Beerhouse

I had been asked by this establishment to visit for a review and it took me all of 0.5 of a split millisecond to decide that the bru’s and I would take them up on their offer!

It was, again, a soaking wet Thursday night in Cape Town when we set out to “go to work”. Having found what I had thought was a prime parking spot right outside the venue, it soon became apparent that my gps of choice for the night, located within the confines of my skull, had failed me miserably. This meant we had a 160m walk/run/swim to get through in order to finally reach our destination. Along the way we were greeted by many wafts of a particular herbal aroma – irie!

Once we had reached the venue, the friendly band of doormen welcomed us in and we led ourselves up some stairs and into, what we would soon realise to be, our happy place!

The place was humming, and a quick look at their events board told us why – it was First Thursday. The vibe, from the start, was great and only got better the longer the night went on. The placemats set on the table are, in fact, their beer menu and info guide. The first thing I have to add at this point is that the layout of this menu along with the information about the beers (which is presented along with a colour chart) is a brilliant concept. It made us want to try new beers with every round ordered, which enabled us to have a truly interactive beer drinking experience.

And, if the choices of craft beers on the menu weren’t enough, there are further choices written up on boards around the venue. Another cool offering is the choice of four different taster tray options, comprising of between 5 and 12 beers which are served in 120ml glasses. We couldn’t have hoped for a better start to our night, but the drinks soon made us ravenous. We chose to order, for our starters, Chilli Poppers, which came served 3 in a portion, and BBQ Bitterballen, which came served 5 in a portion. We had finished our beers by the time the starters had arrived, but our waitress hadn’t noticed that we were due to place another order of drinks. Our attention had been taken by the sight of the delicious-looking starters, and so we didn’t have a chance to order another round. Not to worry, we thought, she would surely be back soon…

After our usual deliberation regarding the starters, which always takes place when the starter items do not each divide perfectly by the number of bru’s in attendance, we soon made light work of it. The bitterballen (balls of smoked shredded meat and beer cheese, covered in panko breadcrumbs and deep fried – served with mustard aioli) were exceptional. The balls were each rather large in size which necessitated eating them in two bites as opposed to just popping them in our mouths. The poppers were great in flavour, however the one bru made the comment that the fried crumbed outside of his popper broke away from the pepper when he bit into it, leaving him to eat it in two parts. When I bit into mine it caused an explosion resulting in the cheese filling shooting out of the popper whilst the juices of the pepper oozed out. Although this is a usual occurrence with poppers, the fact that no side plates had been brought out for us was unusual. This resulted in me trying to pick melted cheese off of the paper serviette, on which it landed, which became as successful as attempting a walk through Long Street without being offered contraband.

Once the starters were devoured, we realised that our empty glasses were still on the table and that our waitress had still not taken our next drinks order. She was then nowhere to be found and so, we sought help from the attentive manager. A whole 30 minutes had now gone by without liquid on lips, and to say we were agitated is an understatement. When she finally graced us with her presence, there was hardly an apology from her, just the excuse that the place was very busy. Now, whilst it was true that it was busy, the fact that she never checked on us once in that time spoke volumes to us about her level of service. What a shame as everything else about the night, so far, had exceeded our expectations.

For our burgers, we all could not resist going for their Gees Burger. This was a double patty burger, served with beer-brined bacon, beer cheese and the usual side offerings, of which we all chose chips. Now, you might be asking what the hell beer cheese is. I am not going to tell you, and the reason is that I have absolutely no idea – all I can say is that it is damn tasty! Anything incorporating beer and cheese, in my book, will be a winner.

The burgers were huge, tasty, huge, generously topped, and (did I mention?) HUGE! As soon as it arrived I knew it would be a challenge to finish it. The only reason I went ahead and finished it was, truthfully, because the meal was so damn good! There was not one thing I could fault about it and, on the other hand, I can only but compliment Beerhouse on the way every element of it was cooked. The sight of that massive golden onion ring, perfectly placed on top of the bun, reminded me of a golden crown placed on the head of a royal which, to me, isn’t too far off an analogy. This was a burger fit for a king!

Ratings

Beginnings – The starter options were great, with extremely impressive portion sizes. Only slight negative was that one bru’s popper seemed to break up very easily. 4.5
Burgers – Wow, wow, wow! The bru’s and I were blown away by everything about the meal. 5
Beers – A five star beer experience for anyone who enjoys their beer. 5
Bringers – The only negative to come out of our experience. A shame, as this has robbed Beerhouse of what would have, almost, been a top rating. 1
Background – A great vibe throughout, with the place seemingly busier when we had left than at any time whilst we were there. 5

Ratings Key

• 1 Bad
• 2 Better than bad
• 3 Bleh (neither here nor there)
• 4 Bloody good
• 5 Brilliant