Saturday, 29 December 2012

Hofbräuhaus - Das Oompah

I thought it was intriguing to find a German bier hall on Market Lane, intermixed with the likes of Flower Drum and Hutong Dumpling Bar on the fringe of Chinatown. After enjoying many meals at Bavarian Bier Cafe, if you can classify a meal as multiple steins of beer and some sort of heavy meat, sauerkraut, potatoes and some very attractive seemingly Aryan staff and also the fun, lively and seemingly ethnic feeling that Löwenbräu Keller in Sydney has on tap, I thought that Hofbräuhaus would be a happy medium between the two.

Walking into the restaurant, we were greeted by the kids taking part in Play School however Noni and Simon were not to be seen. Children were running around with reckless abandon. A lovely lady ultimately came down the stairs from the Bier Hall and greeted us. We said we were very hungry and thirsty and when pressed, expressed a desire to sit upstairs since Play School was in session on the ground floor. We were taken upstairs and seated with the other sane patrons who were enjoying business lunches and a sense of serenity, for a while that is.

Hofbräuhaus has many menus. Many specials are advertised and are attributed to the various parts of the day and nights. Lunch specials, dinner specials, parma nights, student nights and various times that the oompah band (translate: a four piece Bavarian-style band that plays German tunes, that is deemed to be fun party entertainment) would be performing in the bier hall upstairs. The instruments were already set-up, ready and waiting to be played. Having seen the oompah band many times at Löwenbräu Keller, it is good fun provided you go with a large group and people are in the mood for such an experience.

I simply had the German Bratwurst as I as more interested in refreshing myself with steins (litres) of Spatan (from Munich) and having a bit of a chat. The children from Play School found the staircase and started running up and down it after taking intermissions in the bier hall at this time.

The service was fine and the food was what I was expected. I would later find the server quite embarrassed as multiple people had mentioned the wild children and I found out that the large group of them downstairs actually belong to the "boss" which I found fascinating. I never really considered a German restaurant with a bier hall an ideal place to host a party for children especially if you are the manager, but who am I to judge. With all of the commotion, when my stein was vacated, I happily paid the tab and left a tip for the lovely server and got the hell out of there. If you think the oompah band can be loud, the band had nothing on this group of children.

Check this place out if you have a large group, want some decent heavy food and are prepared for a noisy time at communal tables. It is good fun for the random times in your life that you want a german-themed big night (or lunch without the band) but with the other choices in the area, you will not go through withdrawals if your visits to Hofbräuhaus are limited to those few big beery occasions in your life or the requisite visit during Oktoberfest.



Hofbrauhaus, Market Street, Melbourne
Hofbräuhaus
24 Market Lane, Melbourne VIC 3000
Phone:(03) 9663 3361
My Rating: N/A
Service: N/A
Ambiance: N/A
Quality: N/A
Value For Money: N/A




Twitter: @epicurean3006
e-mail: epicureanofsouthbank (at) gmail (dot) com

At the time of this post, 83% of the reviewers on Urbanspoon also like Hofbräuhaus.

Hofbräuhaus on Urbanspoon

Friday, 28 December 2012

Mamak - A Malaysian Surprise

I choose to eat at Mamak on Lonsdale Street frankly because the other places that I turned up to recently without a booking were not able to accommodate us on a whim. I had heard rumblings that Mamak, which flogs Malaysian food was decent but the queues were pretty intense every time that I wandered by previously. I really did not know what to expect so we fronted up at around 2:00 PM hoping to avoid some of the perceived madness, which we did fortunately.

The wait at 2:00 PM was not bad at all. In fact it took about three minutes to get a seat which was not at a communal table and I was grateful. Although the menus were thrust into our faces quickly, it still took about 15 minutes to get service to take our order. During this time I was able to admire the relatively modern fit-out, something that you usually do not expect in a Malaysian restaurant. There is an open and clean kitchen near the entrance for you to view whilst you either wait for a table or even relax whilst your takeaway is being prepared. Takeaway is available very late at night on Friday and Saturday and would make a somewhat healthy alternative to pizza and kebabs in the area especially if you have been pubbing it.

Multiple dishes were ordered including the Kari ayam ($16) which is classic chicken curry supposedly cooked with freshly ground spices and chunky potatoes. This was probably the only dish that I thought was average mainly because of the amount of cartilage which was probably enough to choke a small hound but we persevered. A lamb Murtabak ($11.50) also was served with two curry dips and was was purported to be a spicy sambal sauce but in fact it was quite mild. This dish along with the chicken skewers, was the highlight of my experience. It was a good blend of meat, cabbage and onion in a pastry. You are advised that you need to wait 15 minutes for the Murtabak to be made, which is fine especially when you are left to sip the Teh 'O' als limau ($3.50) which is iced tea and lime - damned good iced tea in fact.

I tasted a sweet roti, but as it has never been my thing, I really shouldn't comment either way however all of the desserts that I saw others ordering were large, colourful and looked rather good.

What I liked about this place is the modern fit-out and when you actually got your order in, the service was very efficient. Sometimes too efficient though as they attempted to deliver far too many plates to the small table at the same time which caused a problem, but in the end, you are not really paying much for decent food and atmosphere, so why bother getting annoyed about the little things - when essentially that is all they are.

Mamak, Melbourne
Mamak
366 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne VIC 3000
Phone:(03) 9670 3137
My Rating: N/A
Service: N/A
Ambiance: N/A
Quality: N/A
Value For Money: N/A






Twitter: @epicurean3006
e-mail: epicureanofsouthbank (at) gmail (dot) com

At the time of this post, 68% of the reviewers on Urbanspoon also like Mamak Restaurant.


Mamak on Urbanspoon