Historic Hawke’s Bay: How the Hastings ‘meatball’ was born

Wattie’s, in my opinion, deserves more of a prominent place of recognition in Hastings history.

Established in 1934, it’s an icon.

Not necessarily a giant can of tomato sauce or baked beans placed at every city entrance, or even a statue of Sir James Wattie in the town square, but something that recognises its importance to the Heretaunga – well in fact, the wider Hawke’s Bay district.

Sitting in pie warmers since 1953 is another food creation, which we could label “World Famous in Hastings”.

This is the meatball – a spherical, crispy, orangey-coloured breadcrumbed shell, containing inside meat, onions, salt and whatever other secret spices or ingredients. Creating the ideal meatball, many would argue has some crunch on the outside and a soft texture on the inside.

If the meatball was personified, the humble meatball would not claim, of course, to be as illustrious as Wattie’s, but would say it deserves some recognition.

The meatball wants recognition for all the years sitting patiently in pie warmers in Hastings.

It’s rolling out – out of the pie warmer – and into the streets of Hastings for the inaugural Hastings Meatball Festival on March 14.

So how did the meatball get its start in Hastings?

Dutch immigrant Will Franssen, had arrived in Hastings in 1951 – horrified at the fact you couldn’t get “proper coffee” here, he opened the “Windmill Coffee Shop” at Stortford Lodge, and purchased coffee beans from Wellington, and roasted them.

Will took over the Hawke’s Bay Farmers’ Tearooms in Market St, Hastings, with business partner, Jack van Bohemen, in 1953, after an executive of the company, Ron Trotter (later Sir) asked if he was interested.

New Zealand food was not, shall we say, as appetising compared to European fare in the 1950s.

Therefore, Will sought out Gerard Denijs to take over the tearooms. Gerard was a Dutch-trained patisserie chef, immigrating to Wellington in 1951, with his girlfriend, and now wife, Ina.

In May 1953 Gerard arrived to take over the tearooms and introduced pastry and other food items never seen before in Hastings – including the Dutch meatball bar snack known as “Bitterballen.”

Lean veal meat was originally used for the first meatballs in Hastings.

Gerard Denijs – a Dutch patisserie-chef immigrant, who in 1953, introduced to Hastings a meatball based on the Netherlands “Bitterballen” – and it's been “World famous in Hastings” ever since. Photo / Gerad Denijs

What really put the meatball into prominence was the opening of Gerard and Ina Denijs’s own café in 1956 – the “Lilac Continental Patisserie” (Lilac), on Heretaunga Street East in an art deco building which used to house a men’s tailoring business.

The building was painted lilac and named for the colour of flowers in the Methodist church grounds nearby.

Fellow Dutch immigrant, the late Bert Selles, who was Hastings City Council’s City Engineer, whose office overlooked the Lilac – told Gerard – “So now I have to look at this coloured building every time I look out the window!”.

It is at the Lilac that the meatball, continued to be made by Gerard, really came into prominence.

And I’ll make the call that the Lilac is indeed the “spiritual home” of the mighty Hastings meatball – it wasn’t founded there – but made its mark.

The Lilac introduced the meatball to a wider and more accessible public than the rather posh Hawke’s Bay Farmers’ Tearooms did.

Queues formed outside the bakery to buy items – including the most popular one – the meatball.

My own theory is that other bakers taking note of this fine European fare – such as the meatball, developed their own similar recipes.

Barnes Bakery, established in the mid-1960s, had a meatball in its pie warmers. The meatball then spread everywhere in Hastings, it appears, that had a pie warmer.

The Lilac was sold in 1971 when Gerard, Ina and family of three daughters moved to Christchurch.

Ekhardt Kohnke, the German new owner of the Lilac continued the meatball, and the popularity never waned. Interviewed in 2019, he stated he went through 30 kilograms of veal each week and used unsalted butter and chicken stock. “They were more popular than pies.”

(The Lilac, under new owners from Ekhardt Kohnke, closed around the mid-1990s, and now is a salon.)

It was in Fendalton that another Lilac Continental Patisserie was created by Gerard – and he introduced the meatball to the South Island (although it appears the meatball has never reached the same religious fervour in those parts as Hastings).

The use of lean veal was later dropped by Gerard and instead beef mince was used – the cost was too expensive and supply scarce.

Peter Bakerman, also Dutch, trained under Gerard Denijs for eight years as an apprentice before buying the business around 1998, and renaming it Bakermans of Fendalton.

Therefore, the original meatball recipe (made with beef mince) is still for sale at Bakerman’s in Fendalton.

So back to our Hastings meatball.

Since the introduction of it in 1956 – the meatball is still proudly made and sold prominently in Hastings, and enjoyed by a cast of hundreds, if not thousands each week. We all have our favourite ones.

Our personified café-style meatball has one request when it will make its appearance on the streets of Hastings: “I am best enjoyed straight – don’t drown me in a tomato sauce” – but then quickly adds – “Well, if you must, I’d make an exception for Wattie’s tomato sauce”.

The Hastings Meatball festival Friday, March 14, Hastings City Centre, from 5.30pm.

Michael Fowler is a contracted Hawke’s Bay author and historian mfhistory@gmail.com