D and I had been sick for a week.
Him worse than me, but I was still under for the best part of the week. Missed some really fun things I was supposed to go to (work social events, hen's lunches) and was generally feeling sorry for myself.
So at 10am on Monday morning, I decided we had to go out to eat that night.
A few months ago we stopped into Newstead Brewing Co on a Friday night to have birthday drinks for one of our mates and whilst we liked the range of brewed-in-house beers (weird, varied, tasty, boozy, expensive), the place was so loud and crowded it was borderline unbearable. Youngsters!
But, having booked a work event at Newstead for a month's time, I wanted to check out the food!
D had been fanging for ribs for months, so the BBQ pork ribs were always going to happen, but I had no idea what I was going to have.
By the time we got there we were starving AND thirsty. We excitedly ordered a beer pallette ($12) where we could choose 4 beers off the tap to try in 150ml glasses. Buffalo wings and blue cheese sauce ($12) to accompany and we were on our way!
The beers were all delightful and full of personality - we actually had a blend of a cider, pale ale, golden ale and a sort of a chocolately stout and drank them in that order. They were all full of personality, and my favourite would've had to have been the stout.
The buffalo wings were slow cooked and juicy, as opposed to deep fried and fatty, which was pleasing. The glaze was salty, sweet, sticky and perfect with the addition of poppyseeds.
The blue cheese sauce carried my usual complaint: not enough foot! I ordered blue cheese sauce because I love blue cheese! Maybe the wing glaze overpowered it, but it was no more than a ranch dressing to me. Nothing wrong with it, but not much blue cheese flavour going on.
At this stage I really could've tapped out, but of course we had to try the mains and some more brews!
D ordered the BBQ pork ribs with an apple and walnut salad, I ordered the braised beef pie. We both got a scooner of our favourite beer from the mix - the pale ale for D, the golden ale for me. Heaps of personality in these beers!
I'd orderd the roasted cauliflower salad as a side.
The BBQ pork ribs.were.incredible. Not fatty, not grissly, meaty, easy-to-eat, deliciously tender. The side salad was crunchy and sweet, and the sweet potato fries were seasoned beautifully. I only had one or two mouthfuls of this dish, and was stoked with it. D on the other hand, said the plate got too sweet after awhile, and could've used an acidity kick.
My pie was very well presented - this is definitely a gastro pub, people, and had some buttered potatoes and green pea puree to the side. A pie and mushy peas, all done up for a night on the town!
The meat was tender and juicy, the pastry crisp. Overall it was slightly underseasoned, and could've used a bit more gravy inside the pie. I would probably order it again though, it was quite delicious after a salt shower.
The cauliflower salad was the low-light of the evening: cold, underseasoned roasted cauli, some spinach leaves, spanish onion...just a bit 'meh'. We barely touched it.
We were so full, in fact we didn't finish either of our meals.
The meals were well priced, both mains were under $30 and we were both happy overall. Being a Monday night it wasn't too boisterous, but still had a great sociable vibe. Friendly staff, too.
Love this place, look forward to drinking many more beers here, and sucking on more than a few rib bones too.
Check Newstead Brewing Co out on Urbanspoon, and at their website.
x
AB