The Forager: Fleurieu finds, Fringe food
In this week’s column: New faces and places at Willunga, more bars in the CBD, pizza and doughnut wars, Fringe food, a return to Windy Point, and food and wine events to note in your diary.
Fleurieu pizza wars
Pizza on the peninsula was dominated by Russell Jeavons’ wood-oven delights until All Fired Up Wood Oven Pizza recently opened a permanent outlet at the back of the Hither & Yon cellar door on Willunga’s High Street.
Pizza Kneads is only a few doors up the road from Russell’s Pizza, but the battle lines have been drawn – “Due to local council restrictions we are currently open Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 11am til 5.30pm”, says the new outlet’s signage.
Russell’s Pizza has a clear run to continue to operate in the evenings on Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 6pm til 11.30pm. Russell’s also has a more expansive menu, but Pizza Kneads is slightly cheaper with 12-inch pizzas priced at $22.
Pizza Kneads hopes to extend its opening times in the future, but in the meantime its pizzas can be taken away or enjoyed in the shared courtyard or at the long table at Hither & Yon (see picture of the cellar-door interior with long table at the top of this column) with a glass of its handmade wine, or with an excellent coffee from Three Monkeys café and providore next door.
Turning pizza into wine
Three years ago, the Greenrod brothers, Marty and Jake of GoodLife Pizza, expanded into wine at McMurtrie Road Wines, with winemaker Ian Hongell on board.
Their vineyard located between McLaren Vale and Willunga has produced Happy Days, a Shiraz Cabernet blend that won Best Shiraz Blend at the 2014 McLaren Vale Wine Show.
The brothers also plan to release a two-year-old red soon.
Happy Days and Reincarnation Red (when released later this month) are available at GoodLife Pizza restaurants, East End Cellars and the Edinburgh Cellars.
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Market growth
The Willunga Farmers’ Market has just been extended, taking over the Willunga Library carpark space on the corner of St Peters and Main streets and allowing another 10 stalls to participate in the Saturday morning trade.
“New stallholders include Yaralla Worms, doing worm castings and compost, and Starlight Springs with heirloom and unusual vegetables, such as a tromboncino (a gourd-shaped squash),” says assistant market manager Billy Doecke.
In the next few weeks as the new stalls are added the number of stallholders will increase to 75.
Real French food
Food champion Jen Hanna’s little Frenchy restaurant La Terre, on Willunga’s High Street, has just been sold to Parisian couple Tarik and Sandrine Maltret, who have plans to expand the menu and wine list.
“Tarik will continue with the dishes La Terre has become known for,” says Hanna.
“Coq au vin, cassoulet, salmon carpaccio (made with house-cured salmon) and mussels will remain, but he will offer more substantial meat dishes, develop the wine list and introduce a Sunday lunch.”
Before opening La Terre five years ago, Hanna spent many years cultivating South Australia’s food culture, supplying cheese to the Adelaide Central Market, acting as an agent for Melbourne’s Italian food and wine merchant Enoteca Sileno, and then starting Adelaide’s version, Bottega Rotolo. In 2001, with Jill McBain, Zannie Flannagan and others, she got the Willunga Farmers’ Market up and running.
“I’ve taken Tarik and Sandrine to meet all my suppliers,” says Hanna.
“Tarik’s a sensational chef – he’s going to give all the guys around here a run for their money.”
Hanna plans to continue running her Willunga Farmers’ Market coffee van, Piccolo Espresso, and to develop her new business importing handmade English trugs (wooden baskets traditionally made from chestnut and willow that were mainly used for gardening and became popular after Queen Victoria bought several for members of the royal family at the Great Exhibition of 1851).
Fringe Food
Food is playing a big part at the Fringe Festival this year. As well as many of Adelaide’s best food trucks being present, some of South Australia’s best restaurants will showcase their in-house menus with a festival twist.
Fork on the Road will be in Victoria Square at the Royal Croquet Club on February 15 for lunch between 11am and 3.30pm, with food truck favourites including Burger Theory, LocaPops, Sneaky Pickle, Delectaballs, and new vendors Skwish and Delicious Monster.
StreetADL, Quiet Waters, Spice Kitchen and Mangia Mangia by André’s Cucina are just a few of the restaurants dishing up at the Royal Croquet Club starting this Friday and running until March 15. Restaurant hours will be Tuesday to Friday from 5pm to 11pm, Saturday and Sunday from midday till midnight, and Monday, March 9, from 12pm to 11pm.
Chef Victor Liong of Melbourne’s Le Ho Fook is back in Adelaide for a one-night-only banquet at Golden Boy on February 16. Liong will present his take on the Golden Boy “Tuk Tuk” with his good mates chefs Duncan Welgemoed from Africola and Theewin Chuajuk from Golden Boy. There will be two sittings (6pm and 8.30pm) and tickets are $58 per person. Book online here or call call 8227 0799.
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But the ultimate food event at Fringe this year is Fear & Delight at the Garden of Unearthly Delights, where music, circus, spectacle and culinary wonderment will be combined in a sexy, interactive feast of theatre and food.
Restricted to just 100 people per night, The Complete Experience includes a dinner under the stars that will surprise and challenge culinary connoisseurs with inventive dishes that aren’t quite what they seem.
Think oysters with black seafood and sand, beef jerky served on cow skulls with a mayonnaise of ants and larvae, an edible cocktail of seaweed jelly, water plants, frog spawn, roasted meal worms and fried grasshopper, all washed down with cocktails such as Holy Negroni (white grappa, Cocchi Americano and holy water) and Vodka Blacktail (vodka and black sambucca served with charcoal blackened ice).
More new bar news
Chianti Classico has just opened a Euro-style bar serving tapas-style food next door to the restaurant on Hutt Street.
On Waymouth Street, two new bars – Kang Kong and Gypsy Dragon – are set to open at the end of this month offering shared food and cocktails in a South-East Asian style.
Walter Ventura’s Osteria Mesa has been closed for months with works underway for a new venture – Hispanic Mechanic – to take its place.
And a doughnut challenge
North Adelaide’s Butterfingers is taking on Krispy Kreme this month by offering its custard-filled doughnuts for $1 each until the end of February 21.
Chef Domenic Tiani says the plan is to get as many people as possible to eat Butterfingers doughnuts to prove how much better they taste.
“We’ve been a little bit horrified to see how a worldwide chain offering such an over-processed confectionary item can gain the momentum it has when we offer something fresh and far superior using local ingredients – so, for one dollar, we want people to taste the difference for themselves.
Tiani and fellow chef Nicole Abbasi opened Butterfingers on Melbourne Street in early 2013.
The date place
If 2KW gives you vertigo and you’re looking to take a step back from the fast lanes in the CBD, Windy Point endures as the restaurant with the most amazing view over Adelaide, perfect for a special celebration.
Chef Justin Miles is currently offering a seven-course Summer Degustation 2015 menu matched with wines from France, Spain, Barossa Valley, Adelaide Hills and the Limestone Coast.
Expect ocean trout carpaccio, St Vincent Gulf Snapper, pork belly, confit duck leg, Wagyu rib and more ($185pp with wine pairing; 24 hours’ notice required).
There’s even a scenic lookout with car parking on the way home…
Book now for…
The Cellar Door Wine Festival – February 20 to 22
Showcasing more than 170 food and wine producers, the Cellar Door Wine Festival provides a great opportunity to learn more about our state’s wine regions and what they have to offer all in one location. Check out the What’s On section for information on master-classes hosted by renowned winemakers and chefs, extreme cheese experiences, educational “Meet the Maker” sessions, Penfolds vertical tastings, long-table brunch and lunch events and more.
Sausage making – March 25
Learn how to make sausages so you can create your own at home using the ingredients of your choice at Feast! Fine Foods’ hands-on sausage-making classes. Classes are 3.5 hours long and held at the Adelaide Central Market Kitchen. Cost is $140 per person.
Balinese cooking and other Asian cuisines – March 26 & May 14
Chef James Bodroghy has just returned from travels to Bali, Vietnam and Cambodia, full of enthusiasm and new recipes from his Asian food adventures to share in a number of upcoming cooking classes at his Grange store, The Cooks Pantry. Bodroghy’s cooking classes are popular and fill fast, so it’s best to book well in advance for his Vietnamese & Cambodian Cooking Delights class on March 26, and his Balinese cooking class on May 14. The Cooks Pantry cooking classes are held in the open-plan kitchen at the Grange store, catering for up to 10 people at once. Cost is $95 per person per class.
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