Dining at Pantry on Prospect
Is it a store? A cafe? A restaurant? Read our reviewer’s take on POP, the new restaurant from an Adelaide food duo.
I remember vividly when Callum Hann, loved households-wide for having nearly won MasterChef Australia 2010, and his dietitian friend and business partner Themis Chryssidis opened the doors to their anticipated first restaurant Eleven, in Waymouth Street.
It was the end of 2020 – nine years after the pair co-founded Sprout Cooking School – and Eleven promised a fine dining experience with a sophisticated fit-out and elevated food. It was truly great. But – call it the pandemic, the decline of foot traffic during Hotel Marriot works, or a wider shift away from formal dining – the pair ended up changing tack, re-modelling the venue as the more casual Italian restaurant Roma, in 2024.
Callum and Themis also opened the Middle Eastern-inspired Olive in Pirie Street in 2023, and for a while there ran cellar door restaurant Lou’s Place in the Barossa Valley.
Their newest project, Pantry on Prospect, feels like them. Championing local, simple and nutritious food has always been at the core of what they’ve done; Sprout was all about giving people the confidence to cook well at home. Nothing complicated nor pretentious. And that’s exactly what you’ll find at Pantry on Prospect.
The pair has already adjusted the concept since opening in April, dropping breakfast service to focus on lunch and dinner trade. Their aim is to establish the Prospect Road venue as a bona fide restaurant rather than a coffee-and-cake cafe, even if the branding retains a sense of fun and informality. The key will be ensuring locals understand the offering.
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The light-filled fit-out at the base of Harrington Apartments strikes a balance between relaxed and refined. It’s anchored by a sophisticated central bar, at which one can sit for coffee, small plates and wine, while pops of orange, wavy lines and scallop tables bring a playful retro edge. The venue’s main point of difference is a generously stocked pantry wall that stretches almost a full length of the room, while a refrigerated section runs along another. From gourmet tinned fish and giant jars of olives to boutique chocolate and local cheeses, it’s a mecca for food lovers (bring your pocket money).
Many of the pantry goods are used in the kitchen – such ingredients are highlighted on the menu with an asterisk, making it easy for diners to purchase items they’ve tasted and loved.
At Thursday lunchtime, the place feels convivial – a mix of ages and occasions, and wine pours freely. It’s barely been open a month when I visit, but there’s already a sense of familiarity here. Wait staff are friendly and helpful, especially when ordering said wine – the list is a considered one, featuring more than the usual suspects from South Australian makers, as well as local spirits, softies (Mischief Brew, BTNC and Halls) and juices.
Menu-wise, expect approachable dishes that dabble in worldly flavours. Start with the Spanish-inspired gildas – short skewers of wild caught Port Lincoln tuna, hefty green Losada olives and guindilla pepper, topped generously with a zingy salsa verde before it’s draped with an Oritz anchovy. Over to the streets of Mexico, a crispy fried chicken taco is elevated with a spritely tomatillo salsa, cooling whole lime crema and local Chilli Mojo salsa (available in the pantry, of course). Fold it all up in the gorgeously charred corn tortilla and down it in two bites.
You’ll also find the likes of La Vera haloumi with Woodside honey and fig, and Emma Shearer’s acclaimed Lost Loaf sourdough, plated with a trio of olive oils or flavoured butters. The latter involves chicken skin, Vegemite and plum salt, and while the first two flavours could go harder (crispier and more skin, and more salty ’mite), the third is – to quote Goldilocks – just right.
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A selection of six larger dishes is equally appropriate for sharing and solo eating. Adelaide Hills chicken is cooked beautifully – plump and tender – the breast coated in Sichuan spices before being roasted and thickly sliced. It sits atop a black rice salad (they’ve coined it tabbouleh) with chopped green herbs, juicy bursts of pomegranate and garlic yoghurt. It feels a healthy, satisfying lunch.
Ricotta gnocchi is tempting (no surprise it’s popular), but we opt for the pumpkin. A great big wedge of it is slathered with harissa then roasted until that paste is scorched and sweet, then it’s topped with all good crunchy things – candied macadamias, crispy saltbush and fermented chilli. Sitting atop a puddle of cashew cream, it’s the kind of nourishing dish (it would also work as a side) that you want to keep tucking into – and it happens to be vegan.
Don’t miss the brussels (yes, really). A sharp, tangy aroma hits our nostrils as soon as the bowl hits the table, thanks to a liberal dose of seven-year barrel-aged sweet vinegar from Coriole. Dare I say, even the kids will get around them.
With so much emerging in Prospect, from housing to hospitality projects, POP is a smart addition.
We manage to squeeze our lunch into an hour, but I’m eyeing off the pantry…
Pantry on Prospect
Chef: Em Evans
Cuisine: Contemporary
Wines: Great list of local wines, spirits and softies
Cost: Smalls $6-$26, most mains $34-$39. Share menu $77.
Must try: Brussels sprouts
71 Prospect Road, Prospect
Open: 11am-late Tues-Sun
Hot take: Bring a bag to stock up on goodies.
This article first appeared in the June 2026 print issue of SALIFE Magazine.
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