Bierrschenke is a Bavarian beer hall situated just off London Wall where Henry’s Bar used to be, that place I’m sure many a City boy/girl can smell the remnants of a few messy nights spent there. (*You know who you are*). Their aim is to sprinkle “authenticity” into this boozer, just like how you get in Munich. There are long beech wood bars, matching tables and benches for seating too. There are buxom German speaking waitresses, clad with Bavarian dirndl dresses and lederhosen too boot, ready to deliver steins of signature German beers to your table. The food is home-made, German, of course. There are Bavarian-style sausages, currywurst, schnitzels, traditional German meatloaf, pork knuckle, sausage platters, along with goulash too. You won’t go hungry in this cock-led establishment.
Those buxom lasses who can only speak German after 3 steins.
We went for the Bierschenke Reindl £34.50 which is a fiesta of meat. There’s roasted pork shank, meatloaf, nürberger sausages, bratwurst, bread dumplings, potato dumplings, sauerkraut, red cabbage and gravy.
Things aren’t as good as they look though as the pork knuckle verges onto rubbery, its elastic texture is un-yielding and requires brute jaw strength to grind it down. An another 30 minutes cooking wouldn’t of gone amiss.
The sausages were a stark contrast to the pork knuckle, yielding to bite into, perhaps too easily due to it’s textureless nature. They seem to look distinguishable, but they tasted all the same.
Remnants of that pork knuckle – there too much meat on the bone still as it was challenging to peel off!
Visit number 2
We go for the “original bierrschenke sausage platter with Nürburger sausages, frankfurter and bratwurst with a side of mushroom gravy (came with the schnitzel) and sauerkraut.
An obligatory breaded pork schnitzel £12.90 is mournful and was a challenge to eat and definitely suited to its surroundings. Drab. The chips were a bit nondescript too as they jus tasted of the fat it was fried in.
The salad was a welcome break to cut the weird flavour out of your mouth caused by the abundance of mystery meat.
Does my bum look big in this?
Bierschenke Reindl £34.50 – the fiesta of mystery meat.
The meatloaf was synonymous with tinned spam. Needless to say, not many of us touched it.
The pork knuckle this time was way more tender than the last as I assume it has benefitted from longer cooking, I couldn’t fault it!
The verdict:
When did I go? Nov 2015 + Oct 16
The damage: Expect to pay £30-£40 per head with a stein or 3.
The good: There is a time and a place when you just need to loosen up your top collar, forget about work and have fun – Bierrschenke can give you that in abundance. I marvel at cheap price despite being smack-bang in the middle of the City, and the no thrills filthy fun you get for it. A shower will be required after though to wash away the meat sweats invariably chased down with Deutschland’s finest lager. We need this every once in a while.
The bad: The food is bad, but the experience is fun!
Rating: 3/5
Would I go again? I’ve done my dues.
Address: LG2, 4 London Wall Buildings, Blomfield Street, London EC2M 5NT
Phone: +44 (0)20 7100 2500
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