Jolleys Boathouse | SA Weekend restaurant review

One of the CBD’s most celebrated restaurants has made a fresh start – with a new chef and a return to classic cooking. But is it the fare outdoor lovers expect?

Jolley's Boathouse. Picture: Mike Annese

Jolleys Boathouse needs little introduction. This riverbank restaurant has filled a particular niche in this city for more than three decades as much a constant as feuds over the parklands or Christmas pageants. For much of that time, Jolleys Boathouse has cruised along smoothly, thanks mostly to genial Englishman Tony Carroll, who was both chef and manager for 20 years.

Since his departure in 2020, however, the restaurant has been unsettled. The pandemic played its part, of course, but kitchen and floor staff have come and gone, and reports filtering back have not always been favourable.

Earlier this year, another Englishman, Harry Bourne, was appointed to right the ship. Hired as executive chef, he is also overseeing overall operations (along the lines of the Carroll model).

Bourne has firm ideas about Jolleys, what it should be, and where it was going wrong.

The interior at Jolleys Boathouse.

Standards needed lifting across the board, he says, and the cooking had become too tricked up for many of the restaurant’s regular clientele.

Changes have been made. Proper white napery has returned to cover tables, along with a small vase of flowers. Ferments, seaweed and other a-la-mode ingredients have disappeared. Even the Asian influence that was a hallmark of the Carroll years has gone by the wayside.

In their place is a menu that wouldn’t look too out of place in a flashy Parisian bistro. There is foie gras parfait and cheese souffle. Tartare and bisque. A pomme puree to help finish off meaty reduction sauces. Add shavings of local truffle for a fee if you wish.

All of which seems fine during a dinner with friends, when the only thing we can see out the front window is a reflection of our faces.

Maremma Farm duck breast.

Lobster tortellini.

Lobster tortellini is a good start, the trio of roughly crafted saffron pasta parcels swollen with poached crustacean meat and plonked into a puddle of bisque made with the leftover shells and finished with plenty of cream.

Partially deboned Gawler River quails are brined, steamed and glazed before frying and served atop a silky onion soubise. Roasted hazelnuts and a drizzle of vinaigrette enriched with a quail stock provide the finish. Maremma Farm duck is flown in from further afield (NSW), with Bourne returning to a producer he discovered while working at Quay in Sydney.

The effort is justified by the quality of the breast, dry-aged in house, and cooked until the flesh has a mere blush of pink and the substantial rim of fat is wickedly good to eat. The legs and wings, meanwhile, are prepared confit-style to layer with swede in a pressed terrine, while a parsnip puree adds another earthy note.

Jerusalem artichoke risotto.

Lemon tart.

Jerusalem artichoke becomes a puree that is stirred through a risotto, binding the rice grains and taking it part way to a porridge. The fried artichoke skins are crisp and toasty, while a black garlic emulsion and whipped ricotta add extra interest.

Desserts read like a chapter of Larousse. Quince tarte tatin, it turns out, isn’t the genuine article, served in the pan rather than flipped, with the pastry on top and the poached fruit and syrup beneath not really caramelised.

On the other hand, a slice of lemon tart, baked for each service, shows that something familiar can still be breathtaking. The crisp pastry shell, the tang of the custard, the fine layer of torched sugar – all perfect. And a classic crème caramel isn’t far behind either.

Overall, then, very good. But calling by a few days later, during lunch on a warm Sunday afternoon, some lingering doubts are reinforced.

Is this sort of food, with all its reduction sauces and dairy, really what I want to eat at Jolleys – a restaurant made to embrace the outdoors, at its best when the doors are thrown open to let in a spring breeze or watching dusk fall on a balmy evening?

The kitchen, likely, was caught out by the sudden change in season and few lighter options have since appeared on the menu. Still, it will be interesting to see how Le Jolleys evolves over the next few months.