Comida review, Adelaide Hills best restaurants | delicious.SA: Regional 50

A huge paella pan loaded with golden rice and other goodies is a reassuring sight just inside the door of Comida’s new home in the main street of Hahndorf.

A delicious brunch of Huevos a la flamenco at Comida, Hahndorf. Picture: Dianne Mattsson

100C Mount Barker Rd, Hahndorf

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comidahahndorf.com.au

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A huge paella pan loaded with golden rice and other goodies is a reassuring sight just inside the door of Comida’s new home in the main street of Hahndorf.

The Spanish specialist has shifted from its squeezy little stall at the Central Market to a white-walled cottage that opens out to twin decks and a sprawling backyard, with wood oven, picnic tables and marquees. It’s a setting made for a mid-summer night’s dream of pizza, paella, wine and friends.

Owner/chef Brad Sappenberghs’ kitchen craft goes far beyond wrangling rice and, with the Hill’s legion of producers and an extensive market garden of his own, he has inspiration all round.

The result is a menu that flows from familiar tapas nibbles and sunny Spanish flavours to the contemporary Aussie approach that can happily embrace everything from XO sauce (with Spencer Gulf prawns) to a Caesar-ish salad.

A velvety-textured block of chicken liver parfait is dressed to impress with pickled purple and golden beets to the side.

Octopus is pressed into a compacted block, with a burnt-orange splash of roasted pepper sauce and a curved potato crisp that rises above it like a well-set spinnaker.

Beef short rib has lost all inhibitions and collapsed into a braising pool that contains Pedro Ximinez, the treacle-like black sherry.

Veg dishes star, particularly a salad built around Jerusalem artichoke in two forms – wrinkly roasted flesh and crisp shards of skin – that complement each other like Lennon and McCartney.

An excellent wedge of basque cheesecake is a safe finish.

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• Hours: B Wed-Mon L Wed-Mon D Fri-Sat 
• Bill: E $9-$22 M $18-$32 D $16
• Wine: Wine list plus BYO | No corkage
• Chef: Brad Sappenberghs