This luxe heritage venue offers beer fiends an upmarket front for their passion, serving six draught and 12 bottled Bavarian brews along with hearty, beer-soaking Germanic food.
This place is the one of three in a chain which has venues in the CBD and in Manly. 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 Dunkel, 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 'hoppy hour' drink specials and monthly bier-tasting sessions. 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
