SA Weekend restaurant review — Fourth on Jetty Rd, Glenelg

A lively all-day bar and restaurant owned by two young brothers has opened in our seaside tourist strip, writes Simon Wilkinson.

Crispy squid salad.

It’s after dark on Jetty Rd, Glenelg, and the lingering promise of good times hangs in the air. A warm evening belies the close proximity of winter and the ferris wheel on the foreshore lights up like a star that has fallen to the ground.

Take a look into the succession of open dining spaces along the tourist strip, however, and the impression isn’t so positive. Most aren’t close to half-full. A couple are empty except for owners and staff. Summer crowds look a distant memory. And this on a Sunday night.

One of the few exceptions is Fourth, a shape-shifting establishment where the day starts with early-morning espresso and eggs every-which-way, morphs into lunch and then a more ambitious dinner, before finishing late at night with cocktail shakers behind the bar going full bore.

prawns at Fourth, Glenelg

Whatever the hour, owners Mike and Henry Papatolis and their like-minded staff ensure Fourth operates with a youthful energy that might go a long way to ­explaining its success.

The brothers are the fourth generation of their family to run a food-related business on the strip (hence the name) and would have needed all the wisdom of their forebears when opening last year and then running headlong into the pandemic.

At least they have plenty of space for distancing in a location that is classic bright-lights Jetty Rd, with a legendary yiros shop to one side, a convenience store the other, and Hogs Breath steakhouse above.

Inside is an oasis of style, with a mix of booths and high tables spread around a room finished with plenty of polished timber, hanging plants, 50 shades of green in the decor and a clever textured finish on the walls that a cynic might say looks as if they have forgotten the tiles.

Fourth bar, Glenelg, Mike Papatolis & his brother Henry

A bar to the left looks to be the centre of activity and when you are handed a ­leather-bound folder listing the beverages, it is easy to understand why. It’s not just the cocktails. Fourth’s wine list is one of the best I’ve seen in a suburban venue, not ridiculously long but meticulously chosen, with plenty available by glass in two sizes. Whisky and gin from Australia and beyond are also specialties.

I’m sure many people go just for the drinks – it is an option when booking online. However, on paper at least, the food offering looks attractive, with a user-friendly mix of plates finished with enough contemporary touches to suggest some talent in the kitchen, a combination not easy to find in this part of the world.

Generosity certainly isn’t a problem. Serves are uniformly huge. Take the steak sambo lunch special. Triple-thick slices of lightly toasted white bread are stacked with egg, potato rosti, cheese, spinach, avocado and pieces of top-quality grilled steak. It’s a challenge to grasp, let alone eat, but you certainly won’t leave hungry.

The same goes for a vego burger that combines juicy portobello mushroom, corn fritter, haloumi, avocado and beetroot hummus in a black bun. It feels like two breakfasts jammed into one.

Dinner shows more finesse but the dishes we try could still do with some editing. Strips of squid are heavily camouflaged in a sweet coconut coating that given the iffy background of the seafood may not be a bad thing. They sit on a salad of cucumber, mixed greens and chunks of charred pineapple in a neatly balanced Asian dressing. If you like pina colada …

12 hour lamb shoulder at Fourth, Glenelg. Picture Supplied

From the “Large” selection, the 12-hour lamb needs some serious work on presentation. A slab of shoulder has the dry, unloved look of a hospital meal but at the first poke of a fork disintegrates easily into tender shreds. Smear these with pink beetroot yoghurt, add a bit of cucumber pickle and they come to life. A few flatbreads to the side would be a welcome addition.

The steak is no oil painting either. A round of fillet, topped with a melting pat of kimchee butter, is surrounded by char-striped leek discs, beetroot chips and asparagus. Underneath is a bed of sweet potato puree gradually being washed away by an encroaching puddle of red wine sauce. Seasoning the meat properly and subtracting an element or two would make the picture clearer. Portuguese tarts, brought in each morning from another business, are the only sweet offering. Coffee, from Dawn Patrol, is excellent.

The care that clearly goes into the selection and preparation of beverages at Fourth isn’t truly reflected in the food.

It’s hard not to conclude that, at this stage, the dining is a bit of an afterthought. Perhaps there are a few tough decisions to be made here.