Having a friend visit from Perth provided me the perfect excuse to spend a beautifully sunny Saturday pursuing some my favourite food spots as well as the opportunity to explore a few new ones. The idea was for me to act as designated driver/host for the day so that she could experience some good wine and good food within the more central part of Adelaide. We started with a late brunch and ended with a dinner, and I must say every place we visited put out some great food :)
Le Carpe Diem
Our first stop was at Le Carpe Diem on Grenfell Street, this French inspired cafe serves traditional crepes, galettes and pastries. My friend is in love with all things French and has been learning how to speak the language so this seemed like the perfect place for breakfast. I had booked a table but when we arrived the girl seemed a bit confused and just sat us on the first empty table she found. Interestingly later on another girl placed a reserved sign on the table next to us with my name and number of guests, which we moved onto our table so someone else could use the space. We were given menus and told that we ordered at the counter. After a lovely chat my friend headed up to order and I took the time to take in the cafe. The venue does have a very French feel, and the decor is vintage/country without being cliché. The tables are little squashed together downstairs but not in a obtrusive way, actually quite similar to cafes I visited in France. It was really quite busy, and watching the people working there it was obvious that they were struggling to keep up and with only two girls cooking I saw a extended wait for food as imminent.
Our drinks arrived after 10-15 minutes, quite a while for a mug of coffee and a juice. I ordered the La Rouge juice, a combination of berries and apple from memory, Either way the flavours were great... not too sweet, well balanced, nicely chilled and fresh it was a really lovely drink. My friend's latte originally arrived in a cup when she ordered a mug...when we let the staff know there was a flurry of conversation in French and it was switched, but my friend translated that the waitress was suggesting we were wrong, I kind of feel like this was a little rude, I have no problem with the staff talking in French but if you wouldn't say it front of the customer in English then you shouldn't really say it at all. The coffee was well made fortunately, and my friend enjoyed it when the replacement arrived shortly after.
I suppose I must be upfront and say service didn't improve much at this point, after our drinks came we waited nearly forty minutes for two crepes. I even asked how far off the food was, which is not something I would normally do. Given that only two people were cooking for a full cafe a wait was inevitable, but I feel like that amount of time for such simple dishes is a little too long. When the food did arrive there was a five minute wait between the dishes being brought out, my sweet crepe came first... then my friend's savoury one. This is one thing that is a real let down for me at any venue, I always feel rude starting before my co-diners and in this case waiting meant my ice cream had started to melt by the time my friend's food arrived.
Anyway on to the actual food, I ordered the Marggaux sweet crepe, in a single (you have the option for a double). This crepe was a combination of figs, fig jam, walnuts, maple syrup and vanilla ice cream. From my first bite to my last this was divine, it was like I was back in France enjoying a crepe made the traditional way. The texture was spot on, dense but still light and thin with a enough bite to make it slightly chewy but not tough or rubbery. A perfect golden colour it was evenly cooked with no burnt or overdone parts. The filling was generous, a thick sticky jam, plenty of maple syrup and an abundance of soft sweet figs. The walnuts provided a much needed textural crunch to complement the rest of the dish. The ice cream was outstanding, super creamy and with that unique silky mouth feel that only quality ice cream has.
My friend's savoury galette was a combination of mushrooms, cheese, egg, ham and tomato. The savoury galettes here are a buckwheat based crepe and my friend reported this was also perfectly cooked, soft but with just the right amount of 'toastyness' to provide a textural crunch to the dish. The cheese was thick, and melted to gooey deliciousness whilst the egg was cooked to perfection, set whites and a runny yolk. This was well seasoned and all the ingredients were well proportioned.
I have mixed views on this cafe, the food was absolutely fantastic, the best traditional crepes I've had in Australia, and definitely worth heading here to try. The ingredients were top notch, the servings were fairly portioned and the flavours were just so moreish. The service however was a let down, we waited far too long and there were a few mix up along the way. I am hoping it was a once off, but from previous reviews it seems to be a common experience for diners. If this place can iron out these few service hiccups (my recommendation would be another staff member on cooking or install another grill plate) they would be my go to recommendation fro French crepes in Adelaide and I am sure they would see plenty more foot traffic through the door. I will revisit, the food was totally worth it, and if your willing to maybe wait a while then I'd head in to try the real flavours of a true French Crepe.
East End Cellars
The next stop was East End Cellars, a new and very unique cellar door concept in the CBD. This venue has light food, wine tasting and sell a huge range of unique wines and other alcohol. The venue itself is gorgeous, very spacious, modern with a relaxed but hip feel. I think this will be an ideal place to relax and spend long summer afternoons! The seating inside is in high table/bar stool format, more typical cafe seating and bench seating whilst there is cafe tables and chair seating out the front, so plenty of options for parties of one to large groups. When we arrived it was just after midday and the place was still quiet, however I did notice a lot of people coming into buy wine (even the Premier dropped by while we were there :) We grabbed a bar table and menus to pursue before heading up to the counter to order. The venue serves very light food (thinks toasted sandwiches full of high end local produce and cheese/meat platters) some pastries/cakes/cookies, coffee and obviously wine. On this occasion my friend's opted to try the current wine and cheese flight whilst being the day's driver I went with a imported cherry cola I had never seen anywhere else before. We were given the soft drink and my friend's extra glass of sparkling and were then quickly attended to at the table by a staff member who served the wine flight. I didn't catch his name but he was fantastic, really friendly and so passionate about the wine and food they were serving. I honestly believe great staff is the make or break of a venue and this place and their knowledgeable staff certainly have customer service down to a fine art. The whole visit I felt we were treated really well.
Quick snap shot of my cherry cola. We were told this was imported from the UK and that even though the staff member didn't really like soft drink that this was something different. I certainly agree, very old fashioned with a subtle sarsaparilla/cherry flavour and a much thicker consistency then your typical mass produced soft drink I really enjoyed this. I like that this venue is serving something more unique for those not drinking and can give some back story on the product as well.
My friend's indulged in a wine flight showcasing the 2014 Spring release from Ochota Barrels. We were given a run down of the history of the winery and the wine maker, an overview of each of the wines as well as a recommendation of starting with the creamiest cheese paired with the white then to move trough to the prosciutto to pair with the red. The wines included in the flight were the weird berries in the woods gewürztraminer, the surfer rosa garnacha and the green room grenache syrah. The standout of these three was deemed to be the grenache which was really light, most certainly a summer red that wouldn't feel too heavy on a warm evening. It impressed that much that one of our party purchased a bottle, which was also very reasonably priced. The bread and cheeses were all delicious, a crusty fresh bread, creamy and soft brie, a strong cheddar type cheese and a salty, thinly sliced prosciutto all complemented the wines seamlessly.
Overall I think I fell in lust with East End Cellars, it's one of those venues you could spend hours and not even realise. A very impressive offering right in the heart of the CBD my friend from Perth was extremely impressed. I will certainly be revisiting (and more than once!) and highly recommend any of my wine loving readers do the same.
The Curious Squire
Next stop for a late lunch was the Curious Squire on O'Connell Street, a long time favourite I had my birthday celebrations here last year. Every visit the staff are friendly and chatty, the food is epic and the vibe is always fun! My friends both ordered a beer tasting paddle which has a selection of Jame's Squire beers to try and upon returning the paddle you get a schooner of your favourite! It's a great option to try something new and is pretty good value.
For lunch we ordered a few of the smaller/entree items to share, a large wings, the cheese fries and and the dips. As usual we had a great time chatting to the staff and our food was served within ten-fifteen minutes. All three meals were served at the same time and each was generous in portion size. I'll start with the dips... a ton of corn chips accompanied three dips, a spinach and artichoke, a queso and a tomato salsa. The chips were really awesome they were fresh, crispy and had a good flavour on there own but not so strong it overpowered the dips. Sometimes I find corn chips are over seasoned, soggy or stale so first tick there :) The queso was cheesy and had just the right amount of jalapeno kick, the spinach and artichoke had a thick, golden cheese crust that gave way to a gooey, moreish dip and the chunky tomato salsa provided a great balance to cut through the richness of the other offerings.
Next up, the cheese fries.... oh my the cheese fries. Perfectly cooked and seasoned crinkle cut chips, epic amounts of bacon, sour cream, queso and cheese these were hard to stop eating! Nothing was soggy, all the ingredients were provided in balanced amounts and they weren't greasy or heavy. A really fantastic job on a dish often done badly.
Lastly the buffalo wings, these were definitely the standout and it was no surprise when one of the staff told us they are currently selling 200kgs a week! Every single wing we ate was perfectly cooked, being juicy, tender and falling from the bone. The sauce had a decent kick but wasn't overpowering or 'too spicy' and it sufficiently coated every wing without being excessive. They also had a delicious creamy ranch sauce on the side that was the ideal accompaniment to the spicier wings. I am not a huge wings fan, and often skip over them as plenty of time's I've eaten dry, undercooked, gluggy and generally unappetising pieces of chicken... that was not the case here and I would most definitely order this again on a revisit! A perfect entree to share or as a main with another side.
So The Curious Squire impressed yet again, amazing food and top notch service, I'd rate them as one of my favourite pubs in Adelaide. I foresee plenty more visits during the summer to sit in the courtyard enjoying the live music and crazy good American inspired food.
The Grace Establishment
Our last stop was at the Grace Establishment on the Parade at Norwood for dinner. I've eaten here before and really like the modern, spacious and funky feel these venue has. The service here is always efficient and quick, and the menu has a good range of choices.
On Saturdays you can buy a jug of Grace Sangria for $15 so we grabbed one of these to share. A unique combination of vodka, elderflower, lemon, cranberry and rose the drink was well balanced, not too sweet, not to boozy and very, very easy to drink.
For main's my co-diners both order the buns combo, one had the Mini Grace and the Chicken, whilst the other went the Mini Grace and the Bug. All reports suggested that these were delicious, with the Kewpie in the Bug and the patty in Grace getting special mention. The buns themselves were fresh and soft, the chips well cooked and overall these were well received and a good way to try a few of the offerings for a pretty decent price tag.
I opted to order the 'Fancy Pants' salad a combination of baby spinach, roasted beetroot, blue cheese, pear, caramelised onions, pecans and balsamic vinaigrette with added grilled lamb cutlets (because lamb+beetroot is a match made in heaven!). This was a seriously great salad, every single component was done well from the sweet, sticky pears and onions to the salty blue cheese and tender juicy beetroot I could have eaten this ten times over. The lamb was grilled perfectly with a slightly charred smoky flavour, melt in your mouth fat, a rosey pink centre and meat that fell away from the bone with ease. The salad was dressed well and an adequate serve for a main meal.
Our final stop for the day and the Grace once again impressed. A solid combination of tasty, quality meals and good service. One of those restaurants/pubs/bars I would recommend as being a great option for functions, casual get togethers and cheeky afternoon drinks with friends.
No comments:
Post a Comment