Temple Brewery and Brasserie

Temple Brewery and Brasserie is a space built for beer. You’re drinking in a working brewery and it feels like it. Which may mean you find it all to be a little cold and clinical, depending on your expectations of what a beer hall should be like.

The real drawcard here is Raymond Chang's excellent list of foods that make friends with beer.

Don’t miss the Chilli Bag ($17), part bolognese sauce, part diner style chilli. A topping of grated buffalo milk cheddar really sets it off too. It’s all that and a bag of potato chips, although do yourself a favour and pour the chips into the chilli, not the other way around. Pickled quail's eggs ($8) are quaint, you’ll get whole pickled eggs chilling in a bowl with thick, tangy sticks of carrot and celery. But be careful if you dine in even numbers, there’s only three eggs to the serve. ‘Carapops’ ($6) are a highlight - a perfect marriage of spicy, sugary, salty popcorn that puts the movie stuff to shame. If only it were served in a bucket here too.

You would also, obviously, come for the beer and Temple brewery has it in spades (well, technically, in kegs, and you can get those to take away.) Choose from six kinds of craft brews straight from the source, or, if you’re feeling greedy, do as we did and drink them all. Top pick, the Midnight IPA ($6.50), it’s dark and broody and has the highest alcohol percentage available so you’ll be a cheap shout.

There’s room for improvement in terms of atmosphere, but focus on your beer and that’s easy to overlook.