A taste of... Little Beer Quarter
6 Edward St, Te Aro, Wellington.
We’d heard... Tucked away on Edward St, a common thoroughfare for people on their way to a gig at Meow or a cheap eat at Capital Market, Little Beer Quarter – or LBQ – is somewhere that does solid daily deals on food, with an impressive bar, pouring plenty of Kiwi craft beers.
The vibe... Despite blazing sunshine outside, the eclectically styled bar was very dark inside, which on a typical Wellington day would be welcoming and cosy, but on this particular night meant squinting at our menus. My dining companion summed it up best, calling it ‘‘drunken ambience’’. We decided to sit outside, which was a good choice with warm wind whipping through the alley-like street that kept us cool while we waited for our food.
We ordered... Arguably too much, but a two-for-one deal on pizza and mains (Tuesdays) was hard to go past. We ordered two nine-inch vegetarian pizzas – the margarita-style Maggie May, with pomodoro sauce, mozzarella, fresh basil and parmesan for $15, and the Panhandle Green, with baby spinach, artichokes, olives and feta, $17. It would have been remiss to go past the burger menu so we grabbed the signature LBQ Burger, with a 200g beef patty, cheddar cheese, free-range bacon, beer-battered onion rings, pickles and lettuce, $18, and the vegan burger, with quinoa patty, hummus, cucumber and fresh baby spinach, $16.50. We threw in a bowl of loaded fries, $11.
Everything was as expected, with both pizzas holding up well with a good amount of topping and plenty of mozzarella. Burgerwise, the LBQ had lots of crunch courtesy of the bacon and onion rings.
The vegan burger was deemed ‘‘hearty’’ by my vegetarian dining companion. The only slight letdown were the loaded fries topped with parmesan, truffle oil and aioli. A little too crispy for our liking and not exactly ‘‘loaded’’ with topping..
The service… Was friendly but laissez-faire. As is common with bars, it wasn’t table service so we only found out about the deal at the counter, forcing us to re-evaluate our choices. The staff, however, shone, giving each of us recommendations on what beer to choose and offering tastings.
If you go… Sit outside if it’s sunny and make it a Tuesday night for the most bang-for-yourbuck on food.
Rating out of 5: 4 – Ruby Macandrew