An epic feast at Brotzeit German Bier Bar & Restaurant

What happens when you get three bloggers and their men together who are all suffering from rumbly tummies? A feast of epic proportions, non-stop chatting and a new venue to boot. That's how one Thursday night out led to a dinner with fellow bloggers Martine from Chomp Chomp and Carly from Perth Munchkin at the new 140 William Street venue, Brotzeit German Bier Bar & Restaurant.

A chain of German restaurants originating in Singapore, Brotzeit serves authentic Bavarian-inspired cuisine and 12 different German draught beers. The store in Perth has recently opened and is simple in layout, with a food menu very much centred around meat and more meat. On the night in question we visit it's balmy and we're all a little overwhelmed by the menu - there's so many tasty sounding dishes on offer! 

To kick things off we all order a drink each. Naturally it seems like beer is in order for all of my companions except myself. I pick a fire engine much to everyone's amusement but we all have a good laugh - and I don't mind because one sip and it sends me back to my early days of clubbing. So sugary and yummy!

After some consultation with our bubbly waiter, we all start to pick out our orders. For Carly's order, she's a self-proclaimed "schnitzy" addict, so the weiner schnitzel is the natural choice. It's breaded escalope of veal the size of someone's face, served with potato salad, apricot and cranberry sauce. Straight away we all realise the serving sizes here are nothing to be sneezed at!

It's a big task to get through it, but she rolls up her eating sleeves and dives in, cleaning her plate much to all our surprise. What a great effort!

Her hubby's choice of the schweinshaxn (oven roasted pork knuckle) is 900grams (plus bone!) of hind shank grain-fed pork served with potato salad, sauerkraut and homemade "knuckle" sauce on the side ($44.00). I have to admit, both Jeremy and I were instantly jealous when it hit the table - look at all that crackling!

It is an epic feast for sure, and that knuckle sauce looks so tempting as it's poured over the pork. I like the waiter felt that Carly also needed some knuckle sauce for her schnitzel so she also got a little jar of saucy goodness.

Martine and her hubby throw themselves in with full commitment, ordering a great variety of dishes. After all, Brotzeit offer take away if you can't finish your meal! 

Due to her severe gluten intolerance there's a bit of back and forth with our waiter as he goes through the dishes she can eat and those she should avoid. The menu could definitely be clearer over what is truly gluten free, but it was good to see that the waiter was able to help, and where he didn't know, he was all too happy to check. 

They order the würstelplatte (sausage platter), which comes out with spicy chicken, grilled pork, pork cheese, pork and veal, garlic pork sausages and sauerkraut ($36.00). Also accompanying their sausages is the serving of ripperl - beer infused Bavarian honey pork ribs ($35.90) served with potato wedges and sauerkraut. 

The ribs definitely catch my eye and I can see why they're one of the most popular dishes on the menu. I make a mental note to come back and try them for myself when they get rave reviews! And props to Martine and her man, they manage to finish everything they ordered! I love that she cut the last sausage into bite sized pieces to help her get through the last morsels of food left. 

Jeremy and I decide to share our dishes, with our first choice being the 400g lamm haxe, a slow roasted lamb shank with braised orange-cranberry red cabbage and napkin dumplings. The meat is ridiculously tender, falling off the bone and melting in my mouth. I really like the gravy like sauce pooling at the bottom which has that fruity taste from the orange-cranberry.

But definitely the best thing about this dish was the dumplings. Soft, a little stretchy and somehow both plain and flavoursome, these were really cool and a great traditional addition to the dish. They are the perfect vessel to soak up the sauces and compliment that tasty lamb. A great plate!

Our second share dish is the currywurst ($18.50) which is a thick spiced bratwurst smothered in a curry sauce and accompanied by wedges. It definitely had a kick to it, and the bratwurst was cooked perfectly, retaining that pleasant snap to it when you cut through it. 

The wedges are potatoey and well seasoned, with some little crunchy edges in the mix. They're perfect for dunking into the curry sauce, and not oily at all which kept the salad underneath crisp and fresh. 

Not that we needed extra food, but we also order a side of the homemade buttered spätzle ($5.00). I'm curious to try this egg pasta which literally translates to little sparrows. 

Jeremy spent a couple of months on exchange in Germany years ago so he was really pleased to see this on the menu and we both dived in. I think the main sized cheese spätzle would be more tasty than the buttered one which needed some seasoning, but all up it was still quite enjoyable. 

They're a little squishy but still al dente, the little uneven shapes offering a nice textural feel to each bite. I particular like these with the lamb shank. 

Normally when I'm dining out I love to follow up my meal with dessert but all of us were actually so full after the epic feast! I have to say I wasn't sure what the meal would unfold but it turned out to be a giant sized and tasty dinner with some great company. We laughed, we ate, we rolled home.