice Award, with one lucky diner from the restaurant winning a meal for two to the value of $150.
Smith & McKenzie and several other restaurants around New Zealand that serve Hereford Prime have qualified for entry in this competition so make sure you dine out in April and support your Hereford Prime restaurant.
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Profiling Five Stags Bar and Restaurant, Cambridge
Name of Business:
Five Stags Leamington
Location:
9 Campbell Street, Leamington, Cambridge.
Your name and title:
Matthew Wood, Head Chef.
How would you describe your business?
Bar/restaurant.
What Hereford Prime cuts do you serve?
Scotch, T-Bone, Rump.
Why do you use those cuts specifically?
To provide our customers with a good range of cuts, and the rump is perfect for our steak sandwiches.
How long have you had Hereford Prime on your menu?
Three months (since the opening of the business), and I have also used Hereford Prime in previous restaurants I have worked in.
Why did you choose to have Hereford Prime on your menu?
Always excellent quality, good flavours, and the marbling on each cut is always good which gives a moist, flavourful end result.
What is your most popular Hereford Prime dish?
Scotch Fillet, served on a creamy potato and parmesan bake with a slow roasted tomato and finished with a port wine jus.
What do you like about it as a chef?
As a chef I like it for its high quality diversity to use in the dish.
How do you personally enjoy Hereford Prime?
Medium rare. I personally enjoy Hereford Prime cuts with anything – it’s such a diverse and high quality meat that it goes with anything from chips and salad to fine dining menu items.
Do you brand/identify Hereford Prime on your menu?
We do identify the Hereford Prime brand on our menu and in our restaurant.
What do your customers say about Hereford Prime as a quality beef programme?
They ask where the meat comes from.
Any other comments about Hereford Prime?
We have very few complaints on the quality of the meat/cuts. Our customers always seem very impressed with the quality of Hereford Prime.
Matt Wood, head chef at Five Stags in Cambridge says
the marbling of Hereford Prime on each cut is always good
which gives a moist, flavourful end result.
Profiling No 7 Balmac, Dunedin
Name of Business:
No 7 Balmac
Location:
Maori Hill, Dunedin.
Your Name and Title:
Billy Allan, Head chef.
How would you describe your business?
Neighbourhood Bistro.
What Hereford Prime cuts do you serve?
Cube roll.
Why do you use those cuts specifically?
Maximum flavour, perfect partner for our wood-grill.
How long have you had Hereford Prime on the menu?
From six months after opening - almost four years.
Why did you choose to have Hereford Prime on your menu?
Consistent quality of the product.
What is your most popular Hereford Prime dish?
Wood-grilled Scotch fillet with fresh shiitake mushrooms, duxelle butter and hand-cut shoe strings.
What do you like about it as a restauranteur/chef?
As a Chef I love hearing the customers positive reaction to the flavour of the meat and tenderness as well as feedback on the consistency of the product.
How do you personally enjoy Hereford Prime (ie rare, medium etc) and served with what?
I enjoy it medium rare, well rested and served simply off the wood-grill.
Do you brand/identify Hereford Prime on your menu – if so do consumers enquire about it?
It is specified on the menu as Hereford Prime and also we do get enquiries about the product, queries about the aging process and where we have sourced the Hereford Prime from.
What do your customers say about Hereford Prime as a quality beef programme?
I think now as we have had it on the menu from our early days regular customers can trust they are getting a quality product based on their previous experiences, as well as when new customers try it for the first time they will also have that positive experience as well.
Head chef at No 7 Balmac, Billy Allan enjoys hearing customers
positive reaction to the flavour of the meat and tenderness
as well as feedback on the consistency of the product.
Profiling RedCliff Cafe, Te Anau
Name of Business:
RedCliff Cafe 2007 Ltd
Location:
Te Anau.
Your Name and Title:
Ryan Murray, head chef / owner.
How would you describe your business?
Casual/Fine Dining.
What Hereford Prime cuts do you serve?
Ribeye.
Why do you use those cuts specifically?
You can’t beat the flavour of ribeye with that little bit of fat to make things extra tasty.
How long have you had Hereford Prime on the menu?
Five years or so.
Why did you choose to have Hereford Prime on your menu?
I had heard good things about Hereford Prime and I changed butchers finding that he could supply me with Hereford Prime and haven’t looked back since.
What is your most popular Hereford Prime dish?
My main Hereford dish is the Prime Hereford ribeye, which this season I serve with smokey duck fat roasted agria potatoes, buttered seasonal vegetables, a lick of jus and a flame grilled green capsicum chutney.
What do you like about it as a restauranteur/chef?
As I am both the restauranteur and chef the main thing I like about Hereford Prime is happy customers because that’s what this game is all about.
How do you personally enjoy Hereford Prime (ie rare, medium etc) and served with what?
Rare is the degree of cooking I like and I love to eat it with pretty much anything from a piece of bread to a fine gourmet dish, the possibilities are endless…
Do you brand/identify Hereford Prime on your menu – if so do consumers enquire about it?
Yes I do state on my menu that it is Hereford Prime and also have a plaque on the wall in the restaurant given to me by some of the Hereford Prime cattle breeders when they dined with me a couple of years ago. We have also received the NZ Beef and Lamb Hallmark award of excellence every year since 2005 and this also provides pretty good advertising of a good product as well. Customers do enquire sometimes and I am only too happy to give them all the information and know-how I have to get them to try it at home themselves.
What do your customers say about Hereford Prime as a quality beef programme?
All my customers are very positive towards the programme and this is another good reason to keep it on the menu.
Owner and head chef of Redcliff Café in Te Anau, Ryan Murray
has had Hereford Prime on his menu for more than five years
and it’s a quality beef product that keeps his customers happy.
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