The Meat of Merrymaking, Bavarian Bierhaus, The Curve

CAUTION: Some baaad photos ahead! The lighting was particularly bad and I had to contend with a bunch of hungry and impatient folks.

The bride-to-be had picked the Curve for some pre-wedding fun and frolics.

Bavarian Bierhaus was packing the crowds in so good thing to make reservations ahead on a Friday evening, particularly if you're coming with a large group.

Bavarian Bierhaus' beverage menu featured the usual bevvy of Belgian beers. I had been wrongly informed beforehand (or I'd imagined this myself) that they served the rather rare Apple lambic here and I'd gotten the rest of the troop rather excited. Having been told that no, Apple lambic was in fact, NOT available, I ate humble pie while the whole table threw me accusing stares. I settled for Stella, which did not get anywhere near the lambic promise.

Some orders the Bierhaus Salad to balance out the inevitable meaty blowout. This was very well-received, the lightness of the balsamic dressing working harmoniously with the crisp greens and the seared seasoned pork loin.

The Sausage Platter arrived an impressive composition of eight sausages with sauerkrat and potato salad. A killer of a meal for one person, but works out nicely when shared between two hungry sausage fiends. When asked to pick which one was best, the black (lamb) came out the favourite.

Another goes for the Sausage & Lamb platter and did a superb job wiping her plate clean, enjoying it thoroughly in the process.

The pasta princess ordered Vongole, al dente linguine with fresh clams and generous shavings of streaky bacon. I am liking this pervasive use of pork in everything... almost like every dish is an excuse for a porcine experiment.

There were a couple of dishes here and there that didn't have pork. The Tuna Penne also scored high points with the meal owner. She had ordered this following a more-ish soup starter, not expecting this to be anything more than an unremarkable filler but was surprised by how simple, yet delightful it was.

I decided to do chicken, because I liked the sound of the Pistachio Crusted Chicken. It came two generous slices of chicken breast with a coating of roughly chopped pistachio nuts on a pool of mushroom stew. I could've done with thigh meat instead of breast, and the stew could've gone a little easier on the sodium content but overall, I was pretty happy with it.

Latecomers including the bride-to-be ordered the Lamb Sausage and another salad to share. All good, they said.

We carried on to Library for more misbehaviour. While the location had potential, we were unfortunately subjected to an evening of DREADFUL service. Orders took about 40 mins to arrive, and we were treated to profuse eye-rolling by waitresses with too much attitude. Equally wretched was the showcase by the live band, murdering every song ever known to Top 40 pop-rock history.

I'm game for merrymaking as much as the next person, but come on, for those drink prices and all that hassle, the joint should at least involve either a) live performance that's a notch more inspiring than cover bands in hotel lounges or b) a decent DJ on the decks AND a dancefloor! And it goes without saying that they need to exterminate staff who don't understand service - i.e. no, you don't get to roll your eyes when you get told off for screwing up the customer's orders. OUT!