Restaurant review: Street-ADL
The new kid on the block, Street-ADL is a bold addition to Adelaide’s dining scene.
Following the closure of Adelaide institution Universal Wine Bar, Scottish-born chef Jock Zonfrillo scooped up the prime Rundle Street premises – and with visions of grandeur.
Zonfrillo seems to be a man of great ideas and passion, and a particular bent for Indigenous ingredients which some say is modelled on the (in)famous British chef Marco Pierre White.
Street-ADL is Zonfrillo’s first creation since his falling out with Penfold’s Magill Estate management and is designed to be a laid-back appetiser for his true project, the exclusive Orana, to be located upstairs.
The communal, industrial setting features parquetry floors, dim lighting and long tables of multiple heights punctuated with row upon row of stools. It is the kind of place for which diners in Melbourne and Sydney would line up, toeing the fine line between pretentiousness and cool and offering food that is unique.
Although lacking the exposed beams, pipes and lighting of a true industrial fit-out, the split-level restaurant has an eclectic feel, highlighted by the neon-lit menu which covers one wall.
There is confusion upon entry, as no real direction is given. Staff can be hard to distinguish from guests, and the bar seems to be the only focal point.
Eventually placing ourselves at the end of one of the lower communal tables, we get to the wine list and menu.
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The menu is varied. It’s heavily local, but in a slang that could leave some diners with little understanding of what is actually on offer – hot-smoked Goolwa pipis would be alien to many Adelaideans, let alone tourists.
The wine list offers great value, is nicely constructed, and tours many regions around the world with some inventive varieties.
The beer selection comprises a range of Aussie and international boutique brews of varying sizes – mainly long-necks. It is a nice touch, but prices range from $11.90 for a long-neck of Melbourne Bitter to $34.90 for a bottle of 32 Via dei Birrai (apparently it’s an Italian micro beer).
The wall-lit menu displays a series of ingredients, a cooking method and price. For instance, the Street BBQ, a choice of lamb, chicken, Kangaroo Island marron or scallops or gulf prawns and wild greens.
There are pulled sangas (kangaroo, aged beef and cauliflower), monkey nuts, cheeseburger of dry-aged rump, South Devon steak and others. It is food made for groups looking to pick.
To start, BBQ Kangaroo Island marron is served with a smoky sauce. It is divine, the shells of the crustacean cooked at a high enough heat for the tender flesh to be easily picked. A wine bottle is even utilised to crack the small claws to clean up the last of the sweet flesh.
The KI scallops are also unreal, served in shell with an extra hit of fresh salty liquid and native succulents; they are basic, yet some of the best I have enjoyed.
It is obvious Street’s intention is to source premium ingredients and cook or prepare them simply; to let the basic flavours of quality produce do the talking.
The shared pork shoulder is a large chunk of tender pork, tasty enough and served rather simply.
The thin-cut Coorong mulloway is served raw with herbs and native flowers – it has nice flavours but lacks any acid or dressing to pull it together and break up the dense flesh of the fish.
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The food is generally pretty good. Servings are a decent size for the price, while meals are cooked with care and skill and delivered to the table in good time.
The problem is they are served in cardboard boxes with wooden knives and forks. There is something very wrong about prising a beautifully cooked marron from its expensive shell with utensils that feel they could leave splinters in your tongue.
Street-ADL could easily be considered a glorified food truck for those who don’t quite enjoy being out of the comfort zone.
Put simply, service and utensils don’t do the food justice, and at the moment it looks like it will be very out of place underneath the native-ingredient-based and highbrow Orana.
While the restaurant/bar does deserve credit for being an ambitious addition to Adelaide’s sometimes conservative dining scene, small changes would definitely make Street-ADL a much more enjoyable experience.
Three out of five
Street-ADL
285 Rundle Street, Adelaide
08 8227 0344
Open seven days.
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