The unexpected pleasures of Beer House

People go to a beer restaurant to drink beer. When people drink beer they usually drink a lot. That’s how it’s normally done. Food accompanies beer and is meant to fill the stomach. Nothing more is expected from it.

Stepping into Beer House nothing suggests that it could be in any way an unusual beer restaurant. But it is. If someone organized a food contest for beer restaurants, Beer House would be among the leaders not only in Estonia but probably in the whole of Europe!

The beer is just as good as food. The best way to find that out is to order a beer degustation, that is, all the seven different beers of Beer House at once.

The peculiarity of the food at Beer House can best be appreciated when ordering something ordinary, a dish normally offered in every beer restaurant. Sausage with sauerkraut, for example. At Beer House it is called “The Krakov disc” with sauerkraut and horseradish.

The sausage is not oozing grease but tastes like in the good old times. The red sauerkraut also tastes familiar. That’s what a soup called borsch tastes like. The horseradish leaves the finishing touch. Excellent although nothing special!

One special dish is the lamb-vegetable-mushroom stew in a puff pastry basket. There is no food more familiar to Estonians than stew. But this dish has many different flavours. And, to be honest, no one expects a stew to be a culinary experience.

They should. Everything, even the most mundane and prosaic task, can become a work of art. The chef of Beer House Dmitri Rooz has represented Estonia in many prestigious culinary competitions. Being a chef at a beer restaurant is not degrading to him but a challenge.

To eat a stew at a beer restaurant that is good enough for the menu of a gastronomic restaurant, that is indeed unexpected!

But the lamb stew is not the only taste surprise that Beer House has to offer. The smoked shrimp with cherry chips would fit in well with fine Chablis.

It’s not mentioned in the menu that the shrimp are not peeled. But the little handiwork is well worth it. Peeled shrimp could never have such taste and juiciness.

Three randomly picked dishes and three surprises. Not bad!