Girls nite out @ Brotzeit

According to their website, "Brotzeit" is a typical Bavarian expression which means bread-time (i.e. "Brot" = bread in German and "Zeit" for time). In short, the restaurant aims to provide customers with a cozy meal complemented by fresh beer.

I am one that don't frequent Vivo and even so, I will often prefer to eat at Food Republic. Hence, when I first saw the name of this restaurant, I was definitely curious with what they offers.

Reservation is definitely a must, given that it was packed on a Thursday night and the place is very dim, so it is pretty bad for photography. Adopting the use of brown and black, the restaurant attempts to provide a Bavarian feel for its beer traditions.

For a first visit, the menu can be confusing and thus the dishes ordered were random but in short, with 10% UOB discount and a $262.40 bill for 8, I thought the spread was huge completed with drinks and desserts.

Home-made Bavarian specialty, Käsespätzle ($14.90) was a simple German pasta created using a luxurious spread of assorted melted cheeses and spätzle (aka a type of egg noodles and small dumplings found in the cuisine of Germany). Such dishes are nice at first bite but gets too cloying.

From my understanding from the reviews from HGW, the pork knuckle is a must-try. The moist and well-seasoned meat with its crispy crackling is just right.

Mozzarella Salat was a huge bowl of freshly tossed salad but was also the most neglected dish since we were so famished and vegetables just don't satisfy.

One of their platters, Würstelplatte is one that most won't miss, given the reputation of sausages in German Cusine. However, it gets boring eating so many sausages ranging from spicy chicken, lamb, mini pork cheese, weisswurst and garlic-flavoured ones.

Schwammerl mit Semmelknödel, on the other hand was just merely mushroom with sauce and carbohydrates which I thought was not worth $21.50. It just tastes too ordinary.

Petersfisch was too salty but its winning factor was the thickness of the filet.

I didn't know that Germans has their version of pizza which is called brotzeit fladen (i.e. special baked thin crust dark dough bread with toppings) and the Brotzeitflade Vegetarisch we have ordered is one of our favourite dishes, apart from the Pork Knuckle. The dough is not overly thick and the portobello mushrooms are rich in its taste.

Although the main course did impress, the desserts were a complete disappointment. Apfelstrudel has a strong cinnamon taste and a chewy, thin filo pastry. Not bad but fail to impress all the girls. The vanilla ice-cream that came with it was also ordinary in my opinion.

Weissbier Tiramisu tasted more like vanilla chiffon sponge and chantilly cream. No coffee nor liquor after-taste.

Schokokuchen is the most well-received dessert but I thought that there are better warm chocolate cakes out there...

In short, it is a nice place to chill out and catch up with old friends but I would suggest ordering a wide variety and share since it gets cloying after several bites.

Brotzeit, VivoCity
1 Harbourfront Walk
#01-149 to 151
Singapore 098585
Tel: 6272 8815
http://www.brotzeit1516.com/