Where there is great craft beer, the demand for good grub will soon follow. Thus, the team that opened the Taproom at Devil’s Peak Brewing Company in Salt River must have known they were backing a winner. Linda Scarborough and Jeanne Calitz put it through its paces.

 The food

The offering is what one would expect – and demand – of a beerhouse: hearty dishes like robust sandwiches, burgers, fish and chips, with a few interesting quirks.

The adventurous of appetite should order the chicken and waffles, a very generous portion of Southern-fried bird served on a waffle with bacon-and-blue-cheese gravy. The little waffle square can get quite soggy under the crispy chicken, but the sauce is just the right measure of smoky cheesiness. It’s incredibly rich but delicious, especially when paired with the sweet and malty Devil’s Peak First Light Golden Ale.

The burgers are also really good – lots of flavour, not too fatty – and come in perfectly manageable portion sizes. (What is it with all these other enormous burgers about town? How are you supposed to get them into your face?) Remaining options include the popular pulled pork sandwich (almost big enough to share), prawn pasta and the fish and chips, with the hake battered in Devil’s Peak Silvertree Saison. Disappointingly, the food and beer pairing board – R100 for flights of First Light and grilled hake; Saison and prawns; Woodhead and pulled pork; Blockhouse and Reuben sandwich; and one of the explorer series paired with a speciality cheese) is not available at peak times such as Friday nights.

Vegetarians can order the mushroom pizza that’s liberally sprinkled with truffle oil, the salad of the day or the mushroom pasta. The bar menu also features a small selection of snacks like onion rings, flash-fried broccoli and bowls of fries.

If you have room for dessert after all the carbo-loading, there’s grilled banana and butterscotch waffle, the thought of which has us weak at the knees.

The drinks

Most people would come here for the excellent Devil’s Peak craft beer, but if you’re tagging along and are not really a beer person, there’s also a small but interesting selection of local wines, including the Hermanuspietersfontein Bloos, the Secateurs Chenin Blanc and the Joubert Tradouw R62.

As far as the brews go, there’s no question that the guys at Devil’s Peak know their stuff. Leaders in the local industry, they consistently deliver in quality and bold flavour. Eat Out’s in-house cerevisaphile (yes, this is a real word, meaning beer lover) heartily recommends The King’s Blockhouse IPA (Indian Pale Ale) for its strong, hoppy character and good balance.

The service

On a pumping weekend night the staff handle large groups with aplomb, carefully noting who sits where and what they’ve ordered. Trays of drinks and food arrive right on time and the patient waiters manoeuvre deftly between the tightly packed tables and chairs.

The ambience

The high-roofed warehouse space with its concrete floors could easily have been unwelcoming and cold, but they’ve managed to warm it up with the odd wooden touch, some artwork and piles of old-fashioned bound books. Mismatched furniture and homey brick-a-brack lends it the comfy, almost grungy feel of an eccentric uncle’s study. The bar area, long benches and bottomless beer make the Taproom a good spot for lively parties of twenty-or-thirty-somethings, but smaller tables are dotted around to accommodate couples and smaller groups. The vibe is rather masculine but welcoming nevertheless, and there’s that striking view of Devil’s Peak from the big curved windows facing Table Mountain.

And…

The venue is also open on weekends and holidays, which makes it a great option for a cheerful lunch with friends and family. However, it’s not the most savoury part of Salt River at night – it’s pretty dark on the streets – so share rides if you can and be nice to their official car guard.

The verdict

With great food, fantastic beer and a buzzy vibe to recommend it, we will definitely be returning to sample the rest of the Taproom’s charms.

Have you been to the Taproom? Let us know what you thought by writing a review.