Barrels Bar- A Favorite Place

For the past year visiting Barrels Bar has been a fairly integral part of my weekly routine. Friday night is reserved for a drink and a meal (and perhaps another few drinks) in this cosy establishment and many an hour has been spent sipping a Windhoek, listening to live music, reading the eccentric quotes and pictures which adorn the walls of the toilets and singing karaoke with a slightly drunken and very enthusiastic Manfred Kratz, one of the bars owners.

The inn itself is a red walled, many bottled affair, crowded with heavy wooden bar stools, upturned barrels serving as tables and an eccentric collection of hats, t-shirts, metal dolphins, bells and mugs dangling from the bar. An open fire sits in the corner, candles flicker on tables and delicious smells waft in from the adjoining kitchen. Sit at the wooden bar and chat to the owners, Manfred and Monika, or take a shot of Jagermeister and sit back to enjoy the strains of Diane, a local singer, plucking away on her guitar.

I have eaten at Barrels so often that I know their menu almost off by heart so it seems only fair that The Buchter News should give the bar a little review.

Salad Bar, free with every meal- One of the best things about Barrels is the free all-you-can- eat salad that comes with any meal you order. At any one time the pub offers at least three different choices of salad from fresh greens to coleslaw to tuna-sweet corn to potato salad (they make it with little pieces of bacon which always ensures that it disappears quickly). The Buchter News recommends: the homemade salad cream that’s available- it tastes good on EVERYTHING.

Pizza, N$80- It is my opinion that Barrels makes some of the best pizza in Namibia; served on a large wooden platter the dish is smothered in cheese, garlic and herbs and drips with invitation. The bar chef holds each pizza above the open fire before it goes into the oven giving the base a delicious smoky taste. Pizza is available in Hawaiian, Vegetarian, All Seasons, Chicken, Seafood and Buffalo (a meat eaters heaven) and each is so large that half can be eaten as lunch the next day (to fight off that inevitable post-bar hangover!)

Roasted Chicken, N$85- Good roasted chicken is an art. Often you’ll find that the chicken is too dry, or not spiced right. In Barrels you’ll find a nice juicy roasted chicken that comes with a large portion of chips. The chicken seems to be roasted for an extended period of time in the left back corner of the bar, behind the fire, where they have an always running rotisserie. The salad comes in the form of an all-you-can-eat salad bar as previously mentioned; A feature that really sets Barrels apart from the other restaurants in Lüderitz.