| Location: | Bierliebe & Friends |
| Website: | https://bierliebeandfriends.ch/ |
| Address: | Rathausquai 10, 6004 Luzern, Switzerland |
| Status: | Open (last checked on 12 August 2025) |
| Eaten: | "Apéro Plättli," ½ water, a 0.375l bottle of Pilgrim Triple Blonde, 0.4l Stout, 0.4l Pilsner |
While I hate meticulously planning my vacations at previously unvisited places before actually getting there, I normally do a quick Google Maps check for restaurants that I could visit in the first couple of days before getting familiar with the location and its specialties. When I was preparing for my first ever holidays in Lucerne (and Switzerland in general), Bierliebe & Friends immediately caught my attention, and not only because I am a friend of beer. Its menu contained an Apéro Plättli, which is Lucerners’ name for a Brettljause.
Unfortunately, finding a table outdoors at Bierliebe requires a lot of luck, which I did not have today. Determined to try the Brettljause, however, I agreed to indoor sitting and regretted it heavily for the first 10 minutes or so. Despite my sitting by an open window, I hardly received any air and even had to order some water to cool down (sadly, the water was warm and did not help). The second disappointment was the unavailability of the strong beers that I had intended to try, but perhaps considering the heat that was a blessing, after all.
The Plättli had a nice presentation but was not designed by someone who would later eat it. A lot of different green stuff was piled over the meats, and any attempt to pull out a slice resulted in the whole construction starting to waggle and fall apart. The olives in particular began to roll off the table almost immediately.
There was a lot to like about this Brettljause, however. The cheese, while not too strong, came with a very appropriate spicy chutney. The butter had herbs in it and went well with the extremely fresh bread with a crunchy crust. A sausage, cut along its length, was somewhat similar to Austrian Kaminwurze, but with a stronger flavor and easier to chew. Caramelized chestnuts provided an unexpected, yet very pleasant sweetness. Finally, the dry meat that accounted for the largest number of slices was an interesting variation of Schweinsbraten, having a golden crust, which would have been crispy, had not the slices been so thin. The Austrian equivalent is Krustenbraten, I believe.
If you like beer, Bierliebe is definitely a place to visit when in Lucerne. It has over ten beers on tap and more in bottles, and even if one excludes all the disgusting IPAs, the remaining choice is impressive. However, try to reserve a table outside or visit this restaurant during a colder season.