GLC grapples with his pork addiction at Bierschenke

A decent way to begin the evening

I was always going to like the City of London’s bratwurst-and-beer shack that is Biershcenke, but when I discovered they import over a ton of meat from Germany each week, my love was effectively sealed.

Let me start with an important statement:

Hello, my name’s Ed and I’m addicted to pork.

It’s been a long road getting to a point where I’m comfortable to admit this, but the signs have been there for many years – my almost pathological obsession with ham sandwiches; happily using an entire pack of bacon in a single butty; gobbling all the crackling on a pork joint in a single sitting; spending four agonising months curing my own ham; owning a cookery book simply entitled ‘Pork’ which takes pride of place on my bookcase…you get the idea.

Pork shank

The basic premise of Biershcenke is simple – it’s a cavernous, München-style beer hall, just around the corner from Liverpool Street in the heart of the City, serving up great platters of traditional German sausage and schnitzel alongside glass tankards of Bavarian beer.

It’s light, spacious, set over two floors, decked out with the long tables and benches you’d expect, and dotted with TV screens quietly playing some obscure football matches (on this night it seemed to be whatever the German equivalent of Scunthorpe vs Preston would be).

Schnitzel and chips

And these long tables proved excellent for a food bloggers’ meetup, organised as expertly as ever by those nice people at Zomato.

Around a dozen of us (including some brave vegetarians) were to experience huge platters made up of various items from the extensive menu. (What’s the German for Smörgåsbord??).

The welcome was particularly welcoming – a large glass of Bierschenke Weißbier – that’s a cloudy wheat beer to you and me. This was followed with a beer tasting session with samples ranging from the light and fizzy Bierschenke Kellerbier to the dark, smoky, almost bacon-like Schlenkerla Rauchbier.

Pretzel!

A basket of wonderfully soft and brilliantly salty pretzels helped the beer go down nicely, but these were quickly brushed aside when the meat arrived.

A pork shank, a whole fest of sausages, thick-cut meatloaf slices and crispy breadcrumbed schnitzels were accompanied by red cabbage, sauerkraut, bread dumplings, potato dumplings, chips and mashed potato. Pots of sweet yellow mustard and lightly curried ketchup proved perfect accompaniments to everything presented.

Two great trays in the middle of the table were quickly descended upon by the group as everyone channelled their inner King Henry VIII to devour the feast.

I couldn’t quite see what the vegetarians were eating, but frankly, who cares.

Meatloaf

It wasn’t long before I was completely stuffed, but I still found room for a Bratwurst chaser.

For dessert – yes, more food – pancakes and an apple strudel hit the spot, but extra-special praise must be given to the ‘beeramisu’ – a very German take on the Italian favourite, made with Bierschenke’s own beer schnapps (which we were also to enjoy extra shots of).

And that was it. It was still relatively early as the first few of us left and waddled towards the nearest Tube.

Beeramisu

London has a few German bars, notably Katzenjammers in London Bridge. While the south-of-the-river offering gives you lower ceilings and tighter space and more atmosphere, I think I prefer this new, much larger, City gem.

You perhaps wouldn’t come here for a romantic dinner for two, but as a venue to meet, drink, eat and chat noisily with friends, there can’t be much finer within the Square Mile.

My addiction still grips me.

Biershenke, 4 London Wall Buildings, London EC2M 5NT