It was a welcome return to the kitchen by Peter Manners, with an assortment of assistants: Neil Galbraith, Tony Scott and Bob Swinney. None of them notably Germanic, they nevertheless produced some authentically German-style food for Oktober (evidenced by the German flags on the tables). To start, two varieties of sausage, frankfurters with toothpicks and a fiery German mustard hit; and kranskywurst, a slightly larger sausage served in slices on rice crisps. The aperitif wines, due to a breakdown of the fridge, were a mix of reds, both local and foreign, of various styles and quality, most of which went well with the sausage

We then sat down to a cup of what was described as “Fischsuppe”; and it was as advertised, with chunks of fish, fresh and smoked, and mussels lurking under a creamy very tasty broth. The accompanying wines, served mainly to match the main course, were a 2009 Hahndorf Hill blaufrankisch from the Adelaide Hills and a 2011 Tiefenbrunner lagrein which despite its name came from the Tyrol district of northern Italy. Both unusual grapes, the blaufankisch, an Austrian variety, regarded as somewhere between a pinot noir and a cabernet franc, this one showing nice forward fruit with some fresh acid and tannins to support it, while the lagrein was a touch extracted and overripe. Both were better with the Kasseler Rippenspeer which followed, a classic German celebratory dish of baked smoked pork loin, served in thick and juicy steaks with an excellent sauerkraut made with caraway seeds and some apple to sweeten the vinegar pickle, baked sliced potato finished off with duck fat and some sliced, not too tart, beetroot. It was all very mittel European, with plenty of smoky pickled flavours and good presentation on the plate.

For the cheese, we crossed the Alps into Switzerland to enjoy a real Le Gruyere, made in large wheels with a pronounced rind indicating some age and a wonderfully dense sweet nutty paste. With it, a choice of colours in the shape of a 2009 Vasse Felix chardonnay from WA and a 2006 Macquariedale Thomas shiraz from the Hunter. Both very good wines, but the white, with good acid length and cashew nuts on the palate, was a better match with the cheese, although the red, made organically, showed quite rich sweet but soft fruit with Hunter drying tannins to balance which also did the cheese credit.

The lunch concluded with coffee made from Yurgachef beans from the home of coffee in Ethiopia, and a stimulating finish it was, with rich roasted bean character in the mouth followed by a clean citrusy finish.