This luxe heritage venue offers beer fiends an upmarket front for their passion, serving multiple draught and bottled Bavarian brews along with hearty, beer-soaking Germanic food.
The name tells you what to expect: that's beer, beer and more beer. Sure, the "cafe" word is slightly deceiving by Sydney standards, but hey, this is a looser kind of cafe: the kind that you might find in a beer-obsessed German city.
Step inside this O'Connell Street bar and you'll discover plenty of polished art deco styling. There are cathedral-style ceilings, marble walls and commanding archways. This heritage-listed building was once a bank, but in more recent days it has been redesigned and revamped by Michael McCann, renowned for the sparkling interiors at Flying Fish, Pony and Will & Toby's in Manly. Look around and you'll see long wooden beer hall tables and plenty of cosy booths. But overall, the space is still dominated by a huge bar - just as it should be in a place that's so passionate about amber brew.
Get adventurous and order a European-sized stein filled to the brim with Lowenbrau Original, Spaten Munchen or Franziskaner Hefe-Weissbier. There are also ale-friendly dishes such as mussels and bratwurst sausages with mash to demolish.
Weekday evenings usually attract a corporate city crowd. Events include midweek happy hour drink specials and s. Tuesdays also offer giant schnitzel challenges. Scoff the lot and you'll score some complimentary schnapps. The bar staff will even ring a cow bell in your honour!
Lulu Benson
