Adelaide restaurant review: Lola’s Wine Bar at old East End Cellars site at Magill Rd, Norwood
The failed suburban wine bar iteration of East End Cellars has been reborn with an elite new chef cooking dishes that left our reviewer very impressed.
Hindsight, as the smart alecs of the world like to remind us, is invariably 20/20.
A concept that looks a sure thing one day can quickly show wrinkles that maybe should have been seen in the first place.
Consider the story of the wildly successful wine bar/bistro East End Cellars and mini-me replica it opened in the suburbs a few years ago.
It’s easy to see why the idea of taking a winning formula to a new audience looked so attractive.
But, minus the laneway setting, the inner-city demographic, the buzz of a big crowd and the bottle shop, did they really have that much in common? And wouldn’t it have been better to start afresh with a new identity anyway?
Which brings us to Lola’s Wine Bar, a freshly-minted, fun-sized creation from the same EEC team in the space that was their eastern offshoot.
Lola’s sits at the base of a new apartment complex off Magill Rd at Norwood.
Stage one of the rebranding has mostly been inside, with new marble-topped tables, reupholstered chairs and a colour palette inspired by the purple and pink hues found in burgundy and rose wines.
What hasn’t changed is the wall of bottles displayed on open shelving, as well as a glass vault for the more valuable inventory.
A rethink of the food offering that has coincided with the arrival of new chef Aaron Roberts is arguably the biggest difference-maker.
An Irishman who started as a waiter before moving to the kitchen, Roberts honed his mod-bistro prowess in well-regarded establishments in Europe and North America before coming to Adelaide two years ago.
His classic training and creative streak are on show here and the subtle intrigues and complexities of his sauces deserve a cult following.
A Welsh rarebit croquette might be heading the same way, its cheesy goo containing splashes of Worcestershire sauce and Guinness, the dark ketchup on top derived from pickled walnuts.
More sensitive souls can go directly to the prettier composition of candy-pink bluefin tuna loin topped with semicircles of new-season peach.
The sheer perfection of the raw fish pieces, and the sharp/sweet balance of the fruit, both point to top-notch produce, though when eaten together it is the latter that dominates.
Much better to treat them as separate entities and discover the real star of the show, a soul-stirring, cold-infused dashi stock that has been finished with a touch of ancho chilli.
For a combination of mussels, charred fennel and fregola, melted nduja (spicy sausage) oil is the starting point for a shellfish and white wine broth hit with a spoonful of crème fraiche and a splash of sake. Bread should be a prerequisite.
Save the standing ovations and whoops of praise for the sauce accompanying a fillet of red snapper worthy of a little foot-stomping itself, so perfectly is it cooked.
That creamy concoction around it is made by cooking down the fish heads and skin to release all the gelatine, in the style of a Spanish pil-pil, and then adding brighter notes of makrut lime and the juice from pickled green piparras (aka guindilla) chillies. Nope, not even a smidgen of dairy!
Vongole, charred corn kernels and a few of the whole chillies complete this memorable package.
Rosy pink slices of loin and a small puck from the fattier belly present contrasting expressions of lamb matched by zucchini that is turned into a puree, roasted and, best of all, fried in a frothy tempura batter.
A blob of goat’s cheese and green olive puree deliver a fresher alternative to the usual reduction.
And, finally, the panna cotta … this fragile little beauty might well set new world records for degree of wobble and amount of black vanilla specks per square centimetre. A festive red moat of rhubarb consommé laps at its base.
If it isn’t already obvious, I like Lola’s a lot. It’s a template for what a small, neighbourhood eatery/wine bar should look like.
Second time around, they’ve nailed it.
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