After rising late, we headed off to Fyshwick for lunch. Yes, Fyschwick, the suburb name you most commonly associate with furniture warehouses, firecrackers, brothels and porn, now has a restaurant as well.

As you might expect from an industrial estate, the location for Zierholz Brewery isn’t all that great. But once you walk through the door it’s pleasantly surprising. It’s simple, basic, obviously done on a budget, though with a good eye for style. Just don’t look out the window at the nearby view.

For Sunday lunch the place was pretty quiet. For a good while we were the only ones there. And thus we had great service.

As the restaurant also has its own micro-brewery, we started off with some beer tastings. Half a dozen different type of German-style beers. Although we all had different tastes, we agreed the Amber Ale was worth the one most worthy of a half-pint followup. Mind you, that might have been because it was the second last one we tasted.

Lunch was also German-insired. Lamb back-strap. Pork. That kind of thing. And at $18 for a main was reasonably good value.

What was going to be a reasonably short late afternoon experience before heading off to the Australia Day concert became a much extended affair. And not in a bad way. In fact, in a really good way.

With the combination of Chinese New Year, Australia Day and Indian independence Day, the menu consisted of everything from sausage rolls to sang choy boy and tandoori chicken. Over several hours much food and wine was consumed. And lots of funny stories were told.

The highlight? Pavolva by Shanthini.