Tag / dining

by brandsa2018

Mother’s Day: SA’s top chefs share their favourite family eating spots

Mother’s Day is approaching on Sunday, May 12 – a chance to spoil the greatest women in our lives. What a better way to show your appreciation by treating Mum to a meal out at one of South Australia’s dining establishments – and supporting local jobs and producers along the way! Brand SA News contributor Vanessa Keys hunted down some of our state’s top’s chefs to discover where they’ll be taking their family this Mother’s Day.

Georgie Rogers is head chef at East End Cellars.

“Mum and I love driving out to regional restaurants and making a day of it. The Lane at Hahndorf is a favourite – the view is spectacular and Jimmy’s (head chef James Brinklow) food is always a delight.

We also go to Mum’s local pub The Kentish a lot – their smoky paprika hummus with ground lamb is amazing. For brunch, I recommend the scrambled eggs at Hey Jupiter. They’re light and creamy – definitely the best in Adelaide.”

Georgie Rogers of East End Cellars.

Nikkita Wood is the pastry chef and manager at Comida. She also runs catering business A Place at the Table.

“I prefer to stay home on Mother’s Day and avoid the crowds. I usually do a brunch spread with Mum’s favourite goodies from the Adelaide Central Market – Fleurieu Milk yoghurt, KI honey, fruit from House of Organics, pastries from Dough, Brillat-Savarin triple cream from Smelly Cheese, plus my homemade granola and jams.

As a family, we love Sukhumvit Soi 38 on Pulteney Street – the flavours are incredible and the dishes great for sharing. For Sunday lunch, we head up to Terroir Auburn in the Clare Valley. Dan and Annika have taken over the café next door to the restaurant and the food is top notch.”

Comida pastry chef and manager Nikkita Wood, right, with her mother and sister.

Jeffrey Trotter is head chef at the Hagen Arms, and Five O’Clock Somewhere.

“One of our favourites for brunch is Pane e Latte. Order the breakfast carbonara – the baked spaghetti gives it the perfect crunch – and the paccheri al ragu di polpo, which is hands down the best octopus ragu in Adelaide, if not Australia.

For dinner, we love Parwana – they have three menus that they rotate throughout the week. Bring your own wine – their BYO charge goes to the homeless. And for Sunday lunch, Casa Carboni in Angaston is a must. (Owners) Matteo and Fiona make you feel like family, and everything is prepared fresh with produce from the Barossa markets. You feel like you’re in a tiny Italian village.”

Jeffrey Trotter of the Hagen Arms pub in Echunga.

Jodie Zerna is head chef at My Grandma Ben.

“This Mother’s Day I’ll be cooking at My Grandma Ben and hopefully giving all the mothers a day off! We don’t dine out a lot as a family – we tend to have barbecues and bring a plate to share – but when I visit my sister in Christies Beach, we always get fish, chips and tabouli at Champion Takeaway. Ask for the fresh flake – they catch it themselves.

For a cheap lunch, we head to Pho Minh in Mansfield Park – order the pho with oxtail, tripe and tendon. And for brunch, the spicy ramen at Black Dog Gallery in Tusmore is a must (and great for a hangover).

If we’re feeling fancier, we head down to Salopian Inn in McLaren Vale for local SA seafood and something green from their kitchen garden.”

Jodie, right, with her mum and sister.

Luke and Anthony Savas run Pan & Vine.

“We usually spend Mother’s Day at Yiayia and Papou’s (grandparents) house. Mum will serve her signature dish – Moroccan chicken – with Yiayia’s homemade apricot jam marinade.

When we go out, we head to Shobosho and order the roast leek and the kingfish sashimi with yuzu dressing. For brunch, we love the Exchange Specialty Coffee – the Wallace sandwich with avocado, pancetta and chipotle mayo is an institution.”

The Savas brothers of Pan & Vine in Kent Town.

Caitlin Duff runs Sibling café.

“Sibling’s open on Mother’s Day, so we’ll spend the morning there and then head to Mum’s for afternoon tea – this is a special one as it’s my first as a new mum.

For Sunday lunch, our go-to is Fino at Seppeltsfield. There’s eight of us siblings and partners all with varying preferences and they never skip a beat in accommodating us all.

As a family, we go to Goodness Coffee Co in Aldinga every single day (sometimes twice) because their coffee is so good. And we love to drop into My Grandma Ben at Plant 4 Bowden when we visit The Lost Loaf to pick up our bread order. Order the roo stack – it’s delicious and ethical.”

Nathaniel Morse and Caitlin Duff at Sibling café.

Kane Pollard is head chef at Topiary.

“For a relaxed family meal, we head to the Stanley Bridge Tavern. They have a great wine list and tasty small plates – the hummus and wedges with house chilli jam are both great.

For brunch, we love Acacia at Henley Beach. Do the tasting menu – (chef) Duane does an incredible job of piecing flavours together that push you a little out of your comfort zone. We also recently had breakfast at C.R.E.A.M, which was pretty impressive. The donut breakfast sandwich felt a little wrong but so incredibly right at the same time. I had it with a side of buttermilk fried chicken – delicious.”

Kane Pollard, left, of Topiary in Tea Tree Gully.

Feature image: The Lane, Adelaide Hills, SATC.

Visit I Choose SA to meet the people building business and industry in SA, and to find out how your choices make a difference to our state.

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by brandsa2018

Brilliant new batch of SA chefs rising

A new league of star chefs is making a big impression on South Australia’s dining scene. They are driving restaurant kitchens with aplomb and flair, even though many have taken the top job in kitchens for the first time, and their inventive menus are enticing a steady stream of curious diners.

Annual festival Tasting Australia has helped shine a light on this activity. In celebrating the nation’s best culinary experiences, the festival’s series of special banquets and dining events have put rising SA chefs in the spotlight, celebrating the flair and talent at work in our top restaurants.

Daniel Murphy is making a significant fine dining statement since taking over the stoves at Appellation restaurant, at The Louise resort in the Barossa, although his rise comes as no surprise to Barossa locals.

Daniel has cooked in the region at Fino Seppeltsfield, Saltram’s and was recently head chef at St Hugo Restaurant (ironically working beside executive chef Mark McNamara, who established the Appellation kitchen 12 years ago). Daniel’s first opportunity to construct his own menu has resulted in bold presentations of the finest regional fare.

Daniel Murphy of Appellation restaurant at The Louise resort in the Barossa Valley.

Max Sharrad recently moved from his head chef role at innovative pan-Asian hotspot Shobosho to now drive the stoves at Nido in Hyde Park. This new attraction, one of restaurateur Simon Kardachi’s popular suite of hip eateries, was beloved by locals through 20 years when it was called The Pot, before a recent refurbishment and change in style to an informal Italian-accented menu.

Max, who cut his teeth in the kitchen brigade at Orana, won the national Young Chef of the Year at the 2018 Appetite for Excellence Awards.

Oliver Edwards came to The Summertown Aristologist in the Adelaide Hills after leaving chic Melbourne dining den Cumulus Inc. He was inspired to dig for his own fresh vegetables on a nearby farm, then find inventive ways to present them as the primary attractions in his ever-changing Aristologist menu.

His hands-on commitment to producing all dishes from scratch extends to milling his own wheat (for house-baked sourdough bread) and corn, making cheeses, vinegars, preserves and smallgoods.

Oliver Edwards of Adelaide Hills establishment The Summertown Aristologist.

Such incisive thinking about food informs striking authenticity and integrity on the plate, capturing supreme freshness and vitality in a range of dishes that change almost weekly, in accordance with what Oliver harvests from the farm.

Tom Tilbury has made sustainability his signature, taking a serious view of the paddock-to-plate philosophy that ensures his menus at Gather @ Coriole in McLaren Vale embrace flavour from the ground up.

Foraging formed an integral part of the kitchen output at his previous restaurant – the tiny Gather Food and Wine in Robe – and has remained important to him since moving to the bountiful Coriole Vineyards estate last year. Tom’s close relationship with local farmers brings maximum freshness to his seasonal dishes.

Quentin Whittle at Herringbone is no stranger to Adelaide diners, although this is the first time that he has an ownership stake in a restaurant. He has a wealth of impressive cooking experience, from The Melting Pot, through The Stranded Store at Colonel Light Gardens, to Stone’s Throw at Norwood.

Quentin Whittle of Adelaide restaurant Herringbone.

All through this progress, Quentin delivers great generosity as he embraces many different cultures on every plate, finding delicious harmony between Middle Eastern, South-East Asian and southern European influences.

Flying under the radar of many diners is Janghoon Choi, the Korean-born chef and proprietor from +82 Pocha, a new Korean restaurant in Grenfell Street, Adelaide. Modest and highly skilled, Janghoon came to Australia in 2005 to study cookery and hotel management at Le Cordon Bleu campuses in Sydney and Adelaide.

“I want to be a cultural ambassador with my food,” he says. “Not many people know very much about Korean food apart from kimchi, but I aim to show that there is so much more to enjoy.”

The deliciousness of Janghoon’s food has caught the attention of Orana chef and Tasting Australia programming director Jock Zonfrillo, who included Janghoon in the festival’s elite Glasshouse dinners program.

“He’s a rising star,” says Jock. “He’s very talented, and as he gets more experienced, we’ll see some awesome things from him.”

Janghoon Choi of new CBD Korean restaurant +82 Pocha.

A rising generation of female chefs is also making an impression in leading Adelaide kitchen brigades and will be worth keeping an eye on as they progress.

This includes quiet achiever Hayley Goodrick, who is now head chef at SC Pannell winery restaurant at McLaren Vale, and Amelia Hussey, who has joined ambitious new North Adelaide restaurant L’Italy (which has superseded Walter Ventura’s Spaghetti Crab and Spaghetti Meatballs pop-up eateries).

Tasting Australia ambassador and Salopian Inn proprietor Karena Armstrong, respected among Adelaide’s most assured chefs and kitchen leaders, is fostering a great talent in Alisha Shurville – first employed casually as a 14-year-old student and now a permanent part of the Salopian team after having recently qualified as a chef, while scooping the award pool at trade school.

“If she stays focused,” says Karena, “I bet she will run her own restaurant one day.”

Feature image is Max Sharrad who is now driving the stoves at Nido in Hyde Park.

Visit I Choose SA to meet the people building business and industry in SA, and to find out how your choices make a difference to our state.

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by brandsa2018

Adelaide’s expanding appetite for vegan dining

Growing curiosity about veganism in SA has lead to a broader acceptance of vegan food in mainstream Adelaide restaurants.

No longer isolated as a fringe interest, vegan dishes are being featured in eateries that cater exclusively for vegans – and also at restaurants that had initially staked their success on the popularity of meat dishes.

American-born chef Greggory Hill has made vegan dishes a star attraction at Hispanic Mechanic Mexican Restaurant at Frewville in Adelaide’s southern eastern suburbs.

Appreciating that vegans shun all animal products, and eat only plant-derived ingredients, he has introduced a separate vegan kitchen and degustation menu as part of what the restaurant provides.

Hispanic Mechanic’s 10-dish vegan feast includes pantacones (crisp slices of deep-fried green banana and guacamole); tostones made with smoked corn, black-bean soy protein and chilli; bola sin carne (non-meat balls made of soy protein, rice and quinoa in chipotle sauce), and his quirky and delicious KFC (Korean-Fried Cauliflower), which has now become the restaurant’s most popular taco filling, far exceeding meat and fish options.

The popular KFC taco by Hispanic Mechanic.

“I’m always looking for the delicious factor, and I find it in how creative and inventive the Mexicans are with plant-based materials,” says Greggory. “This is where the really exciting deep flavours are.”

The spread of established vegan restaurants throughout Adelaide is growing, with notable attractions including Raw Conscious Eatery in Chapel Street, Glenelg, Salem Vegan Café on Marion Road, Ascot Park, and V-Vego at Gawler Place, Adelaide, where proprietor Coco Chen has noticed a surge in attention for the eatery since she opened in June.

She says it’s not just about serious eating, with the Asian-influenced vegan dishes featuring grilled zucchini, banana blossom salad and Dengaku Nasu (miso grilled eggplant). It’s about enjoyment and fun, as Coco Chen notes that pomegranate gin and tonic is V-Vego’s signature cocktail.

More new vegan eateries are emerging, including the recently opened Bob Bowls Café in Port Adelaide.

Jessie Morris of Bob Bowls Café in Port Adelaide.

Vegan caterer Jessie Morris has created a café space within the large Cult & Harper art gallery and retail space, after deciding to take a serious step beyond providing regular pop-up food stalls at events and markets.

“I seized the opportunity to have a crack at presenting this food in a permanent space – and I call it delicious street food rather than vegan, so that I don’t limit the number of people who’ll eat it,” says Jessie.

“I’m pleasantly surprised by the reaction, especially from 30–40-year-old blokes from offices, who first try it tentatively, but keep coming back for more.”

To demonstrate Jessie’s point, his All In Bob Bowl (sumac roasted pumpkin and baby spinach stacked with red lentils, pickles and coleslaw, toasted hemp seeds, fresh dill and house sauces) has become a universal favourite.

He points to other eateries in the heart of Port Adelaide featuring vegan and vegetarian options, at Raw Earth, Red Lime Shack and Drummer Boy, as a sign that vegan eating options are shifting towards mainstream acceptance.

“There’s no sign of this slowing down,” says Jessie. “There’s no limit to what a vegan menu can offer. It’s a springboard for a chef’s imagination.”

These vegan pumpkin tarts are works of art!

To underline the broadening interest in veganism, the annual Vegan Festival Adelaide has recorded a sharp escalation in attendees, from 7500 in 2015 to about 18,000 last year, including a sharp increase in curious non-vegans.

Numbers are expected to be even higher at this year’s festival in Victoria Square/Tardannyanga on Saturday 27 October, from 10am to 9pm, and Sunday 28 October, from 10am to 4pm.

“Everyone’s jumping on board, but I can only look at this in a positive light,” says Vegan Festival Adelaide director and festival co-ordinator Lea McBride.

“The number of options that vegans now have is so very exciting. To get people tempted into trying vegan dishes, we have to make our food taste so much better.”

Diverse food choices – from pickles through to extravagant vegan chocolate desserts – are being presented within a festival program packed with live performances, speakers, cooking demonstrations and more than 80 stalls with merchandise, information and food.

The informative nature of the festival also shines a light on I Choose SA Day on October 27.

Chocolate almond torta by Francesco’s Ciccetti at last year’s festival. Photo by Linda Tobitt.

Stallholders at the Adelaide Vegan Festival will display I Choose SA Day merchandise, so that consumers know the products are sourced from SA.

Escalating esteem for vegan food is also evident in the popularity of the Veguastation Dinner – an elite five-course dining statement that will open the festival on October 24, hosted in Prohibition Gin’s Gilbert Street warehouse.

Tickets for the fine dining experience, prepared by Sydney caterers Alfie’s Kitchen, who are flying into Adelaide especially for the event, sold out four weeks ago.

“Chefs are experimenting, working outside the norm with plant-based menus, and the results are both fascinating and delicious,” says Lea. “Adelaide is proving to be a leader in this area. Yet again, South Australia rides at the forefront of a powerful social movement.”

Visit I Choose SA to meet the people building business and industry in SA, and to find out how your choices make a difference to our state.

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