Another Beef and Lamb award for Barrelhouse

Barrelhouse cooks Keely Smith and Tyla Paterson share some of the accolades for winning their 10th Beef and Lamb Excellence Award.

Matt Charlton is re-arranging the walls of the Barrelhouse Restaurant and Bar to accommodate yet another plate signifying the "Highest Culinary standard in Beef and Lamb".

For the 10th year in a row, Dannevirke's Barrelhouse Restaurant has won a Beef and Lamb Excellence Award. It joins 162 others across New Zealand. While it is one of 14 in the Manawatu, it is the only one in Tararua.

NZ Beef and Lamb says:

The 2017 Excellence Award holders have been revealed with 162 restaurants nationwide joining a group of 3150 restaurants who have received the nation's longest running culinary accolade since the awards were first launched.

Over the past few months, culinary trained assessors have been scouting out restaurants serving only the best beef and lamb dishes to determine the annual Beef and Lamb Excellence Award holders.

The awards, now in their 21st year, attracted over 200 entries with over 400 beef and lamb dishes being assessed on taste, presentation, degree of cooking and overall appeal, over a three-month period.

Caroline Charlton says the judges visit unannounced and dine on both the beef and lamb. There must always be one of each on the menu, she says, and the judging takes into account the knowledge of the staff who are serving, about the dish.

The assessment this year "ticked every box and was our best in 10 years of awards", says Caroline.

"This is recognition and confirmation that Dannevirke has a really good restaurant serving beef and lamb."

She is pleased that it complements the daily positive comments from locals and especially visitors.

She would always have beef and lamb anyway, she says, as steaks are the favourite of locals and lamb is very popular with foreign tourists.

Caroline believes consistency of food is essential. She and husband Matt have resisted joining the café culture in favour of producing food clients can rely on.

Having a stable staff and sourcing good meat is vital to the success.

Aged angus beef which can be traced to local farmers gives her and daughter Keely the best chance to produce a great dish.

They decided to enter because it was a good way to keep up the standards of cuisine. Winning the award is good for the business because it goes into all the food magazines such as Dish. Local pride is enhanced, as is New Zealand's reputation for good food.