Eating in Adelaide

[cnspriggs]

Ate at Relish recently and though it was a nice restaurant I was underwhelmed by the food. The Risotto was made with a really metallic taste (synthetic stock???) rather unexciting. The Gnocchi was ok but the mushrooms they were served with tasted like they had been soaked in lemon juice. Feels like a place that if a little more attention to detail had been paid it could be very good.

Another place that got rated well in the local paper was an Organic pizza joint in Glenelg but I wouldn't recommend them. Our pizza was to have boccoccini cheese on it. It's bad enough that the cheese had been previous frozen but when the cheese is still cold when served you know something isn't right.

While here, can anyone recommend a place to get meat that has some marbling and age? Most age I've found is 10 days and trying to find a piece with any marbling has been very challenging.

Cheers

Sorry PCL I didn't read you post until now so here is a quick run down with their comments in case you didn't get a copy:

The Grange: Grand experience/ if serious about food you should eat once

Urban Bistro: Less formal/chef used to work for Cheong Liew

The Botanic Cafe: Mediterranean food/always busy

To Relish: Fun on Fridays, outstanding starter - poached oyster with a parsley puree in tiny choux pastries

Wine Underground Restaurant: wines by the glass, tapas

Depot one7nine: Breakfast

Cibo: coffee, gelati and pannini

Lucia's: institution at Central market - Breakfast/basic Italian

Let us know what you discover - I am off to Adelaide myself in two weeks.

Good Luck!

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[PCL]

The trip to Adelaide went well.

If meat is high on your list of priorities, then definitely go to Gaucho's on Gouger St. They are not open weekends, strangely, but that could just be for lunch. We ate there the first night, a Friday. Starters were a main course plate of Epinadas (sp.?) which were pastry parcels of shredded fillet and potatoes, peas, onion. A bit like a pasty but spiced up and much more refined.

The main was a whole baby goat's leg. They said it was done on the grill, but I suspect from peeking into the open kitchen (with appropriate blast glass seeing as they cook so furiously in there) that they probably par-roasted them before finishing on the chargrill. And there, I think is where it all went a little crazy.

Let's face it, goat's leg should either be braised or cooked very slowly over even dry heat. My leg was tough, but the flavour was excellent. Gamey even. Went well with the Grant Burge Shiraz 2001. Decent wine list too, BTW.

Overall a pleasant experience, what with marbled beef and all. If an afficiando of meat, one should go for the coffin... its a steel hibachi type thing they load up with meat and dump on your table to bring out the inner carnivore.

Eat everything there with the Chimmi (sp.??) sauce that's ubiquitous on the table.

I also ate at the Art Gallery Cafe/Bistro. Good honest modern food, no frills indeed. I had the slow cooked pork belly with fennel. The sauce was a little icky, but otherwise, very tasty.

On the second night, we tried going to Matsuri, but ahem... when we walked in, it was like... dead. One lone couple and no one else. I didn't even see a sushi bar. It was not encouraging. The menu was small, and didn't seem to go past crumbed this, fried that, which meant not a whole lot of variety. We didn't sit down. And oh yes, everything was like, pricey. The Izakaya's I'm used to, meaning Japanese eating/drinking places are much more reasonable, I mean, I'm not paying $10 for Agedashi Tofu. I don't know whether things have taken a sudden turn recently, but honest, I went there with good intentions after having so many people post positively about it.

So we ended up in Grange?... the beach town?... with some local friends and we had dinner at this apparently charming Greek place, called I think... ETIA or something similar, I'll check the receipt tomorrow. Damn it, it's Sunday, I'll post more tomorrow!

[DMH]

hmmm...i suppose it's a little late for suggestions for PCL's trip to Adelaide but....

a few weeks ago, after saving up some money, a group of friends and i went to the Bridgewater Mill. Wow, it was fantastic. Le Tu Thai has done some wonderful things with the menu. Oddly enough though, the more Asian inspired food on the menu was disappointing. Everything else was fantastic.

Cibo is another favorite of mine. The salmon pizza is one of the best.

Another great pizza place ( i love pizza), is Amalfi's on Frome St. just off Rundle St. The place has nice atmosphere and the food is good and uncomplicated.

Urban Bistro was very good. Unfortunately we were running late for something so we had to eat real fast and that ruined the enjoyment of it all. I'll have to go back and make sure I have plenty of time to savor the experience...

One last suggestion is the little Russian stall in the Central Market. Not sure what its called but you see an entire Russian family cooking in there and the food is really nice. The borscht was beautiful and the pieroshki (?) is always a nice snack.

Oh and since we are in the Central Market, I must say the greek yogurt stall is absolutely delicious. The yogurt itself is great and then they come with different toppings like mixed berries, muesli, banana and passionfruit, etc.....good stuff.

I hope these suggestions come in handy for somebody. Happy eating!

[Tae.Lee]

Amalfi's is great.. it's little cousin Nano on hutt st is also good for a quick bite..

we used to go to ying chow a lot but found it sometimes too busy and inconsistent with the food at times, so we started going across the road to east taste, similar menu, a bit 'crisper' and cleaner feel..

recently went to wah hing [also on gouger, next to lemon and lime [sp?]]..

a slightly more expanded menu than ying chow, but still very cheap, around a dollar more per dish.. nicer ambience too, not so rushed..

a friend of mine recently experienced the the current degustation menu at the grange and said it was fantastic.. looking forward to trying it out as i've never eaten there.

penang hawker's corner in the mansions arcade is great for quick SE asian lunch..

my current quick lunch favourite at the moment though is BBQ pork and rice from BBQ city [also in gouger]..

in terms of the markets, i like the produce from barrossa fine foods, they sometimes have a great organic bacon [so greasy! ], and their german style smallgoods and sausages are excellent.. as you'd expect coming from an area settled by germans.

of course the asian supermarket in the actual markets proper with the old lady and the boxes of asian greens..

does anyone have any recommendations for good local olive oil?

providore had a nice cleanskin from port germein and i'm keen to try something else..

for the first time in my life i have my own kitchen, so it's been heaven trying new things..

Edited November 22, 2005 by Tae.Lee (log)

[Tae.Lee]

While here, can anyone recommend a place to get meat that has some marbling and age? Most age I've found is 10 days and trying to find a piece with any marbling has been very challenging.

Cheers

i think this butcher in North Adelaide may be able to help you [not 100% certain though]:

Tynte Street Quality Meats

48 Tynte St North Adelaide SA 5006

ph: (08) 8267 2603

[foodie52]

I was in Adelaide for Tasting Australia. I took a photo of the Greek Yogurt stall!

Ate at Jasmin and really enjoyed it. Also at a couple of other places which I shall list after I check out their names in my travel journal.