Here's the thing. First stop, when people look at the notification of the event, everyone gets excited. Yay! There's a party going on, ok maybe some people look at it and scroll up to the event date and think, ah still far away, I'll decide later. They might hit "maybe" button or just ignore it until it gets closer to the date. As they get closer to the date, they realised.. "Bugger! I've double booked myself! I have another party to go" Then they'll start contemplating between going to your party or someone else's party". Another point is, when they see how many people you invite, they feel "less guilty" for not going to your party because they feel that "It's ok" that there are still many people who will go and that even if they don't go, the party must go on. They feel less significant. Don't tell me you've never gone through this scenario before be it you're the inviter or the invitee. How does this different to when you break them down into smaller groups according to mutual friends.
When you break down the groups, you get to spend quality time with your friends, your friends feel more special as you are attending to each one of them and get everyone involved in a conversation. Whereas in a big group, it's not possible to spend time and chat with every single one of your friend. The only advantage is, if your friends are very easy going, they'll make new friends easily but if your friends are very quiet, then they'll feel extremely bored! Also, when you celebrate your birthday in a smaller group, your friends are less likely to cancel on you because they feel more significant as your friend, hence feels "obliged" to come. When I say "obliged", I don't mean to say that you "force" your friends to come. It simply means your friends are taking your invitation more seriously.
I got so sidetracked! Anyhow, a few days before my birthday, a couple of friends made impromptu birthday surprise by getting my friend and fellow birthday girl a cake and we even received free ice cream from the Korean restaurant owner (After requesting for dozen of spare plates for the cake). Feeling bad, my BFF and I decided to tip $5 each for the staff restaurant and even offered them a couple slices of cake. So my BFF and I decided to treat BFF#2 and her boyfriend a nice dinner when BFF#1 comes back from my hometown.
BFF#2 got to decide which restaurant we should treat them to and initially she wanted to go to this Japanese restaurant (TAKUMI) for unlimited BBQ Wagyu Beef but I wasn't very keen on the idea simply because I don't think it's worth the value of $50 per head if you doubt you can stuff yourself with 1 kilo of wagyu beef down your stomach. Ok, 1 kilo is just an example.. You're not gonna receive 1 kilo of wagyu beef straight away. The staff will keep serving you until you die from fullness.
So BFF#2 decided on this German restaurant Hofbrauhaus and little did I know that this German gem is located right in the heart of China Town!! It's located just across one of THE most expensive Chinese restaurants in Victoria, Flower Drum. Apparently the cost to eat there could be from $1000 per table. I'm of Chinese ethnicity and no thank you, I will not go there ever unless someone who is stupid enough to hold a wedding ceremony there and I happen to be one of the guests. As you could probably guess, Flower Drum is a "Chinese version of fine dining". I don't think I am interested because it just doesn't make sense to me when I can pay so much less than that and pretty much get the same food. Western food is different. I am willing to fork out a bit of money to enjoy a bit of fine dining because I'm not a westerner, I am curious and I feel that the skill shown by the chef through their creation of art definitely worth the money.
I've visited a German restaurant during my trip to Sydney a couple of years back (I think 4 years now) and I've visited little German town in Adelaide too. I'm pretty sure the German town in Adelaide is featured in one of my posts. When you see from the outside, they have a bier hall (bar) and a separate dining hall. Well, who goes out on a binge drinking on Mondays anyway?? We were showed to the dining hall next door where the dinner is held. Consistent with how a German restaurant interior and decorations, the restaurant looks really cozy and it really makes you feel like you're in German (I mean, I haven't been there but I suppose it makes me feel that way). Traditional wooden interior with waiting staff wearing traditional outfits. If you want to see a photo of the wait staff with their traditional German frocks, please visit their website by clicking on the link above.
Doesn't it give a warm and welcoming feeling?? It did for me.
The dining hall is actually quite spacious and after about an hour, it quickly fills up with groups of people who seek to have a German feast like us and others who simply enjoy a glass of German Beer.
The menu is also quite extensive and quite affordable if you share it amongst a few of you.
I know the photo of the menu is really blur but unfortunately, my iPhone5 is very limited in taking a crystal clear photo on a very low light support. I had to edit this photo just to make it a bit clearer. I suppose you can't really read the menu item description but then again, you can just visit their website directly to check out food options.
We ordered the HB Feast Platter (bottom right hand side of the photo) for $91 (serving for two) and there were four of us and trust me, for 4 Asians, this feast is more than enough because the platter consists of mostly meat & potato. Yes, you can consider red cabbage and sauerkraut as vegetable but honestly?? It's meat & potato overload!!
VOILA~~~~ I should probably attempt to say it in German but I don't think there's such a word in German to describe voila! Anyways, from the left, some salted pickles, potato dumplings, some sort of bread (top left), a selection of sausages topped with fried onion and served on mash potato, pork knuckle to be served with pork jus (top left next to the bread), just underneath the pork knuckle is sauerkraut, next to the pork knuckle is chicken Schnitzel (top right hand corner in the photo), just below the schnitzel is pork belly and underneath the pork belly is red cabbage and that yellow coloured sauce is mustard sauce.
I must say that the only thing I can say about German food is, it is either salty or sour. Maybe a bit sweet somewhere but mainly sour and salty. I love German sausages but the sausages are quite salty too. I love one of the sausages that have cheese filling in it so when you try to cut through the sausage, a thin stream of heavenly white melted cheese flows like a river. Maybe that's what makes the sausage even saltier but I still love it. However, after repeatedly eat the salty sausages with salty & soury sauerkraut plus red cabbage, my tastebuds started to get numb with salty flavour. The pork belly wasn't very impressive either. Too fatty and too tough to chew on the skin. As for the potato dumplings, they are something I had never tried before. I'm never too much of a fan for potato related stuff be it potato chips or mash potato. I never develop a liking for potato. I eat it just for its nutritional benefits. The chicken schnitzel, however is pretty good. The Germans sure do know how to do their schnitzel. Definitely hands down for the Schnitzel! The chicken meat is not too dry and still preserves the right amount of moist to it and the batter is not too thick so it doesn't make you feel like you just consume 5 cm thick of batter flour.
As for the pork knuckle.............................................................................................................................
It is simply too salty to my liking too. Unfortunately we couldn't manage to stuff our faces with the pork knuckle. We had some but the meat was simply too salty and I'd had too much meat going down my stomach and I tried to fit more. Alas! I couldn't! What a waste and the wait staff offered to give us some takeaway boxes but we had to refuse politely because I don't think any of us wanted more meat for the next day. It would only get saltier each day you store it. If we had the pork knuckle first, it probably wouldn't be too bad but we left it to the last after we cleaned up everything else. That hindered our stomach from accommodating more meat. Also, none of us wanted to crack open the pork knuckle with the knife because it looks like it's gonna take a lot of work and it did. BFF#2's boyfriend cracked it open for us and cut the meat into smaller pieces. So yes, if you go, be sure to distribute all food equally for your stomach so you can enjoy the food rather than forcing it down your throat.
The second dish involves more sausages!!! HB Wurstplatte $29.50. They're actually the same types of sausages presented above but because there are two servings each, it is easier for us four to distribute equally.
How did we know these sausages are the same ones with the photo before? It is possible to know because the colours are exactly the same with the other ones. Before we ate them, we actually paired up the sausages and trust me like what you can see in the photo, all 4 sausages have different colours (possibly due to the seasoning and meat type too). It sounds weird but when you see it, you know I'm right.
Thirsty after all that salty food? Quench your thirst with either their wide selection of bier (German)/ beer. I forgot which beer my friend had (I can't drink any alcohol simply because I am allergic towards alcohol not for religious reason). For those who are like me or just prefer not to drink beer on a Monday night. They also have non-alcohol beverages although the choices are limited.
I didn't quite zoom in this photo. The glass IS quite tall so you do get the value for your money. My friends had to share this glass (Just shows how truly Asians we are).
As for my BFF #1, this is a cola mix drink (non-alcohol). I was still sick that day so I sticked with my cheap tap water :(
Anyone up for dessert? We do!!!!
We had Schokoladen mousse for $13.50. It's German version of Chocolate Mousse cake and apparently that was the first week they launched the new dessert menu. Initially when I looked at it, it looked to me, just another chocolate mousse. The only reason we ordered it was because BFF#2's boyfriend wanted that (we asked him to choose for us) and I was taken completely by surprise because it was supremely good! It wasn't like the normal mousse where when you put it in your mouth, you could almost taste some airy feeling. As if you're eating spa bubble except in a more dense form if you get what I mean. You probably go, what the hell am I talking about. Go buy a mousse cake now and try to absorb what I say while eating it. This chocolate mousse however, is almost like eating a gelato ice cream except smoother and "lighter". Lighter in a sense that it's not low in fat. Honestly, it is still quite fattening but what I meant was the texture is lighter and just melts straight away in your mouth. I love this chocolate mousse!!!!!!! I want one NOW!
and the presentation is just first class!!
The other dessert we ordered was Apfelstrudel $13.50. German's Apple Strudel. Have you had an Apple Strudel before? Well, put it this way, if you like apple pie, you'll like apple strudel. If you HATE apple pie, then just stay away from apple strudel. I'm in between.. I don't mind it but I'm not a huge fan either but BFF#2 is a massive fan so we ordered that. It's like pastry sprinkled with sugar icing stuffed with apple pie and cream served with vanila ice cream & custard sauce. It was pretty good but by the time I got to second dessert, I was extremely full that I couldn't even fit my water in it. BFF#2 finished it for us.
This restaurant definitely provides a very pleasant dining experience and if you're a first timer, definitely must try this little German gem amidst crowded China Town.
P.S: One of the wait staff is quite cute and I swear I think he flirts with patrons (not directly) which makes your dining experience (for girls) even more worthwhile! For the boys, the waitresses are also very attractive! Suits both ladies & gents.
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