Lowenbrau

Beer Halls seem to be sprouting up everywhere in Sydney nowadays, but this Oktoberfest, I decided to to relive some of the glories of Hofbrauhaus am Platzl, and visit the original. I don't think there is anyone in Sydney who hasn't heard or seen the distinctive (the guys will know what I'm talking about) advertising of this place.

Food

We certainly weren't disappointed. All the stereotypical Bavarian fares were present, as well as fares to cater for Australians and anorexic girls. We were all going for the full hog. All the guys ordered schnitzel, and the Löwenschnitzel - Löwenbräu's giant pork schnitzel served with French Fries ($27.00) certainly lived up to its name. A giant piece of crumbed meat covered the entire plate, with some shoe-string fries underneath. I have never been a huge fan of schinitzel, I never really understand the appeal of flattening your meat and putting crumbs on it, but as far as schnitzels go, this one was great. Still, a schnitzel is a schnitzel, I wasn't blown away by it. By the time I got to the chips, they were a bit soggy and only warm, so I don't think I am in the position to pass judgement on them, but the mayo that accompanied the dish was quite nice.

Last time I was here I had the Knuspriger Schweinebauch - crackling Roast Pork Belly with Beer Sauce, sautéed potatoes & red cabbage, so I decided to try the Schweinshaxn - Oven-roasted pork knuckle with sauerkraut, Lowenbrau bier sauce and mashed potato ($29.50). A huge knuckle arrived sitting on a bed of mash, with a mound of sauerkraut to the side. It had the best crackling ever, crunchy, salt, thick and satisfying. The meat tasted just like Chinese roast pork, except the texture of the meat was softer. The mash had a lot of other stuff added to it because there wasn't that much potato taste. I actually prefer my mash a bit lumpy but this one was silky smooth. I only hope it was made using real potatoes and not that powder stuff. The sauerkraut on its own wasn't that nice, a bit salty, a bit sour, a bit limp, but paired with the salty meat, it was a nice foil.

Of course, a visit to a beer hall wouldn't be complete without some beers. A lot of people had multiple 1L steins but we started on the "baby" 300ml Löwenbrau Original on tap ($6.00). I'm not a huge beer drinker but I am very fussy. This beer was palate cleansing, with a clear, wheaty, honey taste with a slight hint of bitterness, and is absolutely gorgeous.

Rating - 6.5

Atmosphere

This is what we come for and this is what we pay for. The party was already on full swing when we arrived, the Ommpa Band belting out the obligatory tunes (I had no idea the Chicken Dance was universal), as well as a few unexpected ones, including Sound of Music and Waltzing Matilda. The 6 of us was one of the smallest groups in the beer hall, (there were a lot of small tables outside, but that defeats the whole purpose really), groups of 20 or more were not unusual. The beer hall was much smaller than I thought, you were basically squished in. People were celebrating birthdays, bucks night, more birthdays and more bucks night. We were the only ones there for no occasion at all, and felt very left out when they called out the "special" person from each table. Never mind, half the entertainment was watching all the drunkards carry on. The table next to us were dressed up in German garb, including some guys in very tight breeches. We witnessed more oldies getting up on the dancefloor (thank God they weren't on the tables yet). We stayed for a large part of the antics, including the mexican waves and the stand-up, sit-down segments. Nic went out and came back in while we were doing it and she got totally confused, apparently there were a lot more to come, including some Ockoberfest specials, but we decided we didn't want to lose our voices, so we left before the excitment was over.

Rating - 3

Service

I sure know what they mean about service. The door Nazi stopped us in our tracks when We showed up at 7.40pm. We told him we had a booking. He said that everyone was supposed to wait outside and we will be called to your table. So there was nothing we could do but wait. Sure enough, nobody came to call out any names. So sick of waiting, we approached another waiter instead, and this time, we finally got lead to our table.

It took us awhile to get some menus, and even longer to get our orders across, we stopped 2 waiters, (and Clete stopped one of the guys who had dressed up as he thought that was a waiter), before we put our orders in. You can never get the waiters attention, but at least our food arrived without any problems. You'd better remember what you ordered though because the waiters certainly don't.

I have to give them credit though, having to deal with drunks and rude people in such a cramp space, and having to wear those ridiculous outfits.

Us girls had a lot of fun observing the female waiters (the males were boring) to see how they compare with their advertisment. I have to say that they certainly don't discriminate, but the beers are so heavy that they need to lean back and stick out their chests every time they carry something.

Rating - 2

C-factor

We got our beers for free, we used two e-book vouchers, so our final bill came to $110.50. It's not the best value based on food, but you can't get this sort of atmosphere anywhere else - watching your friend get their leg pulled by a drunk dressed in German gear, and checking out the status of female waiters - except prehaps in Munich!

Rating - 1.5

Brownie Points - 13

Info

Crn Playfair & Argyle St
The Rocks
NSW 2000
Phone (02) 9247 7785
Website