Restaurant review: Marshi’s Kitchen in the Adelaide Hills

The service at this new restaurant might not have been smooth for SA Weekend food reviewer Simon Wilkinson but all good things come to those who wait.

Raw cashew curry and other dishes at Marshi's Kitchen, Stirling

Marshi Gnanasooriya’s life has always revolved around kitchens. They have sustained her, employed her, been a constant through dark days and moments of triumph.

All these experiences are woven together in the food she cooks now. An edible life story, if ever there was one.

So, when she opened her first restaurant a year ago in Stirling, naming it Marshi’s Kitchen it made perfect sense. Since then, Marshi’s has built a devoted local following, particularly after adding a more refined, Sri-Lankan-leaning dinner service on Friday and Saturday nights to the daytime café offering.

Gnanasooriya has been building to this moment since she was a small girl. After her father died when she was five, her mother (or amma) would make ends meet by preparing meals for a few restaurants close to their home in the suburbs of Colombo, the Sri Lankan capital. She and her young siblings would help with the cooking, learning the smell of toasted spices, the rhythm of proper knifework, the crackle of frying mustard seeds.

When she was 19, Gnanasooriya came to Melbourne and studied commercial cookery, before working at a remote mine and then a group of popular cafes. A relationship breakdown prompted a shift to Adelaide, where she found jobs in a number of restaurants.

Having settled in the Adelaide Hills with husband Steven, she discovered that the old Locavore was closing. She saw potential in the Swiss-chalet vibe of its tall A-frame roofline and a light-filled interior that is now filled with lush potted greenery and Sri Lankan artworks.

That open plan does present logistical challenges, however, with seating split across three zones: an outdoor terrace; a small mezzanine upstairs; and the more casual ground floor where live musicians perform occasionally.

Marshi's curry at Marshi's Kitchen, Stirling. Picture: Supplied

Prawn fritters and other food at Marshi's Kitchen, Stirling. Picture: Supplied

The Friday night of this visit is one of those times and our reservation ends up being right beside the “stage”, forcing a move outside. Now, it isn’t clear whether the blame lies with this table change, a technology glitch, or simply two inexperienced waiters trying to cover too much territory, but our order goes AWOL. We watch bemused, and then frustrated, as everyone else is fed and we have nada. But what we eat, when it finally arrives, is definitely worth waiting for.

From the entrees, peeled tiger prawns are cocooned in a paste of red lentils and then fried to create a crunchy, nobbled coating. Wrapped in a lettuce cup with herbs, pickled onion and coconut sambal, they have all the hands-on pleasure and textural interplay that make a snack memorable.

Son-in-law eggs are adapted from the Thai street-food repertoire with the googs submerged in a pale, G-rated coconut milk gravy. Fried curry leaves and a chewy sambal of tempered onions, dried chillies and mustard seeds add the finishing touch to this and many other plates.

The coconut gravy features again as the sauce beneath a marginally overdone pan-fried fillet of barramundi that sits on a plinth of rice and is crowned with a shredded kale sambal.

Exterior at Marshi's Kitchen, Stirling. Picture: Supplied

Prawn fritters with coconut sambal at Marshi's Kitchen, Stirling

Most Sri Lankan food is vegetarian or vegan, explains the menu notes to Marshi’s curry bowl, a single-serve feast including heavy dhal-style lentil curry; banana pepper stuffed with caramelised onion; raw cashew curry; and a devilled potato that, as the name indicates, is the one place that the chilli is given its head. Try them all individually before following the chef’s recommendation and mixing it all together.

For carnivores, cubes of lamb shoulder cooked for at least six hours in a richer curry from the northern Tamil city of Jaffna is a stunner. Long after the meat is gone you will be returning to the sauce and wondering at its tapestry of flavours.

Desserts include a crème caramel with a subtle hint of cardamom in the custard and syrup, while sago pudding is sweetened with both jaggery (a sugar) and kithul treacle that come from the same palm tree. Classic comfort food, that.

Marshi’s Kitchen is a challenging one to score because what you make of it will depend on your world view. If slick, professional service is a priority, that is still a work in progress. Those willing to go with the flow, on the other hand, will find both the chef and her cooking are vibrant, generous and good for the soul.

49 Mount Barker Rd, Stirling

8339 4416

marshiskitchen.com.au

Main courses

$28-$38

Open

Breakfast, lunch daily

Dinner Fri-Sat

Must try

Jaffna lamb curry; Jaggery sago pudding

Verdict

Food 14.5/20

Ambience 14/20

Service 11/20

Value 15/20

Overall 14/20

As a guide, scores indicate:

1-9 Fail; 10-11 Satisfactory;
12-14 Recommended; 15-16 Very Good; 17-18 Outstanding;
19-20 World Class

delicious.com.au/eatout