Rozelle’s, Carrick Hill | SA Weekend restaurant review

Two celebrated families of different eras are brought together by a new development in the grounds of a grand Carrick Hill estate.

SA Weekend pics of Rozelle's restaurant at Carrick Hill.

Laying low during the recent heatwave, I spent a few hours watching the impeccably dressed Stanley Tucci devour the food of Italy’s great cities, greeting every bowl of pasta or slice of prosciutto with an inevitable “Oh my God”.

Even so, he (and I) seemed to find an extra level of delight when visiting a restaurant in Rome’s Jewish quarter for a plate of globe artichokes trimmed and fried until the petals opened like a beautiful flower.

The fried artichokes at intriguing new eatery Rozelle’s are something quite different. This isn’t Rome and it’s not even artichoke season.

But nibble away at a plate of these crisply battered buds and stems alongside a glass of fiano or Aperol spritz and you may well be moved to exclaim … “Oh my God”.

Rozelle’s is part of The Pavilion, a project that entwines the legacies of two of Adelaide’s most celebrated families in a purpose-built development in the grounds of a grand estate.

The first family is the Haywards, who envisioned and built the Carrick Hill mansion, as well as being instrumental in bringing Adelaide everything from Coca-Cola and the Christmas Pageant to the Festival of Arts.

The other is the Favaros, a family best known for their restaurant Chianti and a style of relaxed hospitality that changed the way we dine.

Food at Rozelle's restaurant at Carrick Hill.

Not that the Haywards would have dreamt for a minute that something so utilitarian as The Pavilion would be allowed in their backyard.

For that we can thank the current custodians of Carrick Hill, who, with the aid of federal and state governments, have built this modern elevated structure, up the hill but not visible from the old mansion due to a stand of trees.

That also applies in reverse, so the view from the balcony that wraps the function room and far smaller cafe/diner offers a stunning vista over gardens, suburbia and distant coastline in one direction, carpark in another, but not the house.

Both spaces have been leased by the second generation of Favaros, Nick and Jessica, children of Chianti founders Frank and Maria.

It was Frank who found the metal-clad wood oven that dominates Rozelle’s squeezy kitchen and is indicative of the trajectory of a business that, when first conceived, was going to sell coffee, scones and not a whole lot more.

The kitchen at Rozelle's restaurant at Carrick Hill.

That initial plan has evolved, just a little, into a menu developed in consultation with English executive chef Josh Cooke (who also oversees Chianti) that builds from snacks and salads to pizzas and a handful of other mains.

Share the focaccia loaf, even if it risks filling up early.

Crisp shelled and fragrant with good olive oil and rosemary, it is wonderful on its own, but also a necessary sop for the juices from a plate of oxheart tomato topped with a burrata ball that is pierced to release its creamy innards.

The prime role for Frank’s oven is firing pizzas that are built on a poolish dough base, fermented over four days, producing a crust that is truly the light fantastic. Four topping options are Italian through and through.

Some of the food featured by Rozelle's Picture: Visual Domain/Domenic Scopelliti

Beyond the obligatory margherita, there are less predictable options such as a sensational bianca combination of translucent sheets of mortadella, the poor man’s prosciutto, smeared with pesto and crushed pistachios.

The “wood-roasted half chicken” is more accurately a breast and thigh fillet, roasted, sliced and then swamped in several ladles of a light chicken jus, roasted capsicum, capers and a final shroud of leaves and shoots that must deplete the herb garden. One for a rethink, at least in the wording and mode of presentation.

No such questions surround a tiramisu that is simply scooped out of a large basin and set down on its side to display the layers of marscapone and espresso-soaked sponge, finished with a dusting of cocoa.

Appropriate too that the English heritage of the original property owners and the chef are acknowledged in superlative scones with strawberry confiture and proper clotted cream.

If Tucci was at the table, you know what he would be saying.