Lunch review: Café BlaBla
It’s understandable that a night venue in the Hindley Street precinct would want to take advantage of the potential for daytime trade, particularly after changes to small-bar licensing have gentrified the laneways and the development of the Riverbank and Adelaide Oval has created more weekend foot traffic.
Located in Leigh Street among favourite foodie haunts such as Coffee Branch, Rigoni’s, COS, The Corner Bistro and now newcomer Movenpick gourmet ice cream, Casablabla – which promotes itself as a wine bar, tapas bar and restaurant, but is renowned as a nightclub and dance spot – is now open for lunch under the name Café BlaBla.
It’s hard to get your head around Café BlaBla as a lunch spot, as it still looks like Casablabla with its deep orange interior and obvious dance-floor space; if you squint, you can imagine you are in a Moroccan restaurant in Paris.
Lunch is not a new thing at Casablabla, according to owner Rory Bourke. “We stopped doing lunch in 2010, but the area has changed, so we’re trying again – Café BlaBla is Magenta’s baby.”
Magenta Potocnik is formerly of Hutt Street’s Naughty Spot Café, which closed in 2014.
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“The food at Café BlaBla is inspired by the restaurant menu at Casablabla,” she says.
“We’re using the same ingredients to create dishes that are more suited to lunchtime dining. For example, on the restaurant menu there is a dish of Kassler Smoked Pork Croquettes, but for the lunch menu we have left the kassler chop whole and are serving it with a Kewpie slaw.”
The menu at Café BlaBla is short and enticing, offering a selection of sharing plates, mains, salads, sides and daily specials. When InDaily visited, specials included “Juicey” (apple and strawberry juice, $7); “Gary pie” (Massaman goat pie with salad, $11); and “Slippery Sliders” (grilled haloumi with Kewpie slaw, $7 each).
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Favourite dish: Prawns with pickled papaya, green mango and nam jim ($16). Eight plump, juicy prawns were served on a generous salad of ripe paw paw and mango and shredded green mango, dressed with nam jim, a Thai sauce of salty, sweet, spicy and sour flavours. It was a well-presented and delicious dish that represented excellent value for money, but we couldn’t work out where the pickled papaya was – perhaps it was mixed with the shredded green mango.
Other mains included the Kassler Smoked Pork Chop; Confit Shallot and Cherve (sic) Tart; Braised Chicken with Apricot Saffron Sauce and Almond and Raisin Cous Cous – all are priced at $16. For anyone who grew up in the ’80s, the two words “chicken” and “apricot” can cause unpleasant flashbacks, but in this instance the dish is more Morocco than Maggi.
Other dishes: There were three salads on the menu – Chorizo with Olives, Orange, Almond and Rocket; Watermelon with Pepitas, Fetta and Thai Basil; and Edamame with Quinoa, Capsicum and Coriander. All are priced at $12 and sound mouth-wateringly tasty. We chose the edamame salad. It was a generous serving with great colour, enough for two, but a little disappointing as the quinoa was slighty crunchy.
Sides included Haloumi, Figs and Almonds ($7); Potato Skins, Leek and Gruyere ($7); Kewpie Slaw ($5); Marinated Olives ($5); and Ciabatta $3). InDaily chose the Haloumi, Figs and Almonds, for no other reason than it’s fig season, but alas there was not a fresh fig in sight. Two large slices of grilled haloumi arrived on a plate topped with what looked like thin poached fig slices and very thin slivers of toasted almonds – well, it was a lot of haloumi for $7 and who doesn’t love haloumi?
Something sweet/to drink: Dessert wasn’t listed on the menu, but there was a selection of tarts and friands under glass cloche on the bar. InDaily had the juice special, a refreshing blend of apple and strawberry, but the full Casablabla drinks menu includes many imported beers and wines and is worth a look.
Coffee is by local roaster Goat Candy at Thebarton, but Magenta is specialising in tea at Café BlaBla. She says her Turkish spiced apple and Egyptian rose teas have been “nostalgic” for the African clientele.
Take a seat at one of the sidewalk tables and enjoy the Leigh Street vibe – the prices are reasonable, the food is fresh and the servings are generous. We’re definitely going back for the prawns and to try the watermelon salad.
Café BlaBla
Open for lunch Tuesday to Friday (“Saturdays during footy season”), 12pm to 3pm.
12 Leigh Street, Adelaide, ph 8231 3939
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