Top 22 Adelaide dishes you need to try before 2022 is over
Are you a foodie? From stunning snacks to dreamy desserts, these are the top 22 dishes you need to eat at SA restaurants – before 2022 is over.
Food & Wine
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From stunning snacks to dreamy desserts, there have been many dishes to surprise and delight across South Australia’s top 100 restaurants, listed in this year’s delicious.100.
Here are our 22 favourite things, in no particular order, for 2022. Some dishes will be seasonal, others are permanent fixtures on the menu. Either way, start planning your dining diary now.
Want to win dinner at our delicious.100 #1, Restaurant Botanic, up to the value of $2000? Vote for your favourite restaurant in our delicious.100 ranking to go in the draw – voting closes midnight, August 21.
SNACKS/STARTERS
Mussel, wagyu tartare, koji butter
Magill Estate, Magill
Many of the salvo of snacks created by Scott Huggins to kick off dinner at Magill are worthy of a place here but this one stands out. A timber spoon, sitting on a bed of pebbles, holds a single mussel pouch filled with wagyu tartare. It is surrounded by white koji butter dotted with chive oil and crowned with fried saltbush leaves. That single mouthful – its sensual textural interplay, the silly surprise of it all – might be gone in a moment but it won’t be quickly forgotten.
King george whiting, apple, kohlrabi
Eleven, city
The suave CBD restaurant of SA food identity Callum Hann and Themis Chryssidis shows a deft hand with its sauces throughout the menu – even with a raw fish entree. Strips of king george whiting are given the briefest of soaks in a lemon cure, then tossed with the one-two crunch of pink lady apple and kohlrabi. It is the most delicate and ethereal of ceviches, even before a chicken and wakame sauce takes it up another gear.
Parfait tartlet a la Burnt Ends
arkhé, Norwood
It’s not only slabs of meat and whole fish that benefit from the smoke and flame in the fire-powered kitchen of arkhé. A signature dish borrowed from co-owner/chef Jake Kellie’s formative years at Burnt Ends in Singapore, these fragile little tarts of molten liver parfait wouldn’t be the same without the bitter-sweetness of their blackened brulee lids.
Potato scallop
Sho Sho, Hyde Park
Oh my. This one-bite morsel sure makes a lasting impression. A plump, sweet scallop is lightly coated in crumbs and fried with the mastery you would expect in a kitchen renowned for its expertise in tempura. It is returned to the shell on a bed of miso mayo and topped with crunchy wisps of fried potato. They might be $9 each but it’s a purchase you won’t regret.
SEAFOOD
Squid times two
Muni, Willunga
The creative minds of chefs Mug Chen and Chia Wu are at their best in this calamari double-act that shows what is possible with this underrated local seafood. Flattened clumps of squid tentacles, spreadeagled like a starfish, are laid on a charcoal grill and then blasted with a blowtorch flame, so they are hit with intense heat top and bottom. Laid on an oily orange emulsion of the spicy sausage ‘nduja, the squid bottoms are the flavour equivalent of sitting with an ear to the speaker at a Guns and Roses gig. Their ying-and-yang match are delicate noodles made from strips of the near-raw tube twirled atop a stack of oyster mushrooms and crisp puffed rice. Magnificent.
Marron, corn, lemon myrtle
Restaurant Botanic, Adelaide
Justin James’s exploration of the various interactions of two ingredients – marron and corn – has so many parts, and twists and turns in the cooking, that it would fill half this space to cover in detail. In summary, then, the marron tail is poached in a marron butter and then grilled in a bundle of native leaves, accompanied by a corn sauce and fermented chilli oil. A cob of corn is also cooked in marron butter before grilling and then being covered in an emulsion of the marron coral (gunky bits from the head). Meat from the claw is mixed with a charred corn paste and wrapped in a perilla leaf. Oh, and there will also be some type of corn bread to the side.
Tommy ruff, eggplant
Fino Vino, city
Fish and eggplant … that’s pretty much it. As with much of David Swain’s cooking, this dish relies on exceptional ingredients and a minimum of mucking about. Fillets of tommy ruff somehow have lustrous just-set flesh beneath skin that looks as if it has been to the gates of hell, their smokiness echoed softly in a bed of eggplant pulp. If you had the grill on your fishing boat, it couldn’t taste fresher.
Coorong mullet and carp ballotine
Victor’s Place, Old Noarlunga
This clever tribute to the Coorong brings together two fish, one highly regarded for its eating potential, the other a pest that is a scourge to the whole river system. Head chef Chris Bone creates a farce from the minced belly meat of a carp, then uses it to stuff a crisp-skinned fillet of Coorong mullet. This parcel is accompanied by hakurei turnips, succulent sunrose leaves and a chicken and miso butter sauce.
Grilled octopus, orange, miso caramel
Slate, Clare
Newish chef Tristran Steele seems right at home in this elegant restaurant that is part of the cellar door complex at Pikes Wines. Here, super-soft chargrilled local octopus tentacle is cut into perfect bite-sized pieces and presented with alternating plops of miso caramel and squid-ink aioli. A garnish of orange segments plays an integral role, providing zingy pops of freshness. It’s a lovely entree package.
MEAT
Sweetbreads, ajo blanco, cavolo nero
Press Food and Wine, city
Tom Tilbury’s first menu at the revamped Press had many highlights, but none better than this dish that just might convert a few naysayers to this challenging piece of offal. Veal sweetbreads are peeled, brined and gently poached before a final searing, giving them a delicate, luxurious mouthfeel that is somewhere between an oyster and a scallop – but better. They are tossed through an ajo blanco (almond cream) sauce and covered by a teepee of fried cavolo nero leaves and fermented green almonds. It’s a dish that shifts the goalposts.
Ox tongue, red cabbage, salsa verde
Casa Carboni, Angaston
It might not be a restaurant in the traditional sense, but the dining experience alone offered at cooking school Casa Carboni is worthy of the drive to Barossa Valley. Owners Matteo and Fiona Carboni host a long lunch on Sundays – there’s no menu as such; instead diners will be treated to a procession of traditional Italian fare that will likely include pasta, risotto and some protein in the mix. With luck, it might include beautifully cooked ox tongue on lightly pickled red – nay, bright fuchsia – cabbage, with a generous topping of garlicky salsa verde. The dish is a triumph that will appeal even to the offal opposed.
Hahndorf pork, savoy cabbage, Jerusalem artichoke
The Lane, Hahndorf
The meat sourced from local farmer-cum-butcher Max Noske & Son is one of the heroes of this dish from chefs Tom Robinson and Cameron Ahl at The Lane. The other is the ingenious cabbage, that is braised for six hours with aromats including ginger and star anise, creating a luscious meld of harmonious flavours with pork fillet roasted in kombu butter, the confit belly and a Jerusalem artichoke puree.
Grilled wagyu, beef fat waffles
Maxwell, McLaren Vale
Yes, this is the meat section, and the piece of wagyu sirloin grilled by chef Fabian Lehmann is indeed exceptional. But the real star here are these dark, sticky waffles that arrive on a folded napkin, as if they are the crown jewels. Tearing them apart greedily, it becomes apparent they have not been made with a normal batter, but a croissant-style layered pastry that is brushed with beef fat before being put in the press. And that while supplying a house-made ricotta for dipping is commendable, the waffles’ true purpose on this earth is to be swiped through the glossy puddle of sauce at the base of the beef. Bread will never suffice again.
VEG
Mushroom omelette
Leigh St Wine Room, city
Think an omelette is a little wholesome and dull? Peter Orr’s version at Leigh Street Wine Room is another matter entirely. A small cast iron gratin dish, still super-heated, is covered by a cheese and truffle hollandaise glaze, its surface scorched like a crème brulee. The Vegemite-looking black blobs dotted across it are an unctuous black garlic paste. Dig in and there are slices of mushroom in an eggy ooze. It smells ridiculously good and tastes even better. Cue eye rolls and cries of wonder.
Celeriac croquettes, smoked macadamia
Farm Eatery, Nuriootpa
True to the spirit of Maggie Beer’s wider food empire, daughter Elli and chef Tim Bourke serve up regional dining that is accessible to everyone. Take this generous entree of celeriac croquettes beneath an avalanche of finely shredded parmesan and circled by a delicious, more-ish swirl of beautifully smoked macadamias. Put together, the crunch on the croquettes and the macadamias is dreamy.
Eggplant, chickpeas, feta
Otherness, Angaston
Working solo to feed a full house, chef Sam Smith produces miracles on a nightly basis at this Barossa wine bar and eatery. Being super organised allows him to pull together combinations such as these wedges of dark, chilli-crusted grilled eggplant, so soft and gooey inside they are almost indecent, with sweet/sour onions, currants, chickpeas and creamy feta.
Cucumber, melon de sapo
Lost Phoenix Farm, Hindmarsh Valley
One for the summer … This simplest of salads is made from wedges of cucumber and the pale, barely sweet flesh of melon de sapo, a pas de deux of ingredients offering crispness and juice but almost neutral in flavour. The genius, then, is a dressing of gin syrup, rosemary and dill, along with a basil leaves and a delicate sprinkle of salt, that make it feel like someone has managed to turn the world’s most refreshing G&T into a vegetable.
PASTA/PIZZA
Cacio e pepe
Little Wolf, Mitolo Winery, McLaren Vale
Chef Vincenzo La Montagna presents this pasta bound in a napkin, a nod to the origins of the dish which would be carried by Roman shepherds for their lunch. Thick noodles are served cold and simply seasoned with feisty Cambodian ground pepper and parmesan that adheres to the coarse surface texture. The course serves as a timely palate-cleanser midway through the long Da Noi menu.
Kimchi pizza
Anchovy Bandit, Prospect
Because not everything has to be fancy but everything does have to taste bloody good. The pizza slingers at contemporary Italian-Asian fusion diner, Anchovy Bandit, combine two of life’s great pleasures – kimchi and pizza, to create something familiar yet new. Tendrils of the slightly hot and tangy fermented cabbage are strewn across the traditional Neapolitan-style pizza base, thin and puffed in all its glory, accompanied by oozy smoked mozzarella (scamorza) and onion. It all sits atop a deliciously herby “green sauce” – think pesto meets salsa verde. Dine in or takeaway.
DESSERT
Quince sorbet
Magill Estate, Magill
The first of two excellent desserts from the Magill team, this combination will make you look at quince in a different light. The fruit is transformed into an astounding sorbet that somehow offers the decadent mouthfeel of a frozen custard but is also deeply refreshing. The sorbet is shaped into a well that is filled with olive oil and a puree of the quince brightened with lemongrass and ginger.
Fried milk custard
The Little Rickshaw, Aldinga
This “tin shed” in Aldinga has fast become one of the Fleurieu’s dining hot spots for its tasty (and well executed) South East Asian fare, cheerful atmosphere and humble service. Desserts change frequently, but ask for the physics-defying, tempura fried milk custard, served with Davidson plum, umezu (plum vinegar) and shiso syrup. It’s fun, inspired and the perfect sweet finish that will appeal to all ages. Or as co-owner Mike Richard describes, “it’s fried stuff with dippy stuff”.
Lemon tart
Herringbone, city
Chef Quentin Whittle doesn’t hold back with the citrus zing in a Lisbon lemon tart brulee that’s quite enough to satisfyingly share after a grazing meal. Individual serves are flashed with sugar to tap-tap crunch, a gorgeous persimmon caramel dripping over the sides. A small dollop of crème fraiche is sufficient to cut the richness.
Contributors: Simon Wilkinson, Jessica Galletly, Dianne Mattsson, David Sly
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