The first Oktoberfest was actually a horse race, held to celebrate the wedding of Crown Prince Ludwig I and his wife Therese Saxe-Hildburghausen. The race was such a success that the Germans decided to repeat the event, adding a fair as well, and slowly but steadily, beer entered the mix, eventually becoming the major feature of Oktoberfest. (Source: www.thebeerinme.com)
We Indians and presumably the rest of the world have also devised a very valid reason to celebrate Oktoberfest - Getting Drunk! Fair enough. Although this festival wasn't very commonly celebrated here in India until about 5-odd years back, things have now come to a point where almost every micro-brewery, bars and even some hotels have Oktoberfest specials where they have German inspired brews and cuisine to coincide with the original festival held in Munich. TJs Brew Works, the extremely popular micro-brewery at Amanora invited a few bloggers and writers to check-out what they've got on offer and we sure were very impressed.
I've visited the brewery a couple of times before and loved the spicy Korean Beef washed down with the full bodied Devil's Dark beer and so, was really looking forward to this German feast. The menu for the day consisted classics from German cuisine - beer braised sausages, schnitzel and strudel along with German inspired beers.
For starters, we were served the German fondue, beer tossed pork sausages and cream cheese filled smoked salmon. The fondue was uniquely presented on a platter instead of a pot simmering with liquid cheese. This platter consisted on cheese slices {emmental and english cheddar}, sausages, pretzels, bread sticks and a couple of dips like the superb camembert dip. All of these components, including the pretzels were really good. The cream cheese and smoked salmon rolls were wrapped around celery sticks which added a refreshing zing to the dish and of course there were capers on the side. Full mark for innovative presentation and taste of both these dishes. We skipped the soup and salads, but the chicken dumpling soup and potato salad would've been great on a cool evening.
We were so stuffed with the starters that we actually decided to share the mains and desserts. For the mains we had the potato pancakes with berry jam, ham and cheese stuffed chicken schnitzel which was gorgeously crunchy, meaty and cheesy and served with potato croquets, it provided the perfect foil to the chilled beers and Sauerbraten {pickled beef smothered in a rich gravy and served with mash}. I prefer my steak to be cooked to medium done-ness and hence found the well-done steak to be a bit chewy but you could always ask the chef to prepare the dish to your liking. Desserts were a luscious German chocolate cake and an apple strudel which I thought was just about average - the pastry was biscuity instead of flaky and it needed a bigger kick from fresh and sweet apples.
Which brings us to the Beers!
The difference between the regular beers brewed at TJs and the ones specially brewed for the Oktoberfest is that the regular ones are more easy-drinking to suit the Indian palate and these ones are slightly bitter brought about by the increase in percentage of hops. The beers we tried were the Berlin Blonde, Reis Blonde - a very refreshing rice-based beer and the Dunkel - a variation of the Devil's Dark for which they use imported malts. My favourite of the three, as it always has been, was the Dark beer - it's got a great body and finish, may be not as easy-drinking as the blondes because it's more bitter, but those with matured palates must try this beer. I have never been to Munich for the Oktoberfest so i'm unaware of the real-deal but these beers tasted great and went very well with the food.
The've also got a few cocktails especially for the fest like the Gespritzer {beer + cola} and the Berlin Binge, a rather potent cocktail made with bourbon, cognac, gin and vodka,. So even if you're not a fan of beers, there's still no reason why you can't visit this place and have a good time.
We were seated in the al fresco area kissed by the cool post-monsoon winds with retro rock hits being belted out, served great drinks & food and indulged in conversations which only got crazier with the number of beers consumed. What's not to like about life?
To represent the tagline of TJs - Here's to Joy!.
We Indians and presumably the rest of the world have also devised a very valid reason to celebrate Oktoberfest - Getting Drunk! Fair enough. Although this festival wasn't very commonly celebrated here in India until about 5-odd years back, things have now come to a point where almost every micro-brewery, bars and even some hotels have Oktoberfest specials where they have German inspired brews and cuisine to coincide with the original festival held in Munich. TJs Brew Works, the extremely popular micro-brewery at Amanora invited a few bloggers and writers to check-out what they've got on offer and we sure were very impressed.
I've visited the brewery a couple of times before and loved the spicy Korean Beef washed down with the full bodied Devil's Dark beer and so, was really looking forward to this German feast. The menu for the day consisted classics from German cuisine - beer braised sausages, schnitzel and strudel along with German inspired beers.
For starters, we were served the German fondue, beer tossed pork sausages and cream cheese filled smoked salmon. The fondue was uniquely presented on a platter instead of a pot simmering with liquid cheese. This platter consisted on cheese slices {emmental and english cheddar}, sausages, pretzels, bread sticks and a couple of dips like the superb camembert dip. All of these components, including the pretzels were really good. The cream cheese and smoked salmon rolls were wrapped around celery sticks which added a refreshing zing to the dish and of course there were capers on the side. Full mark for innovative presentation and taste of both these dishes. We skipped the soup and salads, but the chicken dumpling soup and potato salad would've been great on a cool evening.
We were so stuffed with the starters that we actually decided to share the mains and desserts. For the mains we had the potato pancakes with berry jam, ham and cheese stuffed chicken schnitzel which was gorgeously crunchy, meaty and cheesy and served with potato croquets, it provided the perfect foil to the chilled beers and Sauerbraten {pickled beef smothered in a rich gravy and served with mash}. I prefer my steak to be cooked to medium done-ness and hence found the well-done steak to be a bit chewy but you could always ask the chef to prepare the dish to your liking. Desserts were a luscious German chocolate cake and an apple strudel which I thought was just about average - the pastry was biscuity instead of flaky and it needed a bigger kick from fresh and sweet apples.
Which brings us to the Beers!
The difference between the regular beers brewed at TJs and the ones specially brewed for the Oktoberfest is that the regular ones are more easy-drinking to suit the Indian palate and these ones are slightly bitter brought about by the increase in percentage of hops. The beers we tried were the Berlin Blonde, Reis Blonde - a very refreshing rice-based beer and the Dunkel - a variation of the Devil's Dark for which they use imported malts. My favourite of the three, as it always has been, was the Dark beer - it's got a great body and finish, may be not as easy-drinking as the blondes because it's more bitter, but those with matured palates must try this beer. I have never been to Munich for the Oktoberfest so i'm unaware of the real-deal but these beers tasted great and went very well with the food.
The've also got a few cocktails especially for the fest like the Gespritzer {beer + cola} and the Berlin Binge, a rather potent cocktail made with bourbon, cognac, gin and vodka,. So even if you're not a fan of beers, there's still no reason why you can't visit this place and have a good time.
We were seated in the al fresco area kissed by the cool post-monsoon winds with retro rock hits being belted out, served great drinks & food and indulged in conversations which only got crazier with the number of beers consumed. What's not to like about life?
To represent the tagline of TJs - Here's to Joy!.
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| German Fondue Platter |
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| Beer Braised Pork Sausages |
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| Salmon with cream cheese |
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