Monday, January 19, 2015

A night at the Hofbräuhaus

Good Afternoon Ghouls;
Here's a small post about what I did on Saturday night.
Saturday the 17th of January was the date of Brodys' belated work Christmas function.
His boss always organizes them for January to avoid the Christmas rush and to ensure that everyone is back from their holidays.
This year we (the thirty or so employees and partners) were booked into the Hofbräuhaus.
Dinner was set for seven and some of the guys organized a pre-drinks session starting at four at the Asian Beer Cafe.
Three hours of beer drinking seemed like a bit much for Brody and I, we decided to turn up at five.

For those in Melbourne who have never been to the Asian Beer Cafe located on level 3 in Melbourne Central you should arrange to go. On level three to the Swanston St side of the complex at the far end near the Hoyts counter you'll see an embossed sign that identifies the wooden facade exterior as belonging to a lager "cafe" around the bend.
Two security attendant will check ID and during the peak times there is a red carpet entrance line.
There are plenty of bar tables and even an outdoor deck for the smokers; the whole place gives off a rustic charm.
Our group was situated at a long communal table much like those found in beer halls. During "Happy Hour" between four and eight pm you get two for one cocktails.
My first drink was a standard fruit tingle. The attendant mixing the drink was heavy on the alcohol and very light on the grenadine; however talking with those who had been there from opening said that the woman who had her shift before him had a much better ratio.
At this point i do have to apologise; my camera went flat and I only took very few photos on my phone.
The fruit tingles were not the greatest so I did not bother to photograph them.
My second drink however was worth a photo.
The Whore-Nicopia is a popular cocktail at the venue and after having one I can definitely see why.
Although the $11.50 price tag may seem steep during "Happy Hour" I'll be content to pay it.

This beautiful light pink drink contains some of my favorite flavours; lychee and watermelon with two shots of vanilla vodka and it goes down a real treat.
It more or less just tastes like freshly squeezed watermelon juice. Those four drinks took me until ten to seven at which stage we needed to leave.



We manuvered through the streets towards Market Lane where out dinning venue was situated.
The Hofbräuhaus has two halls, one the standard beer hall set up and the second with a stage and a dance floor.
For such a large group booking the boss opted for the Bavarian Feast Platters; however due to the cross-contamination on the platter I was given the option of choosing my own meal.
The Hofbräuhaus menu contains a lot of Gluten Free Possible dishes (marked by a GFP) and I opted for the Paprika Hahnchen. (Chicken)
Whilst the orders of others around us were being taken a brass band all in Lederhosen played. Most notably to me they played the Game of Thrones television theme song.







The meal began with Bavarian Pretzels and hand whipped butter, although I could not try Brody admitted they were beautiful but for his tastes far too salty.

The platters were brought out adorned with two pork knuckles, pork belly, chicken schnitzel, sausage skewers with two slices of each variety. Amongst the meat were bread dumplings, potato dumplings, fried onions and sweet pickles.
Side plates accompanied the platters with Sauerkraut, a capsicum, tomato and onion salsa and a potato mixture.





My meal while it may not have looked pretty tasted amazing. A baked chicken breast in a spicy tomato brth with a side of Spatzel (an egg ball noodle coated in potato flour almost reminiscent of Gnocchi) with a dollop of cream sauce on top.







The venue most notably however was the home-brewed beer selection available in one litre steins.
During dinner there was live entertainment with a lovely MC encourage us to do shots.
Brodys' boss shouted us all some Vanilla Schnapps of the Lindenhof brand, very smooth and easy to shot.





It was a memorable night that I would and plan to definitely repeat.

Ashlee Adams xx

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