Bavarian Bier Café: Oktoberfest with Bier & Schnapps, CBD Sydney (25 Oct 2011)

16 O'Connell Street, Sydney NSW 2000

http://www.bavarianbiercafe.com

Heart warming schnapps time

Well if you wanted to know what was on offer at last years Bavarian Bier Café Oktoberfest then this post will tell you what you missed out on — sorry. Unfortunately this is what happens when you get side-tracked with eating out too much and not having enough time to post everything when you want to. Anyway, thanks to Laura Cairnduff from Zing for inviting me to check out the Oktoberfest menu. Possibly these specials will be available again this year but you can always count on the imported pure biers and lethal schnapps to get you in the mood for some serious lederhosen dancing. The Freshly baked Bavarian Pretzel ($3.50) is probably a must to try and line the stomach before any serious beer drinking. The Roast beef with fried potato, served with a side salad & Bavarian Mayonnaise ($18) was probably my preferred dish of the night. The potato had good flavour although I wished the salad had some dressing on it to make more appetizing.

I can’t say I was a huge fan of the Traditional Munich-style white sausage salad ($17) but maybe if the sausage was warm rather than cold and there was more dressing on the salad it might have been better liked. It was funny seeing the carrots in the Pan fried Cone Bay barramundi fillet ($31.50) cut like you might find in a Chinese restaurant but the fish seemed to have a crispy skin as hoped. The Char-grilled steak of cured pork belly ($27) was tender but I really liked the Bavarian white cabbage salad that came with it more. Good depth of flavour was found in the Brewmaster's bier stew served with bacon & sauerkraut napkin dumpling ($24) but I was clueless what a napkin dumpling was. Apparently if the dumpling is cooked in a napkin it’s known as a napkin dumpling in central European cuisine. The Pork loin with sautéed onion & potato gratin ($26) was tender and tasty but would have preferred more crisp bits on the potato gratin surface.

My strategy when ordering the Schnapps was to go for the strongest ones — why, because they had twice as much alcohol for about the same price on the list. My taste buds were left in Germany after sampling the Friesengeist 'Friesen Ghost' 56% ($8), Teufelskrauter 'Herbal' 50% ($8), Gletchereis 'Glacier Ice' 50% ($8) and Bergfeuer 'Mountain Fire' 50% ($8). All totally lethal but perhaps there’s taste bud value to be had in the more fruity and less alcoholic ones which might be more enjoyable on the palate. For dessert the Vanilla cheese cake with sour cherries and double cream ($12) was quite cheesy but perhaps a little on the dry side for me. The Creamy apple strudel with berry compote & chocolate sauce ($11) was nice but I generally prefer the pastry to be a bit more crispy and flakey like Gelato Bar Bondi and preferably served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Other visits to the Bavarian Bier Café:

• 25 Oct 2011 - O'Connell, Sydney, Oktoberfest Menu

• 6 Dec 2010 - O'Connell, Sydney

• 21 July 2009 - Entertainment Quarter, Sydney

• 18 April 2009 - York St, Sydney

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: Good variety of biers produced using the Bavarian Purity Law, Buzzing atmosphere and grand décor, Great range of schnapps, Comfort food to keep you warm on a cold day

CONS: Not sure about the background music of Nickelback and Wolfmother which I think I heard, Lack of dressing on the salad makes it a bit boring, Not sure where to look when the service ladies have their top shirt button undone

MUST TRY: The bier, Other schnapps next time

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Every time is bier time at the Bavarian Bier Café

Freshly baked Bavarian Pretzel with butter ($3.50)

Roast beef with fried potato, served with a side sald & Bavarian Mayonnaise ($18)

WORTH TRYING :-)

Traditional Munich-style white sausage salad, served with char-grilled rye bread ($17)

Pan fried Cone Bay barramundi fillet on sautéed kipler, snow peas and carrot served with aioli ($31.50)

Char-grilled steak of cured pork belly with dark bier jus, sebago mash & Bavarian white cabbage salad ($27)

Brewmaster's bier stew served with bacon & sauerkraut napkin dumpling

Pork loin with sautéed onion & potato gratin, served with a side salad ($26)

Schnapps - Friesengeist 'Friesen Ghost' 56% ($8), Teufelskrauter 'Herbal' 50% ($8), Gletchereis 'Glacier Ice' 50% ($8), Bergfeuer 'Mountain Fire' 50% ($8)

Vanilla cheese cake with sour cherries and double cream ($12)

Creamy apple strudel with berry compote & chocolate sauce ($11)

Ice cream ordered to have with apple strudel — you can't have strudel without ice cream or cream I think

Oktoberfest menu

Schnapps menu

Small plates menu — seems like a good idea

Nice central bar area

Decor and casual seating

Loving the tall ceiling in this place

Downstairs seating

You can never have enough cuckoo clocks

Interesting and crazy tiling but badly designed placement of urinals — seriously too close for comfort in my books

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Kürtősh: European Bakery, Randwick (27, 30 Dec 2011)

20B-20C St Pauls Street, Randwick NSW 2031

Phone: (02) 9399 8412

Smokeless chimney cake

The Spot in Randwick seems to have added a few new additions since I've walked by in the last few months. Kurtosh or Kürtősh as per the shop signage has a tempting array of cakes on offer which are mostly sold by weight. This can be a good thing if want to decide how decadent a piece of cake you'd like although it's also a bit of a guessing game on how much it's going to cost you. If you want to try and narrow down the choices then first try the generous samples they provide on top of the display counter — after which you might actually be too full to try anything else. One day I bought an interesting looking Pistachio Kurtosh ($8.50) aka Chimney Cake to take home. I thought it would go very nicely with some vanilla ice cream but it sort of made the sweet bread go a bit hard so it ended up being much harder to eat than hoped. Probably a cake best eaten freshly on site to really best appreciate it. It's interesting to see it being made and there's a few different toppings available although business policy is you can't take photos which is a shame but hopefully they'll change their mind one day.

On my second visit a few days after I decided to sit in to try the coffee and some of the cakes. The Mocha ($4) was well-balanced and the Flat white ($3.50) pretty good. I tried four types of savoury Bureka ($49 per kg) — 3 Cheeses, Cheese & Spinach, Potato and Pizza. The bite sized morsels had a light and flaky pastry as hoped and ended up costing $8.33 in total. The Espresso Almond Teacake ($2.96, $40 per kg) had some nice flavour although I found it a bit on the dry side for my liking and much preferred the creamier Tiramisu ($4.86, $45 per kg) although I think the alcohol content was more restrained than I'm used to. There's plenty of other choices in the counter display which I would have loved to show but photography wasn't allowed so you'll have to venture in to check it out for yourself.

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: Plenty of interesting cake choices, Samples to try on the counter, The only place I've come across that sells Kurtosh, Open til late, Fair amount of seating although metal chairs can get a little uncomfortable after a while

CONS: Can end up being expensive depending on how large a slice of cake you're keen on, Limited parking in the area, Metal seating can get a little uncomfortable after a while

MUST TRY: Revisiting to try other cakes

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27 Dec 2011 visit

Pistachio Kurtosh ($8.50)

Hole through the middle

Around 21 cm long

Unravels like a spiral

Was hoping it would go with vanilla ice cream but wasn't the easiest thing to eat

30 Dec 2011 visit

Mocha ($4), Flat white ($3.50)

3 Cheese Bureka, Potato Bureka ($49 per kg)

Pizza Bureka, Cheese & Spinach Bureka ($49 per kg)

Tiramisu ($4.86, $45 per kg)

Espresso Almond Teacake ($2.96, $40 per kg)

Rustic seating

Interesting table water bottles

Opening hours

Service counter and cake display

Indoor seating

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