| Pub Crawl: COOKS' WHATEVER |
A symbol of island-style cheekiness
Jason Brown
Once upon a time ISLANDS BUSINESS published what became an awaited annual feature: the annual round of Bars of the Pacific Islands. After some years we ran out of new bars-a shocking commentary on the lack of growth of Pacific Islands economies. Now we're reviving that annual crawl, but at a more stately rate.
We present PUB CRAWL.
Tiri John and Peter Allport were “having a few beers”-market research?
| "Whatever" in the Cook Islands. |
“Yeah, market research”-and brainstorming for their new yet-to-open bar and grill.
“We had just got the venue the week before and were trying to decide on a name,” recalls John, grinning.
Working titles like “No Fat Chicks” and “Don't Put That In” or “Bang Bang Bang” were discarded for obvious reasons.
Both veterans of Australia's resort Hayman Island, they gazed at their new business, an open-air deck on stilts two storeys up.
A table beside theirs at the Island Bar next door erupted in shrieks of laughter and island style teasing.
“There was a group of girls at the Island Bar having lunch and a few beers, and one of these girls just screamed out-whatever!”
The two men looked at each other.
“Peter and I stopped and listened in the middle of our soul searching and name searching. It was a catchy phrase. Catchy name.”
The Whatever Bar and Grill was born.
At first, market reaction to the new boys in town lived up to their offhand name.
It was quiet. Very quiet, says John. He recalls long afternoons “playing backgammon and drinking with Pete. Slowly it started with locals coming in.”
After taking over in mid-2004, the bar was just starting to really get going when the Cooks was hit by five cyclones in a row, four of them roughing up Rarotonga.
Other bars battened down the hatches, trucked away their stock and turned off the power.
John and Allport shrugged and said “whatever.”
They stayed open, jaunty lights shining through the fog of the capital's wind and rain-lashed coastline.
Their big deck served as a handy viewing platform for TV crews filming storm surges rushing in from the lagoon and under the bar, as well as providing a stop off point for thirsty emergency workers and others bored staying at home after weeks of cyclone warnings.
Whatever Bar became an instant icon, a symbol of island-style cheekiness.
“It was from the cyclones that things really got busy,” nods John.
It all started when John came home to help his parents through the aftermath of a house fire.
Allport had got “sick of working for other people” and was seeking to settle down from a career that took him through Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
Funnily enough, they did not discussed the idea when they were in Hayman. Allport was too busy helping manage over 300 restaurant staff and John being beverage manager with 13 staff in five different bars.
Once back on Rarotonga, they started getting together and one day, while “having a few beers,” tossed around some ideas for contributing something different to Rarotonga's restaurant scene.
“I wanted to show our people what can be done,” says John.
What has been done is a refreshingly, deceptively simple menu. Simple enough to copy right here.
The Bone (steak) NZ$22.50; Rumpy $18.50; Sirloin $18.50; Chicken $16.50; Fish $18.50; Mini burger $5.00; and Nachos $5.00.
Allport is head chef and has his own unique cut; big, round, thick slabs of meat that come on huge plates with generous salads and one, big, fat baked potato.
“No fries,” confirms John. “Everywhere has fries. We don't want them. When people ask for them, we say sure, you can have fries-in a baked potato. We're looking after people's health.”
Fish is seared and features lots of tuna, still lovely and pink in the middle to avoid dreaded dryness.
It is good, fresh food, simply prepared and cooked on an island well-served elsewhere with nouveau sauces and fusion cuisine.
They can pack in 60 diners but, come 10pm, the kitchen closes, middle tables are cleared away and the dancing starts.
Monday nights they are closed, while an island string band gets things going on Wednesday nights, with Friday and Saturday the big party nights.
One end of Whatever deck is screened off for the kitchen and bar.
The rest looks along the length of town and right around to the mountains. It is a bar with the best view in town.
|
|
