After spending a week or so in a massive post-holiday depression, what better than to snap us out of it and cheer us up than a meal at the loud and friendly Bavarian Bier Cafe?
Bavarian Bier Cafe has 8 or so branches, one being up here in Brisvegas at the Eagle Street Pier and the other 7 being down in Sydney. As soon as I’d heard about it opening, I’d been wanting to visit... who couldn’t go past fatty pork, sausages, schnitzel and steins of beer? This was the kind of stuff to put hairs on your chest... errr if you want them that is.
We toddled over there with an 8pm booking on a Saturday night. I had heard that this was probably the busiest and loudest time to visit, and my sources were clearly not mistaken.... The place was packed out and full of loud red-faced happy people.
We were promptly seated and our waitress informed us that it was actually her first night waitressing! This didn’t actually matter in the end, as the service we ended up experiencing was great throughout the night, and any questions we had about the menu were promptly and professionally answered.
We decided to order a few ‘biers’ to start, myself and my friend S going for the Franziskaner Mango Weissbier, described as a pale ale with a splash of mango juice. I thought it might turn out a little weird, but it was amazingly light in flavour and very drinkable. L had the Hofbrau Dunkel, a heavier dark lager described as malty and caramel flavoured, which it certainly was. The beers are available in 300ml, then half litre and litre steins. A half litre will set you back between $8.50 and $11 depending on the beer.
Foodwise, we decided to forego any entrees as the mains sounded and looked like quite large meals. Both S and L ordered the Bavarian Tasting Platter ($27) from the House Specials section of the menu. This was a sample of everything basically, with pork belly, different types of sausages, schnitzel and “Bavarian condiments” of sauerkraut, Sebago mash, red cabbage and apple compote. This platter definitely went down well with both my dining companions, with the pork belly being described as the best part although the crackling more chewy than crunchy. L ordered their Zigeuner Hot Sauce to have on the side however this ended up being a salsa and tasted similar to Old El Paso Taco sauce to me, not being spicy at all so he was somewhat disappointed with this.
I ordered the Weiner Schnitzel for myself ($28.50), which was a large serving of veal schnitzel with herb mayonnaise and sautéed potatoes with onion and speck. The veal was juicy and tender and the crumbs were crunchy and large, looking similar to panko breadcrumbs. The herb mayonnaise was nice to begin with but became a bit sickly after a while, so I ended up just finishing off the veal by itself. I should have probably ordered one of the sauces on the side which would have been nicer. The side dish of potatoes was really delicious, but came out slightly colder than what it should have been which was the only thing wrong with the meal.
After dinner, we decided to order some schnapps and perused their schnapps menu. After seeing you could order “a metre of schnapps”, being 6 shot glasses, we decided on this. The schnapps are delivered on a special wooden plank and the waitress will ring a loud cowbell when they come out, which is a bit embarrassing so be prepared for everyone staring and whooping at you.
I’m not going to copy and paste the German names, but we sampled the sour apple, apricot, old plum, mountain fire and glacier ice varieties. There are quite a few others on the menu, for example, butterscotch, pear, honey and good old Jagermeister.
We had a thoroughly enjoyable evening at Bavarian Bier Cafe, not only the food but the general atmosphere was excellent, and it would be a great place to celebrate an occasion with friends.
Love,
C
No comments:
Post a Comment