where jess ate

The thing that keeps me coming back to Bier Markt is their extensive beer selection, with over a hundred brands from twenty-four different countries. As for their food, it’s a little hit and miss. You really need to know what to order here.

I prefer this location on the Esplanade over the one on King West. This one is much larger with a spacious patio. The décor is the same at both locations with a dark, European pub-feel. They both fill up pretty quickly later in the evenings and can get extremely loud – so it isn’t the best place for a conversation.

 

I always find the servers here to be quite knowledgeable about the different types of beers they have. They’re certainly helpful in narrowing down a beer to order. This time, I already knew what I wanted to order, the Stiegl Radler, a light and refreshing grapefruit beer. A while ago, a server recommended it and I now get this here every time. Unfortunately, on this visit they were out. The server informed me that they are the only place in Canada that actually serves this. He also mentioned that the producer of this beer didn’t realize it would be so popular, so they were having trouble keeping up with demand. Darn.

Anyway, onto the food! Since we were starving, we started off with the Wurst sampler – bratwurst, smoked Bavarian & spicy sausages, Gouda cheese, sour pickle, warm Bavarian pretzel, selection of mustards (for 1 – $11; for 2 – $19). As there were four of us, we decided to order the sampler for two, which came with six mini sausages. They were all actually quite nice, but after going to Wvrst, they really can’t compare. I was told the pretzels were decent but I didn’t try any… not a huge fan of pretzels unless they are covered in butter and sugar!

 

Whenever I come to Bier Markt, I always order one of the flatbreads which is a pretty safe choice. This time I went with the Spicy Sausage Flamekueche – Breton pork sausage, Quebec cheese curds, caramelized onions, cremini mushrooms, roasted garlic ($13). Guess I didn’t get enough sausage from our starter. When they brought out my flatbread, the server actually dropped a piece of it on the ground. He informed me they’d get the kitchen to make another one for me, which came suspiciously quickly…

Anyway, I was surprised by how generous they were with the sausage. The entire flatbread was covered with it and I only wished they were just as generous with the cheese curds. I think it would’ve been better if the cheese curds were more consistently spread out throughout. That aside, with sausage, mushrooms, onions and garlic… you really can’t go wrong with those ingredients. I just found the bread itself to be a bit dry for my liking. Otherwise, it was a pretty solid dish.

 

My friend Chris also went with a flatbread, the Smoked Chicken Flamekueche – house smoked chicken, Quebec brie, balsamic glazed cremini mushrooms, roasted garlic ($13). It seems like you can’t go too wrong with their flatbreads as this one was also pretty good. In all honesty, this one tasted quite similar to mine except that this one had chicken instead of sausage. The chicken wasn’t too dry and went well with the brie and mushrooms.

Mike ordered the Schnitzel – panko crusted veal cutlets, grilled asparagus, Yukon mash, tomato jam, lemon caper emulsion, veal reduction ($24). I ate a lot of schnitzel when I was in Germany a couple summers ago and was never a fan. I love sauce and condiments so I found the schnitzel dishes too plain and dry since they never came with sauce. I didn’t think I would like this but the tomato jam it came with was delicious. The veal itself wasn’t anything special but the tomato jam really made this dish.

Last but not least, Jo ordered the Ahi Tuna Liegoise – seared medium-rare, haircot verts, caramelized onions, fingerling potatoes, smoked bacon, crisp capers, citrus buerre blanc ($24). I only had a bite of the tuna but was not impressed. The tuna was incredibly dry and flavourless. I definitely wouldn’t recommend this.

 

Overall, this was a decent visit. I can’t say I’ve ever had a terrible experience here. Just make sure you stick to their flatbreads, pub food and beer…or just come for the beer. Bier Markt definitely isn’t the place to be trying more exotic items like the Ahi Tuna.

At a glance:

Come for the extensive beer selection

Food is a little hit and miss; stick to the flatbreads/pub food

Smaller location on King West

Ratings (out of 5):

Food: 3 stars (5 stars for the beer selection!)

Service: 4 stars

Atmosphere: 4 stars