Jasmyne Tea

Bavarian Bier Cafe, Parramatta

The first thing I think about when I think of Bavarian Bier Cafe in Parramatta is inappropriate cleavage. It all started when Mary, Paul and I went for dinner just before I left for the States. Whilst the food was great and the service, for the most part, exemplary, there was one particular waitress who had her shirt buttoned practically down to her waist, possibly in an attempt to garner tips. Now, if the uniform for the staff was traditional like at The Lowenbrau, then a little cleavage would be understandable; but this was a business shirt, and her bra was visible. In Paul's words, "if I wanted breasts in my face, I would have ordered the chicken schnitzel".

But don't let that faze you (if in fact that would faze you). The restaurant and beir hall are located within the old St Andrew's church on Phillip St, and a lot of the original structure remains. Even the furniture reflects the previous nature of the building, and the stained-glass windows lend colour to an otherwise spartan decor. The food is your typical German, but is executed pretty well, and there's a large range of schnapps and German beers available.

Mary and I decided to start with schnapps while we were waiting for Paul. After we ordered, I went to powder my nose in the ladies' room, and apparently the waitress came bearing a large tray and ringing a bell, only to find Mary by herself, looking very embarrassed at the attention.

Saurer Apfel & Butterscotch Schnapps - $7.50 each

The butterscotch schnapps was sweet and fiery, but I actually preferred the sour apple variety - it was fruity and light, and the apple flavour was a great contrast to the alcohol.

Baked Pretzel - $3.50

The pretzel was very unappetising - it was a dry and shrivelled thing, incredibly salty in some places and flavourless in others.

Garlic Bread - $7.90

The garlic bread was also disappointing - the bread was soft and almost cold, and I could barely taste any garlic.

Flammenbrot - $17.50

This dish brought the bar back up. The pastry base was thin and crispy, and was a beautiful foil for the soft, creamy ricotta and caramelised onion. Flammenbrot comes in 3 variations here, and we selected the crispy speck, which was a good choice in my opinion: it had a good bite to it, and lent some salt to the almost-bland ricotta.

Wiener Schnitzel - $29.50

The Wiener schnitzel was also quite good; the crumbed outer was crisp and delicious, and the veal was moist and tender. It came with sautéed potatoes and a tasty herb mayo.

Crackling Roast Pork Belly - $29.50

My pork belly was magnificent. The crackling shattered like thick glass upon impact, salty and sinfully good. The pork underneath was fall-apart soft and rich in flavour thanks to the Lowenbrau bier jus, and it was accompanied by red cabbage and a Granny Smith apple compote.

Swiss Schnitzel - $29.50

The Swiss schnitzel was excellent as well, juicy chicken covered in a layer of golden, crisp breadcrumbs, which in turn was covered by double smoked ham and Swiss cheese. This was served with a kipfler potato salad and a mixed green salad.

We were tempted by the Apple Strudle, but we saw someone at the bar that we used to go to school with and that we'd rather avoid, so we paid the bill and ran out. A visit to Bavarian Bier Cafe is definitely worth it though - even if you're not a fan of half-dressed waitresses, the food, beer, and beer-hall atmosphere make up for it.

Bavarian Bier Cafe

2-8 Phillip St
Parramatta, NSW
2150

Phone: 02 8836 1400

http://www.bavarianbiercafe.com

Marbled Bundt Cake

A big Happy Birthday to Stephen's mum Rosie!

When Rosie's birthday rolls around, Stephen and his siblings always buy her something for the kitchen, which is understandable, considering the fact that they see her solely as a mother. Once her present was a pair of electronic salt and pepper grinders that has little lights attached (so that you can have salt and pepper at all times, even when there's a blackout!). One thing that I do think is a shame though is the fact that she's always the one to cook on her own birthday. Surely that's one day in the year where you shouldn't have to cook for the entire family?

This year was the same, but I couldn't bear the thought of her making her own birthday cake (or the thought of her NOT having a birthday cake), so I dragged Stephen into the kitchen to help me make a pound cake. It's a marbled chocolate and vanilla concoction that we chucked in a bundt tin because we thought it would look nicer. It's not a cake for the health-conscious, as it's so full of butter and sugar, but if you can't splurge on your birthday, when can you? Just remember, thin slices, people. It's meant to have at least 16 servings.

Marbled Bundt Cake

INGREDIENTS

120g dark chocolate
2 cups plain flour
1 cup self raising flour
2 cups butter at room temperature
3 cups sugar
1 tbsp vanilla essence
9 large eggs at room temperature

 

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease a bundt tin and dust with flour, then set aside. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate in a metal bowl over a pot of boiling water (making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water), stirring occasionally.

2. In a seperate bowl, cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla essence with an electric mixer. Add the eggs, two at a time, then sift the flour in small amounts, grandually incorperating into the mixture on a low speed.

3. Spoon half the batter into the prepared tin, stir the chocolate into the remaining batter, then spoon into the tin as well. With a knife, swirl the batters together to create the marbleing.

4. Bake for 45 minutes, checking every now and then with a skewer, let cool in the tin for 30 minutes, then invert onto a cake rack (feel free to dust with icing sugar, but be sparing, because it's a sweet cake).

 

Schwarzwald Restaurant, Cabramatta

My dad is funny sometimes. He doesn't like to try new cuisines, and whenever I offer to take him to a restaurant he eyes me warily and asks what the occasion is. There are a few restaurants that he will frequent though, so for my step-mum's birthday I managed to drag him to a German restaurant in Cabramatta.

A German restaurant in Cabramatta you ask? I can explain! In the 1950s and 60s there was a large influx of post-war European immigrants who eventually planted their roots around Smithfield and Bonnyrigg, and it wasn't until the 1980s that Cabramatta was known for its thriving Asian community; it is a bit jarring to see a German-Austrian Club in such close proximity to all the Chinese Yum Cha restaurants and Vietnamese Pho places though.

We arrived at 6:30pm and signed in to the club, then we were given a choice: we could eat in the little restaurant or the beer hall. We chose the restaurant for its intimacy, were seated and given menus. Soon the man from the bar came around to take drink orders (that were paid for separately).

Elain liked the sound of the beers mixed with fruit juice, and chose the mango variety. The mango nectar was mixed with some Dab beer by the bar keep, and was served chilled. It was very much a drink for summer, the bitterness of the beer countered by the intense sweetness of the mango, and it was pleasantly carbonated. I preferred a darker beer - I'm not sure what it was called, but it was pleasantly malty with a slight aftertaste.

Langos - $6.50

Two langos came out to our table of 6, and they were easily enough for all of us. They were fried beautifully on the outside, fluffy and warm on the inside, easy to pull apart, and smothered in garlic butter. Served with sour cream (of which we could have had more of!), they were a great start.

Beef Goulash - $24.50

The goulash was HUGE - there was no way I was going to eat it all, but what I did eat was wonderful - the meat was flavoured with with sweet paprika and tomato paste, and had been cooked slowly in large chunks, until they fell apart on the fork. There was a large amount of sauce with the goulash, which I used to coat the soft, pan-fried spatzle that came with.

Roast Duck - $26.50

Elain ordered the duck, and again the helping was huge. The duck was fall-off-the-bone soft, and it retained some of that gamey flavour, probably thanks to the cooking method. The red cabbage didn't particularly go with the duck in my opinion, but it's a classic side and that's most likely the reason for its existance on the plate. There was some sort of potato bake on the side as well, which was lovely and creamy, but the top was burnt.

Gypsy Platter - 26.00

After seeing this monstrosity on Phouc'n Delicious, Stephen decided to try tackling it. The platter consisted of kransky sausage, crumbed mushrooms, a pork and a veal schnitzel, some chips, some sort of potato salad, and a fresh salad consisting of lettuce, tomato, and cabbage. Stephen's favourite part was the sausage, which he said was plump and juicy - the mushroom was too oily for his liking, and the schnitzel were a little dry on the edges, yet perfectly cooked towards the centre. The potato salad was also very good, the potatoes well cooked but still holding their shape, and the sauce was mild, creamy and accentuated with liberal use of parsley. My brother also ordered it, and he actually finished it!

Chicken Schnitzel - $23.50

Dad's schnitzel dish was a study in food that sticks to your ribs. Sure, the chicken was cooked beautifully so that it retained its moistness, and the chips were good and crunchy, but there was no sauce to speak of, and a salad or some veggies wouldn't have gone amiss either. Dad ended up having to order some gravy, which at  $4 a pop wasn't exactly cheap, especially when we all know what gravy is made of :s

Gravy - $4.00

Hot Love - $8.50


Ice Cream with Chocolate Sauce - $4.00

These two desserts weren't very impressive at all. Ice cream (store bought, I'd wager), smothered in sauce. The "Hot Love" had some frozen berries and cherry liquour, and somehow that bumped the price up by $4.50.

Passionfruit Cheesecake - $7.50

My brother somehow managed to finish this as well, on top of his Gypsy Platter. The cheesecake itself was very light and slightly tangy with cheese. The base was nothing to write home about, but the topping tasted strongly of sweetened passionfruit and lifted the flavour of the cake.

My dessert was a wonderfully flaky apple strudel that I wasn't able to take a satisfactory photo of, but it was, in my opinion, the best dessert of the ones we tried and well worth the $7.50 I paid for it.

Don't come to Schwarzwald expecting 5 star dining - this is a restaurant that you come to when you want friendly faces, familiar, welcoming service, good beer, and home-style German food at a fair price. Definitely family friendly, but maybe not the greatest place for a  first date. You can take my dad's word for it ;)  or try it for yourself!

Schwarzwald Restaurant

73 - 75 Curtin St
Cabramatta, NSW
2166

Phone: 9728 7724

http://www.germanaustriansoc.com.au/

Rhinedorf German Restaurant, Beverly Hills

Alternate title: An attempt to save Oktoberfest 2010.

After the travesty of having the Oktoberfest at Fairfield Showgrounds cancelled - and it was a travesty, after having been celebrated there for 40 years - my German-beer-drinking buddy Roxy and I were incredibly disappointed. Sure, it had been moved to the German-Austrian Club in Cabramatta, but it was scaled down drastically, and thus we were uninterested.

 

Luckily, it was my daddy's birthday last week, and while he was up in Sydney he wanted to go to his favourite restaurant, Rhinedorf German Restaurant.

 Some of the kitsch decor - love it!

Five of us walk in at 6.30 PM, and luckily we made a booking, because it was already showing signs of getting very crowded. We're shown to a table, and we order German beer while waiting for Stephen to come from work.

 
DAB Lager 4.9% alc - $7.00 for a half litre stein

 Köstritzer Dark 4.9 % alc - $4.50 for a 3oo mL glass.

The DAB lager was served in quite an impressive stein, but other than a slight nutty aroma, it was kind of unimpressive and weak. We moved on to the Köstritzer dark, and it was fabulous! It was smooth and refreshing, and not at all bitter. My grandfather loved it so much he ordered a half litre:

Köstritzer Dark 4.9 % alc - $7.00 for a half litre stein

When Stephen finally showed (always late, that one), we ordered our entrees from our slightly impatient but knowledgable waitress.

 Pretzel - $4.00

 Garlic bread - $3.50 for 2 pieces

 Garlic Prawns - $12.50

The pretzel comes out first, and it's not the best pretzel I've had. Still, there's something charmingly rustic about it, soft and fluffy on the inside and with a thick crust. With butter it's fantastic.

The garlic bread is hot, crispy, and absolutely saturated with buttery, garlicky goodness and we order seconds for this entree.

The garlic prawns are a very popular dish, and I can see why. The tiger prawns are plentiful, succulent and tender, and the creamy garlic soup has a subtle flavour, is light yet somehow wholesome at the same time. Delicious!

 
Children's Chicken Schnitzel - $14.00

There is a Children's menu for kids under 12, so we order the Chicken Schnitzel option for my sister out of the three options (the others are Wiener Schnitzel or Bockwurst). It comes with salad and chips, and the kidlets get icecream at the end of the meal too! Not fair. But the salad was fresh, the chips crunchy and crispy and the schnitzel - well, Kate wouldn't let me try it.

 
Hähnchen Schnitzel - $21.50

The Hähnchen (Chicken) Schnitzel had a lovely, crispy texture on the outside and was juicy and tender on the inside. It was served with pan-fried, buttery potatoes and a refreshing garden salad.

 
Bratwurst

The Bratwurst sausages were very filling, but the saltiness was so strong that it distracted me from any other flavours that were there. The creamed potato was smooth and delicious, the gravy sauce rich and tangy, and the sauerkraut was, true to form, sour. Really, unless you're used to it, there's no real way to be positive about sauerkraut.

 
Rinder Rouladen - $22.50

The beef stuffed with bacon, onion and gherkin was served in a mustard sauce. The effect is very hearty, rich and slightly tangy. It was served with spaetzle, an egg noodle that is very soft and starchy. The red cabbage is sweeter than the sauerkraut, and is quite pleasant.

We finished our mains, and we didn't order dessert, as we had a Cherry Ripe Cheesecake waiting at home, but one of us still had icecream to look forward to:

 
Icecream that comes with the Kid's Meal

The food at Rhinedorf is exceptional, with a home-made quality that's hard to find. The service leaves something to be desired, and the tables are ridiculously small, but I can see why this is my father's favourite restaurant.

Rhinedorf German Restaurant

485 King Georges Rd

Beverly Hills, NSW

Phone: 9570 6763

Fax: 9586 3239

www.rhinedorf.com.au