Last week I was lucky enough to be invited by Guarav from Sasquatch and the Australian Good Food Guide to check out this new venue in Chermside.
Feel like a cold one, but don't want to schlepp to the Westfield to drink with the view of a carpark or head to the local leagues club? Sasquatch is your new local with atmosphere, fancy beer and tasty chow.
It's that rare breed of place that's atmospheric enough for a casual date night when you're looking to impress, but it's also the perfect place to imbibe 27 pots of craft beer on a 38 degree Summer's day with your mates (ahem).
Guarav or 'G', leads the operation and directed the new fitout of the venue after his family had run an Indian Restaurant on the premises for several years. It's modern, friendly and has a nice vibe to it. Motown classics were humming from the speakers and we were in a good mood. On Monday it was predictably quiet, but were assured that even in the three weeks they'd been open, the weekends were going off.
The beer and food have been well thought out. Craft beer lovers will rejoice in seeing Brisbane Brewing Co, Newstead Brewing Co, Burleigh Brewing and more on the taps. We tried four beers across two rounds of pots and really enjoyed some fully flavoured lagers, pale ales and amber ales. My favourite was the Black Hops and I would do anything for a cold pint of it right about now. #noaircon #sendbagsoficeforthebathtub
G loves his beer and has mates who love it even more. If you go in for a cold one on a quiet evening or afternoon, why not say hi and get him to tell you all about it? There's a lot to learn!
When it comes to the food menu, I was a little underwhelmed upon first glance. It looked fairly narrow in scope and pretty standard issue. Upon second glance, there's actually an impressive fusion of international flavours across great snacks to share and delicious subway rolls. Nicknamed 'Heroes', these soft rolls are filled a protein and tasty salads. We were lucky enough to try four miniature ones: the lamb, pork belly, barramundi and fried chicken. The grilled lamb with fetta and tabouleh has a distinctly Greek vibe, and great flavour. The pork belly has fantastic flavour and a tonne of coriander in the salad, which we loved; but let this serve as a warning to my coriander haters! The fried chicken had a zesty kim chi salad to accompany and the barramundi was just TASTY. This is food to drink beer with. We ordered so much food and didn't nearly get to try everything we wanted.
G was excited to talk to us about a special grill they have installed which is similar to a yakitori charcoal grill. It imbues all the protein with a delicious, smoky flavour and suits a slow cooking process, which results in very tender meat. The lamb and pork belly are testament to this fabulous grill.
If bread isn't really your thing, or if you just want to share some bar snacks with the table, don't stress! We found it difficult to narrow down our choices from the Snacks and Sides menu once we really got to reading. We settled on the waffle fries on G's recommendation,the chicken karaage and spicy edamame. One thing to note: if something on the menu at Sasquatch says it has heat, it HAS HEAT. We adore hot food and so were all about it, although we did want 743 more beers. Well played, Sasquatch, well played.
Let me take a moment to talk about the waffle fries. I enjoy fries. I do. There. Said it. I'm more of a beer battered chip over a shoestring fry type of girl, but I'm open to being impressed in new categories. Had G not insisted, I probably would have ignored the waffle fries on the menu, assuming they were sweet or weird, or maybe I just should eat less fried food on a Monday. However, I have zero regrets because they were awesome. Like a large, crunchy, grid-shaped chip with a fabulous aioli that wasn't overly sweet, despite the inclusion of maple syrup. If you get ONE THING to go with your brews at Sasquatch, let it be these! You won't regret it.
G and his chefs have also made great efforts to make sure all dietary requirements are catered for, so if you have special requirements, ask for the vegetarian, gluten free or dairy free options.
So there we were, absolutely stuffed full of tasty food and several beers. It's tough when your week peaks on a Monday. G then convinces us to share a waffle basket ice-cream sundae, and that, too, was delicious. Fresh, lots of texture, fresh strawberries, cake, lemon curd... all of it. Super yum. Not pretentious, just yummy. Great to share.
The last thing I'll mention is the wine list. It's kinda small. But interesting. G says all the wines are from small-batch wineries and aren't readily available. Which I love. Nothing better then seeing a varietal you love, or a wine region you love, and wine you've never heard of. A fantastic chance to try something new. The Mother's Milk Shiraz from Barossa caught my eye, and I'll be back to try it as soon as the mercury dips below 35!
If you're a northsider, do me a favour today and duck in to Sasquatch for a beer on my behalf!
Love,
Brisbane Foodie.
xoxo
AGFG and Sasquatch invited me to check out the bar and Dylan and I were shouted a free meal All opinions are my own. Photo credits Dylan Mapp for the good ones, Amanda Mapp for the 'let's get this photo out of the way so I can eat' ones.
