Zouk @ Grand Chifley Adelaide

Address: Grand Chifley Hotel Adelaide, 208 South Terrace, Adelaide SA 5000
Tel: (08) 8223 2800

This evening meal choice was after an 8+ hour drive from Coober Pedy back to Adelaide so I was pretty buggered and had negative energy to think of a good place to eat and the fact my car was already parked meant I still had enough energy to drag myself downstairs for an evening meal (I am very anti room service, never had good room service food).

Entree (below): Chicken & Pistachio Meatballs with Char-Grilled Barossa Chorizo, Vegetables Relish & Warmed Turkish Bread. The chicken meatballs were the standout - great texture (cooked then fried) and the nutty mixture was just fantastic. The chorizo was way too salty for my liking, and the Turkish bread looked like a French bread stick sliced and passed through the commercial toaster. A very large entree/tasting plate.


Below: Char-grilled WA Scallops in whipped Wasabi butter & fried Nori. The photo probably doesn't do the dish any favours by making it look like scallops dragged through sewerage, but the wasabi/nori butter was quite savoury and interesting. Really dislike the digestive orange bits - doesn't add any flavour or texture and almost ruins the other flavours. Really should consider a better grade scallop....

Mains (below): Linguini Oceania - SA selected seadfood finished with Rose sauce & Parmesan. Another knockout dish - I'd say the mains were the chef's core strength. This rose sauce wasn't very tomatoey - instead it almost resembled a savoury bbq flavour. The seafood was cooked to perfection and I'd say the serving size was perfect - great, great flavour!


Above: Tea-Smoked Duck Breast with duck liver & pear ravioli served with blood orange & thyme sauce. That duck breast was tea-smoked to perfection - it was exactly what I had in mind - a strong, smoky flavour (almost like I was in the same room as the fire) infused throughout the meat without drying it out. Succulent duck breast meat and the blood orange & thyme sauce was just magical. The ravioli was a let down - the pasta tasted like wonton wrappings with some pate shoved between the layers. What's with SA and pate as a filling? Too heavy! The pear didn't quite work with the pate either - the texture and flavour was just wrong - perhaps it needed to be blended through the duck liver rather than cubed and thrown in loosely.

Desserts (below): Slow-baked Lemon & Lime Tart with Jerset double thick cream & Adelaide Hills berry compote.


Above: Grand Brandy Snap Basket containing FruChoc icecream and strawberries. This was my dessert and I absolutely loved it - what a great way to end my over-indulgent, calorific meal and my holiday. All roadtrip I was just craving a great icecream and that berry compote was just so fresh and berrylicious. Fruchoc is a SA local delicacy so without knowing I could tick off another SA foodie box. The flavour was kind of like the Gaytime icecream wth chocolate ripples through it - simple and delicious! I regret not eating the brandy snap basket but I just had no more appetite left...

This was easily my favourite meal during this South Australian adventure - an excellent execution of flavours and chef skills.

Thara Thai (Adelaide)

Address: 2 Gilbert St, Goodwood SA 5034
Telephone: (08) 8272 2262

This was such a delightfully surprising meal for me - I had been eating crap all over South Australia and was just craving one really authentic Asian meal.

With 30 minutes to spare before a movie at the Capri Theatre, this was a random bet.

Below: Chicken Satay - lovely savoury classic with a lighter, more watery satay dipping sauce, accompanied with a cucumber salsa drizzled in sweet chilli sauce.


Above: Tom Yum Soup - this chicken soup was so light, tangy and sour without the spice, fragrant and those cherry tomatoes were delightful explosions of flavour. This is such a fantastic rendition of Tom Yum soup, great for those who don't enjoy the heat but love the concept. Would definitely come back here for this meal!

They also serve Thai Coffee which I am curious about but will have to wait till my next trip to Adelaide...

Maggie Beer's Farm Shop (Adelaide)

Address: Pheasant Farm Rd, Nuriootpa SA 5355
Tel: (08) 8562 4477
Website: http://www.maggiebeer.com.au/farmshop/
Trading Hours: 10.30am – 5pm, 7 days. Closed Good Friday, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day

Maggie Beer's Farm Shop is a South Australian Icon, and ground zero for where it all started. This venue paints a picture of her rich history and humble beginnings as a pheasant farm, cityslicker escaping the hustle/bustle for a tree change.

The menu here is limited and called "Picnic Fare" - you take your basket and are free to roam the farm to find either a table or grassy spot to enjoy your meal.

Above: Pheasant Farm Pate Picnic Basket - "Pheasant Farm Pate served with caramelized onion, freekah salad and wood oven bread". They give you a whole tub of the pate, which is too much to eat in one sitting but SO moorish and indulgent. The pheasant farm flavour of pate is unique - pheasant is gamier than duck once again, but lighter. I also sampled the Duck, Sherry & Green Peppercorn Pate but my favourite is the Duck, Vino Cotto & Star Anise Pate.

Below: Homemade Pheasant Terrine - "Pheasant and porcini mushroom terrine wrapped in sour cream pastry with salad greens, Vino Cotto vinaigrette and Maggie's Cabernet Sauce". WOW - this pastry is to-die-for, such a gourmet delight! The pheasant meat was like light mince between chicken & pork - very flavoursome and savoury. Definitely something delightful and different, to please even the most simple of palates!


Inside the farm shop is an opportunity to taste Maggie Beer's extensive range of pates, jams, wines, cooking spices, liquids and much more.
There is also a small display of some live pheasants - they are such gorgeous feathered birds its hard to imagine they make such a great feed...

Hindmarsh Square Outdoor Markets, Adelaide

Address: Hindmarsh Square (Park), Cnr Pulteney & Grenfell St, Adelaide SA
Website: http://www.marketsquareadelaide.com.au/
Trading Hours: Sundays?

Found this market totally by accident - I was starving for breakfast and didn't want plain old cafe food - looked out my hotel window and saw them setting up for markets!

Below: Dutch Poffertjes with cream, a squeeze of lemon juice and icing sugar - I had never eaten poffertjes before but I remember a friend raving on about these little Dutch pancakes. I loved the light zest of lemon juice but didn't enjoy the under-cookedness of the dough mixture. If that was what you were into, you would probably rate this more than I do (I like crispy pancakes).


Above: Cupcakes by a lady with a really clever trading name which I can't remember - lots of fancy sugar figurines that top the icing on the cake...

Below: There was a family selling homemade fat chips and this walnut, tomato patty burger. They had some great vegetarian burger & pastry options - I wanted to try them all but was limited in my carrying and eating capacity.

The concept is great but I'd say the burger patties need a bit more work - the flavour and texture was great - they just fell apart because a suitable bonding agent wasn't used.

The Brasserie @ Hilton (Adelaide)

Address: Hilton Hotel Adelaide, 233 Victoria Square, Adelaide SA 5000
Tel: (08) 8217 2000
Website: http://www.thebrasserie.com.au/

The concept at The Brasserie is great - a showcase of South Australian icons & produce, in the heart of Adelaide CBD.

I only heard of this place while browsing the South Australia tourism website, which lists the previous chef of the previous resident restaurant (The Grange Restuarant, headed by chef Cheong Liew) which is now closed and replaced with The Brasserie. Update your website South Australia Tourism Board! Pie floaters are also a feint!!!

Entree (below): Coorong Angus - "Braised ribs, ginger and soy glaze, kim chee, pickled daikon salad". I'm usually not a fan of Angus beef - but the glaze on these ribs were just lip-smacking! I really enjoyed the strange rendition of kimchee on the side too - it contained almost no spice and was just a combination of pickled vegetables and sesame seeds - simple and tangy.

Maggie Beer - "Porcini mushroom pâté pie, green pea soup, candied tomato, grape mustard". This is a fancy version of a South Australian classic the "Pie Floater" - a meat pie in pea soup. I don't think this dish did anyone, including Maggie Beer's pate any justice. The pea soup tasted like half-blended frozen peas (lacking sweetness & flavour, the pate was way too heavy as a pie filling and the tomato & grape mustard was obviously an attempt to lighten the dish but failing on a few textural areas.

Mains (below): Paringa Park - "Lamb rack, lemon & roast garlic skordalia, AMJ raw baby veg salad, pistachio & Hardings almond paste". Gorgeous, gorgeous meal! The lamb was pink and cooked to perfection - the pistachio was such a unique flavour & textural accompaniment to the lamb which just worked. I loved the comforting herbed mash - just a great main.


Marco’s Mushroom House - "Black and white wood ear fungus, creamy mushroom sauce, asparagus, Wiech’s black pepper noodle, Barossa Valley Cheese Co. vache". I pretty much spent the rest of my dining time staring at this main because I was too overloaded with that pate pie I had zero appetite and mental energy to tackle a wild mushroom fettucine. Kudos for using an exotic mushroom like wood ear fungus (almost like a seaweed-like texture) in a traditionally Italian dish. Some great wild, exotic flavours, but the serving size was epic and too overbearing for the capacity I had left in my stomach.

If you are strapped for time and want some South Australian food inspiration here is a great place to start.

Red Ass Indian & Thai Cafe (Adelaide)

Address: 2/120 Semaphore Rd, Semaphore SA, Australia
Tel: (08) 8341 7878
Website: www.redasscurry.com
Trading Hours: 5pm till late, 7 nights. Lunches by appointment.

I have to say that with a name like "Red Ass", one is often hesitant about making this a dining destination. My craving for Thai food and curiousity for the ' Thai & Indian' theme fusion helped build a bridge to not judge this book by it's cover.

I eyed off the most fusion-y dish on the menu and that happened to be the Indian Mee Goreng, described as 'Hokkien noodles, egg, lamb, cauliflower,carrots, capsicum, peas, bokchoy & beansprouts with a touch of curry'. I was disappointed that I didn't get any cauliflower, but this dish lived up to every expectation - mee goreng is traditionally a Malaysian staple, but the lamb & light curry flavour was reminiscent of a hearty Indian meal. I did take a photo of this dish but mobile phones do miraculous things such as not saving your photos. Looks like any other mee goreng!

Below: Garlic Prawns 'Succulent Tiger Prawns with crispy fresh broccoli, capsicum, carrot, zucchini & snowpeas with garlic in an oyster & soy sauce'. I love the abundance of fresh cut vegetables and the generosity of flavour just from a simple, oyster, soy & garlic stirfry sauce.


All in all, a great dining experience. The meals were all reasonably priced with a great variety that if you were an Adelaide local, you could make a weekly institution. I was a little disappointed with the Roti (we had cheese) - the texture was in between a shallot pancake and uncooked naan.

I think the restaurant owner came out to help with the waiting - he was efficient, friendly and I am genuinely impressed if the chefs were not from a Thai or Indian background.