Famly Organic Market + Cafe — known to locals as FAMLY Organic Grocer — occupies 272 Queen Street in the heart of Masterton, trading in unadulterated, premium wholefoods. It is the kind of shop where every raw ingredient is chosen with real intent, and that philosophy carries through everything the team does, from the shelves to the plates they serve on event nights.
What has made Famly a talking point well beyond Masterton is its events. For one weekend at a time, the familiar walls of 272 Queen Street are transformed into a dining room for hyper-limited, ticketed experiences. The current production is Elements: a five-course immersion into Wood, Fire, Water, Metal and Earth, created with returning chef Caleb Sebastian Kloeg, the meticulous pasta artisans at Monty & Sons, FAMLY's own organic wholefoods, and the wild, organic brilliance of Huntress Wines.
Every course is deliberately built — trumpet pasta with lemon butter emulsion, radiatori with wild venison 'nduja, spiral fusilli with chunky pāua XO, truffle rigatoni, and a small batch dark cacao pasta finale — with an optional organic wine pairing matched pour by pour. Between events, the email list is the way in: it promises exclusive deals and early access to new products and tickets, which matters, because these dinners run strictly until sold out.
On a stretch of Queen Street in central Masterton, Famly Organic Market + Cafe has quietly become one of the Wairarapa's more intriguing food addresses. Day to day it operates as FAMLY Organic Grocer, a shop built on unadulterated, premium wholefoods. But for a few carefully staged weekends, the familiar walls of 272 Queen Street are transformed into something far more theatrical — a ticketed, hyper-limited dinner experience that releases seats only until they're gone.
The current headline is Elements, described by the team as "a hyper-limited, 5-course immersion into the elements." It is emphatically not a traditional dinner service: the menu unfolds as a progression of the senses, governed by the cosmological sequence of Wood, Fire, Water, Metal and Earth. Chef Caleb Sebastian Kloeg returns to lead it, joining forces with the meticulous artisans at Monty & Sons — the hands behind every fold of pasta — the wholefoods of FAMLY Organic Grocer, and the wild, organic brilliance of Huntress Wines. Every fold of pasta, every pour of wine and every raw ingredient, the team says, is deliberately chosen to represent a specific season, texture and energy.
The journey opens with Wood — spring, growth, birth. Trumpet pasta arrives with a lemon butter emulsion, garlic herb panko and Grana Padano. Fire follows with summer heat: radiatori pasta tangled with cauliflower, wild venison 'nduja, fermented chili, crispy radicchio and tomato dust. Water brings winter depth and stillness — spiral fusilli with chunky pāua XO, chu yau char crispy pork lardons, samphire and furikake. Metal, the autumn course of structure and harvest, is short rigatoni with truffle, confit garlic and pecorino. And Earth closes the night with grounding nourishment: small batch dark cacao pasta with gianduja, hazelnut praline, feuillitine, sea salt and fior di latte.
Each course is matched to a Huntress wine — an optional but, in the team's words, highly recommended experiential add on. There is the Waikoa White Blend ("Happy Waters"), a textured skin-fermented blend of Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc and Chardonnay carrying spring florals, citrus skin and a saline edge; the Waihonga Amber ("Nectar"), a fleshy, mouth-filling skin-fermented Pinot Gris engineered to carry the 'nduja's heat; and the barrel-fermented Tūrama Chardonnay ("To Glow"), whose leesy texture slices through rich pork fat and elevates the pāua.
Metal gets the Pawero Pinot Noir ("Intertwined"), a classic Martinborough Pinot with fine tannins and bright, elegant fruit built for truffle and pecorino. The finale belongs to the Matiti Pet Nat ("Summer"), certified Biogro and Hua Parakore verified — pure, joyous Riesling bubbles to cut the sweetness of the chocolate course. Vintages poured through the evening are available for exclusive purchase, so guests can take a favourite bottle home.
Between events, Famly runs as an organic market and cafe on Queen Street, and the same premium wholefoods that appear on the event plates are what the shop trades in day to day. The team keeps regulars close through an email list promising exclusive deals and early access to new products — usually the first place new event tickets surface before they sell out.
Elements runs across one weekend only, with four seatings: Saturday at 5pm and 7:30pm, and Sunday at 11:30am and 2:00pm. Tickets come in VIP and VIP + Wine Pairing types. One firm note: this is a Chef's Selection menu, strictly as is — because of the nature of the event, no dietary requirements can be accommodated, so read the full menu before booking. Come curious, come hungry, and expect a Masterton evening that tastes nothing like a typical dinner service.