Chris Shanahan: Zierholz — little Germany in Fyshwick

There’s a delicious slice of Germany in Fyshwick, in the unlikeliest site, just near the Telstra Shop in Kembla Street. Christoph Zierholz begun brewing there about two years ago but recently opened a café next to the brew kettles.

It’s open for lunch and dinner Mondays to Fridays and under chef Cameron Harmer offers a small but solidly German menu to match Zierholz’s equally Germanic brews.

These include a pale, grape-fruit-zesty Cologne style ale a nutty, bitter, sour, idiosyncratic Dusseldorf-inspired amber beer, a crisp northern German Pils style and an extraordinarily fruity southern German style weizen beer.

Christoph brews and matures these, and a few others as well, on the premises and they’re all served on tap. They’re available by the pint, half pint or as a set of seven tasting glasses.

There’s a bar, bench-style tables with stools and an inviting short menu based as much as possible, says Christoph, on local seasonal produce. Starters begin at $8.90 for barley soup with ham hock, spec and bretzel. Mains (like pork cutlet served with mash, red cabbage and sour apple relish) cost $15 to $17. And a Zierholz platter for two (German sausages and pork belly with sauerkraut and bretzels) costs $26.50.