BEST ROASTS ON THE COAST + THE BEER STADIUM
NEW RESTAURANT OPENINGS IN TASTE
YOU may have stumbled across Harajuku Gyoza in Brisbane or even Sydney, but Broadbeach’s newest eatery isn’t the usual nameless, faceless franchise pumping out thawed, mass-produced product.
Co-owner Andrew Jeffreys dropped into the freshly opened Beer Stadium (yes, you read that right) in Oasis Shopping Centre last week to give us the background.
“We opened the first shop six years ago in Fortitude Valley as a small Japanese dumpling and beer shop,” he says.
“I guess the idea was always about sharing, fun and drinking with food.
“I lived in Japan and the other owners have done a lot of business in Japan over the years.
“I just think we all love Japan, we love gyoza and we love beer.”
Broadbeach may be the sixth location, but the eatery is the franchise’s first Beer Stadium.
“We’ve been looking at the Gold Coast for probably about four years, but this whole beer thing only started about three years ago. First we were looking to do it in Sydney but it fell through,” Andrew says.
“Then finally after looking for a few years we found this site and it was perfect, not only because it was the GC, but it was right for the brewing side of things as well.”
Andrew says the microbrewery will be capable of producing between 30 to 40 kegs each week, overseen by an in-house brew master. It will only be served in store ... for now.
“Matthew Glanville is a qualified brewer who has just come from Bacchus in Brisbane and he recently won people’s choice awards in Melbourne and Sydney,” Andrew says.
“On the taps right now we’ve got our own dry lager, pale ale, black lager, IPA, mid-strength and a cider. We’ll have two guest beers at a time and the beers that aren’t ours, whether they’re bottled or on tap, will be either fully imported from Japan or local.”
The other golden, delicious main attraction is the fried gyoza, handmade by the studious kitchen crew in front of a purpose-built glass niche.
“With the pan-fried gyoza the trick is the right brown crispiness on the bottom,” Andrew says.
“To get that the grill is really important, so these grills are all imported from Japan by the No. 1 grill manufacturer over there.
“Ingredients are important as well. We use a great quality pork with a specific percentage of fat. Small details like that really matter for taste and also for making sure every gyoza that leaves the kitchen is the same.”
Considering the specialisations are gyoza and beer, you probably wouldn’t expect Harajuku to do breakfast, but they do.
The menu covers Australian classics with a Japanese twist (miso and soy glazed maple bacon, for example) along with authentic Japanese morning fare.
“We’ve got the ochazuke, which is a rice and dashi soup with salmon, rice crackers and seaweed,” Andrew says. “That’s very common in Japan for breakfast. “We’ve also got souffle pancakes – they’re like a wobbly Japanese souffle cheesecake.
“They come in a big tower and they wobble. They taste great but they’re also fun. Then we’ve got okonomiyaki, which is Japanese savoury pancakes with bacon and cabbage and also a bacon and egg breakfast ramen.”