Review: Lion Brewery

Winter is definitely a key season for comfort food, and after just a few months in K-W, it's looking like schnitzel might become one of mine. To be fair, tonkatsu is more or less its Japanese equivalent, and I lived off of that for a while in Japan...

That said, the Lion Brewery's Schnitzel Parmesan was worth the stop: it's a lot of food, but leftovers are nothing to complain about! The side of applesauce puzzled me momentarily(I get that pork and apple products are commonly served together, but was it a dipping sauce? Mini dessert?) but it was ultimately enjoyed along with the other sides: tart wine sauerkraut and perfectly roasted potatoes. (The seasonal veggies were crisp and fresh, but when presented with this much food, a girl's got to have priorities!)

The schnitzel itself was perched on top of the sides, and topped with halved cherry tomatoes, tomato sauce, and parmesan & mozzarella cheese - yum. Definitely decadent, and happily not fried to a crisp.

Several menu items play off of leonine/safari themes: salads are "from the grassy plains", and the falafel is "ferocious" which led to a grin or two as M and a friend of ours ordered the Predator's Spare Ribs. The ribs were falling off the bones, and covered in a sweet-smoky barbecue sauce; I liked the mashed yams - a simple twist from the usual potato side - and the campfire beans had a hint of something that could have been molasses which made them more memorable.

Our friends ordered the Salmon Machungwa (Google tells me that Machungwa is Swahili for "orange") with braised leeks; it looked delicious and disappeared quickly, as did the Chicken Pub Pie, which was smaller than most offerings I've seen in pubs, but the side of fries or salad makes it a solid meal.

Somewhat blasphemously, none of us tried any of the beer (considering it's a brewery...) but I can vouch for their honey brown lager from past experience.

As an aside, if you're looking this place up and are new to the area, the brewery is in the basement of the Huether Hotel; Cafe 1842 occupies the main floor (mostly serving coffees, bagels, desserts, and ice cream) and Barley Works (fun pub atmosphere with a great summer patio) is on the top floor.