The Bavarian, Knox Ozone

The Bavarian is a German themed pub and restaurant operated by the Rockpool group. There are many Bavarians around Melbourne and the one in Knox Ozone had been opened for at least 6 months before we decided to try it out for dinner one night. 

Across Melbourne, pubs are changing. Many of the historic buildings where they are housed have been sold to developers tearing them down to profit from building apartment buildings. Some have sold the air rights above the building to developers to extend upwards for apartments. Neither will retain the old world charm of what we used to know of pubs anymore. It is a shame that Melbourne does not do more to protect and conserve the beautiful old buildings that it has. 

One of the change I do approve is the quality of food in pubs these days. They are getting more refined, they are fresh and tasty. It's not all about drinking in pubs anymore. The food department is getting equal attention. This was a positive because I'm not a big drinker so being able to eat a decent meal while others drink is a big drawcard for me. 

Ordering in The Bavarian involves going to the counter, order and pay before settling down at your table with a buzzer with a number. The buzzer acts as a table number for the waitpersons so they can bring the plate to the table. 

I ordered the fish of the day which was barramundi with grenoble crusted potatoes, spinach and chive butter sauce ($29). The fish was cooked perfectly, the skin crispy. The potatoes, however they were cooked, were so yummy. It was crispy on the outside and soft in the inside. I think grenoble crust means dredging the potatoes in milk and flour and cooking them in butter? The sauce complements the fish and potatoes well. 

Munich Brewers Platter, designed for Two ($71). This is a meat lovers platter. It has chicken schnitzel, pork belly with crispy crackling, at least 4 types of sausages (of different meats and spiciness), sauerkraut, red cabbage, mashed potatoes. The meats were wonderfully tasty! I loved the pork belly with the delicious crackling and oh so moist meat. The chicken schnitzel was tender. The sausages were delicious except for one which tasted like hot dog sausages from a plastic packet. The red cabbage is sweet and delicious. There was an accompanying apple compote I could do without and a bier jus which tasted a little weird (Gaz described it as gravy mixed with kerosene) which I didn't like. I wished there was some real gravy to go with the heavenly array of meats.

The Famous Crispy Pork Knuckle (half - $28). It comes with sauerkraut, mash potatoes, apple compote and bier jus (remarkably, the bier jus on this plate was delicious - I'm not sure what went wrong the first time). The pork knuckle had a good crackling but like all pork knuckle the meat inside was just OK. There were lots of meat in the knuckle which was not too dry but not moist either. The joy of eating pork knuckle for me often stops at the crackling, and finding a tender piece of meat but most of the time it's about trying to get to the end when there's finally nothing left on the plate...

The Bavarian is a good place to visit if you are hungry for some hearty German food. They definitely do not skimp on the amount of food on the plate. There are a myriad selection of beer to choose from, and there is a juke box for free. There are specials for each day of the week - for example on Wednesdays there is a buy 1 get 1 schnitzel free offer. What else do you need?