The Bierkeller, Cardiff- review

The idea at Bierkeller is simplicity itself: three separate bar 'zones', each with its distinct character, with food to match. 

Shooters is your classic sports bar, with an impressively huge screen for TV coverage, though while we were there a particularly tight El Clasico game of PS4 FIFA was being duked out. Real Madrid beat Barcelona 4-2, for the record. Which was nice.

Pool tables and a view across the plaza to the river complete the picture. The range of beers here covers old-school local favourites like Brains SA, through to Tiny Rebel on draught and prestigious US brewers like Flying Dog. It is also the occasional venue for Man V Food style challenges, of which more later...

The Bierkeller itself aims for a beer hall atmosphere, with its roster of German beers in regulation tankards and long benches to encourage communal knees-ups to the sound of an oompah band. As this is very much the bar large groups would head for, It's probably fair to say that wallflowers and those wanting a quiet night out are advised to swerve this one.

Around The World in Eighty Beers does what it says on the tin and it's here that Bierkeller shines for me: there's an excellent selection, including some rarely seen in bars in this area, both on tap and in bottles. Badge-hunting Untappd users will love it: this is where you'll find everything from the pink elephants of Delirium Tremems to Kona, without neglecting local brewers such as Crafty Devil. The menu is nothing if not eclectic: if you find Whitby scampi nestling next to Springbok tagine anywhere else, feel free to let me know.

We chose dishes from all three menus: each bar has its signature dishes, so we tried to sample a selection of each. Just for the purposes of information gathering, you understand- and we stuck with the kind of food you'd usually associate with a few beers.

Breaded chicken pieces were light and crisp and their sweet chilli dressing made them an ideal companion to a cold lager.

The pizza had a noticeably thin and crisp base, though with an economical amount of toppings. There was perhaps a little too much cheese for me, though I'm sure the turophiles among you would disagree. 

The sausage in their hot dog had some welcome curve and snap in a soft brioche roll and was the standout for me.

The skin-on fries came with everything and in generous servings; a gumbo was a little underpowered for my tastes: any heat present was a too-gentle warmth, rather than a sit up and take notice spiciness.

 The racks of pork ribs, with a smoky-sweet barbecue glaze, were tender enough and had been cooked slowly enough to have the meat part company with bone with little effort.

The pulled pork had chunks in it- this is A Good Thing, rather than having it processed to the point it surrenders all texture- and was a sizeable handful in its brioche roll.

There were a couple of stalwart/foolhardy/misguided (insert own adjective) chaps attempting the Challenge plates while we were there: a pair tackling the burger challenge and two more trying to best the chicken wings. The burger, of course, was taller than his entire head. Learning that the latter had been marinated and then soused in sin-scarlet 'Psycho' sauce was enough to make me glad I'm wise/old/cowardly (insert adjective here, too) enough to know better: I prefer to eat without donning gloves and goggles.

Sure, there are plenty of artisan, hand-crafted pizzas in Cardiff, using a special dough only made on the 32nd of each month, enriched with ocelot milk under a three quarter moon. There are BBQ joints who smoke their meat for nine weeks over wood chips from the magical Spaghetti Tree and season their ribs with unicorn tears. That's all well and good: we have some excellent specialists nearby. But by and large, their beer list ranges from nonexistent to tiny. And that's the point here, really. And, crucially, at none of them can you see grown men reduced to tears by Psycho Sauce chicken wings, though how important this is to you is a matter between you and your conscience.

 You're not going to come to The Bierkeller for a diner a deux, to whisper sweet nothings over fayn dayning. That's not what the market being catered for. But for a match day or for any outing where watching sports on a big screen and eating and drinking without being crammed in shoulder-to shoulder are paramount, you won't do much better locally.

We were invited to The Bierkeller and all food and drink was complimentary. 

The Bierkeller
Ground Floor, 
Stadium Plaza, 
Wood St, 
Cardiff,
Glamorgan CF10 1LA