A man with a drawing bra skis down a slope during a Bikini Ski Carnival at a resort in Changchun, China , Feb. 28, 2009. The carnival is to mark the end of the winter season. AP Photo
FOOD and wine are well-known partners. At a Hills brewery, the beers are more than worthy companions for some great winter dishes.
We all have a fairly good idea of what a cellar-door restaurant can be. We're surrounded by them in the Hills, McLaren Vale, and the Barossa and they range from serving the robust and traditional smoked meat platters of the latter region to elite, contemporary Australian menus crossing Asian and European culinary borders in an environment where the wine list matches a multitude of flavours.
Therein lies a challenge. Menus need to sit comfortably beside the wines, which almost certainly came before the food in the construction of such venues. But is it the wine that should play the lead role in such a double act? Or the food? Or is it more about the harmony in the duet?
Now let's follow the same line of thought for a brewery in the Adelaide Hills township of Lobethal. It's a micro-brewery, which in winery terms probably equates to "boutique". The outlet's own publicity adds to its list of services the terms cellar door and restaurant, so you get the idea of what is going on.
Attached to the town side of the old Onkaparinga Woollen Mills, the Lobethal Bierhaus has a distinctive multi-wedged roofline and street-front beer garden, which is no doubt a far more attractive proposition in warmer months than at this time of the year, which encourages thick coats and scarves in this part of the world. Smokers need to sit out in the cold, too. And so they should, away from all the wondrous smells and flavours of good food and drink.
As a brewery restaurant meets beer-cellar door, you can find all the action you might expect in a similar winery set-up. You can do tastings of the liquid product. You can sit down and enjoy lunch and dinner and all manner of munchies just about any time of the day. You can look in on the equipment, read all about the process, wander around at your leisure and gather a fair bit of history of the venue.
All of this is laid on with generosity to spare by proprietors Phil Jones and Alistair Turnbull, both former bankers who have invested a lot of creativity and cash into the site which essentially is one massive room in a beer hall kind of way but with a lot of character from its timbered floorboards, glass viewing wall into the brewery and wide spread of mixed blond and dark chairs and tables.
The place actually was a 19th century brewery, so the history is genuine, and there's no better place to pay homage than at the long bar where the Lobethal Bierhaus brews get their proper workout alongside a section operating as the kitchen servery.
The brewery is the core business here - beer sold on tap and in bottles. (There are 40 other SA pub and restaurant outlets selling the beers, but none with the capacity to focus their food purely to fit in with the pilseners and ales that have won all manner of medals at national beer competitions over the past year.) And just in case beer is not a favourite tipple, there is a cute little Hills-only wine list, mostly whites, with 10 by the glass.
It's Alistair who is on bar duty during this busy Saturday lunch; he's laughing jovially with customers while an offsider explains half a dozen or so beers from lighter more aromatic styles up to a heavier, wintry stout.
Over in the kitchen, head chef Beverley Millot, also a cook and teacher at the Heathfield High School hospitality training centre, is all smiles as well.
Her specials board today spruiks coq au vin, smoked pork chop with creamy potato bake and apple sauce, and a char-grilled vegetable terrine, as well as soup and desserts. The main menu runs a small set of hearty dishes from spicy chicken wings to a brewer's plate which is a flash version of a ploughman's lunch, smoked duck on mushroom risotto cakes, as well as a prawn curry and lamb shanks, slow braised in Bierhaus Red Truck Porter.
The beer itself and its fellow brews can be tasted in 170ml glasses with a little friendly instruction at the bar, and there is a proper go at cooking and matching with them. It's all about the beer in one sense, though that neglects the success of Millot's dishes, which are cleverly conscious of their surroundings, nodding proudly to the traditions of English and European brewery pub dining.
A "maltsters" plate at $15 per person is chockers with breads and dips all the way to meatballs and plenty in between. Popular entrees are both finger food classics - chicken wings or red vinegar pork ribs, the latter meaty with just crunchy edges and a sharpish shallot and vinegary sauce adding spike. A spring onion pancake seems at first stodgy, but broken up, and topped with the rib meat and sauce quickly assumes its rightful place in a complete flavour and texture profile.
Roast beef fillet is just wonderful in all its Britishness, a slab of tasty leek custard sandwiched between two superb pieces of soft, rich medium rare beef, which is all then contained within paper thin potato scallops. It's uncomplicated yet lovingly put together, genuinely satisfying and helps the Indian Pale Ale and Red Truck Porter both taste terrific.
Blackboard desserts offer vanilla panna cotta, banana tarte tatin with a rum sauce, and a sticky date pudding, which when done well remains properly popular.
The food is just right. The brews excellent. The Lobethal Bierhaus is a very happy place.
THE RESTAURANT
LOBETHAL BIERHAUS
3A Main St, Lobethal
(attached to the old woollen mills).
Phone 8389 5570.
www.bierhaus.com.au
Open (lunch and dinner): Noon-10pm, Fri-Sat; noon-6pm, Sun, public holidays.
Extended hours during summer and Lobethal lights period.
Seating: 100 inside, 50 outside.
Wheelchair access and facilities.
Owners: Phil Jones and Alistair Turnbull.
Head chef: Beverley Millot.
THE VERDICT
THE BILL
Entrees: $6-$16.90.
Mains: $18.90-$28.90.
Desserts: $8.50.
Corkage: $15.
SUMMARY
A spacious Hills micro-brewery with "cellar door" sensibilities, tastings and beer-conscious menu that provides hearty, happy and very well-crafted meals for all.
SCORE 14/20
Score guide: Below 10: Awful. 11-12: Fair.
13-14: Good. 15-16: Special. 17-18: Outstanding.
19: Brilliant. 20: Perfect.
