I seldom dine in St Leonards. When looking for good food around that area, I usually turn to its neighbouring sister, Crows Nest. This is until my British colleague recommended to me this cosy European-style beer café tucked away in the quiet street corner of St Leonards. Bazaar Beer Café offers a collection of imported beers (including the holy Bernard lager, Hoegaarden and Czech beers) on tap and wines by the glass. They also have a tempting range of traditional European comfort food in their a la carte menu. The dishes they serve are delicious, honest, generously portioned at a decent price range.
To tip the scales, they even have a Monday to Thursday All Day Specials menu for $13.99:
Monday: Lamb Shanks - Braised lamb shanks, parsley mashed potatoes, confit honey roasted root vegetables
Tuesday: Hunter Schnitzel - Crumbed chicken breast fillet with wild mushroom and fresh herb sauce, potato mash and side salad
Wednesday: Pork Belly - Slowly cooked pork belly with crackling, served on potato mash, sauerkraut, apple chutney and grilled csabai
Thursday: Veal Parmigiana - Crumbed veal, grilled eggplant, zuchinni, basil, tomato, parmesan cheese and mash potato
And if you pay $3 extra, you can get a 300mL beer on tap (of your choice) or a glass of house wine. Bring it on!
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| A small, intimate setting |
The duck salad is the dish to order if you want to savour all the good flavour and feel good after downing it all. The duck is so tasty and the sweet kumara, tangy beetroot and bean sprouts work well to bring together this wholesome salad. More for me please!
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| L Loves... Duck Salad Mixed leaves, roasted kumara, roasted baby beetroot, beans sprouts, sweet chili lime sesame dressing |
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| A closer look at that yummy duck salad |
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| Hoegaarden - normally $8.50, but only $3 with the all day special! |
For those of you who worry that the all day specials sounds too good to be true, let me assure you there is no comprising in the quality of the special dish that many of us ordered tonight – the glorious Pork Belly! With the ever so tasty cracking and the succulent belly, it was certainly a crowd pleaser. The apple chutney gives that extra sweetness to complete this well rounded dish. Yumm and I would happily pay full price for it!
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| L Loves... Pork Belly Slowly roasted pork belly with crackling served on potato mash, sauerkraut, apple chutney and grilled csabai |
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| Floris Griotte cherry beer |
The five hour slow roasted free range duck is cooked to perfection and sits on top of a throne of red cabbage, braised with horseradish and apple. The recommended beer to go with the duck is a cherry foris fruit beer, which is probably not everyone’s drink, especially if you’re not used to combining “sweet” and “beer” together.
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| Five Hour Duck Slowly roasted free range duck on red cabbage braised with horseradish and apple, served with dumplings |
The staffs at this casual beer cafe are welcoming and served our drinks and food in no time. I would happily recommend this place to anyone who wants to enjoy a casual night out with friends over a beer and hearty food without breaking your budgets.
L's Verdict:
· Taste: 8.5/10
· Ambience: 3.5/5
· Value: 5/5
· Service: 4/5
· Creativity and other WOW factors: 3/5
Overall rating: 24/30
Bazaar Beer Cafe
1 Albany Street
St Leonards NSW 2065
Ph: (02) 9438 1999
Mon - Sat: 12 noon to 10pm
Sun: 12 noon to 9:30pm
Visited November 2011
Friendly advice: For those who are on a budget, go for the weekday specials. But honesty, everything is delicious and very well priced. If unsure of what to drink with your meal, they also offer beer pairing advice. Cheers :)
Same rating as Jamie Oliver's. Must be good!
ReplyDeleteYes, it's no where near as famous as Jamie's (which means no lines), but equally delicious! :)
ReplyDeleteThat duck looks fab! Not sure the sauerkraut with the pork belly looks that appetising ....
ReplyDeleteI'm not a big fan of the sauerkraut either, but they are terrific with their meat (both duck and pork belly)! :)
ReplyDelete