Low-fi local favourite Waiheke Bowling Club is a no-frills, 1948-built clubhouse. Its restaurant was taken over by experienced chef and Waiheke local Paul Patterson in late 2022, who instated Paulie's Kitchen to serve approachable, good-quality pub food and barbeque specials.

It has a veterans club vibe, with added greenery from several pot plants. Outside it’s still a fully operational bowls club with a big outdoor deck and more seating around the green.

Food-wise, classics include schnitzel with slaw and potato salad, beer battered fish ‘n’ chips and T-bone steak with egg and chips. Patterson and his cousin Vatiseva Wickens (who works in the kitchen with him) have upped the emphasis on made-from-scratch techniques. Bar snacks include pork crackling with salsa and cheese fries, ribs and barbeque chicken wings.

There are always daily specials on the blackboard, and Patterson’s big into American barbeque, having competed in world championship barbeque cooking contest Memphis in May in Tennessee. He fires up smokers every day with cherry and apple pellets in one, and Japanese charcoal and plum wood in the other. In them, he cooks Sunday roasts and Champagne hams, smoked belly bacon and chicken for a Caesar salad special, a quarter barbeque-glazed chicken, smoked pork shoulder and more.