Now, I’ve never been to Germany (yet), but any place with Beerhall in its name is gonna be on my radar. Dude, this is body by beerhall, bro! So, when I heard that this funky joint called The Golden Pigeon Beerhall opened up on Parliament St, you KNOW I had to come check it out!
And while you can order “Eine Maß bier” here — more on that in a bit — they’re also putting a funky twist on German food with dishes like the Auto Bahn-Mi, Baked Spaetzle Mac ‘n Cheese, and this must-have in Flavourtown, Chicken Schnitzel Double Down!!!!
Dude, the KFC Double Down is one of the best things that ever happened to me, so when I saw they were givin’er its own Teutonic spin, I knew I needed this in my life. Chicken is coming in hot from the fryer — I needed to keep it in the wrapper cuz it was too hot to touch. And then they put sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and grainy mustard in the middle. All that’s missing is an Oktoberfest ham hock!!!!
But of course I couldn’t come here and NOT order the baked spaetzle mac ‘n cheese, right? This dish was super-creamy, cheesier than that Poison and Def Leppard tour, and baked in a french onion soup pot, so it’s also coming in hot. Looks like I’m gonna need a few beers to cool this down…
The Pigeon has 11 beers and two ciders on tap, so you’re not stuck choosing between light and dark lager. But we still started off with a German-style schwarzbier from Muddy York called Black Opal. Even though it’s blacker than a banker’s heart, it goes down nice ‘n easy at 4.6%.
Speaking of black beer, this Junction Irish Stout gives off major Guinness vibes. I’m pretty sure an Irish stout at a German beerhall is something you’ll only find in Toronto, bro!!!!!!!!
And yes, you can order a litre of beer here — but it has to be their Golden Pigeon House Lager, which is brewed by Common Good. I was hoping for a nice, crisp helles, but this was more watery and tasteless. I guess a bigger beer isn’t always better.
So from there I switched to a Hatch pale ale from Slake Brewing in Picton. It’s got the hops of an IPA, without being as heavy, at 5.2%. I think I’ll have a couple more of these…
For dessert, there’s just one thing on the menu (unless they have a daily special), and that’s this Black Forest Cheesecake Parfait. Now, I like black forest cake — or any chocolate cake, really — but this parfait seemed to be more whipped cream and cherries, and less cake. It did add some flavour to the house lager, though…
Burgers, Bacon & Beer 