Restaurant Critic #2 - Deep Creek Brewing Co.

The Deep Creek Bewing Company, Browns Bay, Auckland. A birthday celebration with the family.

Well I had this : Potjies Kos , this iteration was Lamb Shank in a rich spicy gravy. It was the business. Came with a side of Roasted Potatoes and some vegetables (read Cauliflower and Broccoli). Chef was keen to chat about it , I think it was a new idea he'd had, I'd say he was on to a winner. A Potjies is a small cast-iron pot, like in the picture,they come in all sizes though, mine was the boutique restaurant for show version.

I had me this delight with some of their newly award winning (bronze) Leprechaun's Belle. An Irish Red Ale.  I wasn't enamored of this particular beer, pleasing enough but not different enough to make it special. It is however one of the beers they have that I would go to again, being nearer my taste, and not one that disappointed.

I also had me a Little Armoured one. It's more an Amber Ale, and sits well with me. A bit stronger then that Leprechaun's Belle.  Well it's the thing to do.

This is the sort of boutique brewery that you have to work your way through the beers on. Some are quite tart and hoppy some are one the thin end of there taste.  I'm not so sure on the Leprechauns's Belle, which although pleasant enough didn't have the depth of taste that you'd be expecting in an Irish Red Beer.

On the food front others in the family had, by way of food,

• Deep Creek BBQ Ribs  Old No7 Jack Daniels BBQ ribs with kumara fries and market salad


• Surf and Turf Angus rib eye steak and grilled prawn skewers served with kikorangi blue cheese stuffed portobello mushroom


• and The Pork tenderloin that doesn't appear on the online menu

Do we like the pub, yes we do, it's always noisy enough, and has a fair smattering of locals. And it's close enough for us to be called out local Boutique Brewery.

Do we like the food? Well there were no empty plates at the end of the day.

It's solid pub food, in a pub setting. It's good enough but not great, you wouldn't go there just for the food. Are the beers good, some are some aren't. I note that you can buy these commercially in supermarkets now, so they've gone the whole 9 yards on the business venture.

A good night out, great bar staff, a nice atmosphere, can get busy, does get busy, has an all you can eat rib night on Wednesday, that, it seems, is very popular with the locals.

I'll be there again sometime in the next couple of weeks.