Restaurant: Bierschenke
Address: 4 London Wall buildings, Blomfield St, London EC2M 5NT
Date of visit: 1 February 2020
Time of visit: 7.30pm
The impending German restaurant visit had been on my radar for quite a while. It was quite clear what kind of venue we were going to visit, as German restaurants in London are pretty much limited to Bavarian-style beer halls. Absolutely fine by me, don't get me wrong! But I also wanted to make sure we picked one which had a good selection of well rated food.
It came down to one of the two Bierschenke venues in London, and we chose the one near Liverpool Street Station solely for convenience.
We booked ahead, with it being Saturday night. When we arrived at the restaurant we walked into the bar area, and there was no real indication of where to go. And no one to give us that advice. So we followed to the sound of people having a good night, which was downstairs. There, we were greeted by the bouncer which wasn't really of any help to us. Eventually, the waiter came, asked our name, and walked us to a table.
As you would expect from this kind of venue, personal tables per couple or small groups isn't how it works. The seating arrangement was rows and rows of communal benches. I was reminded of Japanese restaurants like Wagamama.
The music played in a Japanese restaurant would have been more German than what we were hearing when we walked in to this place! Authenticity was pretty much on point until we heard the cheesy English-language pop that was being pumped out!
So there we were, sitting, waiting, listening to The Vengaboys. What happens next? That was anyone's guess. Eventually, we managed to get the attention of a waitress (who, to be fair, was run off her feet). She came back to us, laid out two menus on the table, and asked if we had been served yet. All good things to do, just in the wrong order. The service was sharp and abrupt. Matching the frantic nature of the kind of night I'm sure she was having, but not a experience for a couple of diners who have recently arrived.
She went away to let us study the menu... for ten seconds, when she came back to ask us what we wanted to drink. She also asked us to open a tab. I'd understand the need for that if we were a group of lads drinking all night, but for a couple clearly out for a meal it seemed a little unnecessary. But we played along, and opened the tab by ordering a pint of Hacker Pschorr Hefe Weisse and a glass of Chenin Blanc.
The drinks came very quickly, brought to the table by what seemed like a dedicated barman. The waitress was very close behind him and came to take our food order. We asked for a few more minutes (a recurring theme in this blog...!) and the waitress all but rolled her eyes at us, and walked off clearly annoyed at that. Elle and I both instantly checked with each other that we both just saw the same thing!
More often or not when we ask for a few more minutes in a restaurant, that's it for about ten minutes. You've missed your slot. No difference here. So we started to take in the environs. It wasn't particularly busy, especially for a Saturday night. But it also seemed that we had been sat away from where there was a party going on - at the far side of the restaurant there was a group of about thirty people, making a lot of noise but clearly having a good night.
Suddenly, it all got very German!
A four-piece Oompah band marched out in front of the bar area and started to play. This felt like a crucial missing piece of the evening, and really added to the experience! All that was missing now was the food...
The waitress finally came back to take our order. We both went for the Leberkase - Bavarian beef and pork loaf with two fried eggs, mash and gravy. The waitress took the menus away, including the extensive drinks menu, which was going to make adding to the tab all the more difficult.
It was a little bit of a wait before the food arrived, but much of that wait was accompanied by the sound of live traditional Bavarian music, so it wasn't too bad.
The food eventually arrived, and it looked every bit as good as I had hoped. Sliced meat loaf topped with two fried eggs, a substantial portion of very buttery-looking mash, and some deep dark gravy.
The meat loaf was really good. Very easy to eat. Very tender and very tasty. The fried eggs were runny, which isn't usually something I enjoy, but for some reason it really added to this dish and worked well with the creamy buttery mashed potato. The gravy was very thin, and not substantial in volume. But somehow it seemed to be the perfect amount for the overall dish, incredibly rich and topped off what was a really enjoyable wholesome dish.
The night felt like it was back on track, but it was let down again by the remainder of the service. The venue had run out of all wheat beers by 8.30pm on a Saturday night, just as it was starting to fill with the "Saturday night out" crew. I went for a dunkel instead.
It was a real struggle to get anyone to give us the bill. And when they took our card away to take payment, which we're never comfortable with, it was a mission to even get our card back!
Overall the service was very hands off, inattentive and generally unfriendly. The quality of the food and drink was high. Granted, this isn't a restaurant in the traditional sense. But if you're going to provide table service, then that should come with the very basics of good customer service. That was lacking on this occasion.
