Silver Sands Beach Club | SA Weekend restaurant review

Our food reviewer Simon Wilkinson says this is a beach club everyone will want to join, with an extensive wine list and delicious dishes.

Nick Stock, wine man and co-owner of the new Silver Sands Beach Club, tells a story that takes him to a happy place.

A few weeks ago, Stock says, a winemaker came in for lunch with his young son and ordered himself a beef bourguignon pie and a bottle of burgundy. The boy wanted chicken nuggets from the Nippers’ menu.

“So, there was a $350 wine and a plate of nuggets on the table together,” Stock says. “That’s something I never thought I’d see.”

While extreme, it is an example of the something-for-everyone and good-food-doesn’t-have-to-be-fancy principles that make this new-age clubhouse such an appealing destination on a Sunday afternoon.

That, and the setting of course, opening out to a deck, then an expanse of lawn, before a ramp leads down to Silver Sands, a beach that, despite sounding like a Vegas casino, is wedged between Aldinga and Sellicks.

The site has long been home to the local lifesaving club but the old storm-damaged facility was recently razed and replaced by two separate, single-storey structures: a boat shed and other functional bits at the rear of the block, and the dining/bar/socialising/functions space where we are sitting now, next to the window, gazing out to sea.

The view from the Silver Sands Beach Club dining room.

Even without the ridgy-didge surf boat hanging overhead, the room has retained the feel of a club. Furniture is designed for function over style, the carpet hard-wearing. Orders are taken at the bar and brought out by a waiting corps recruited, where possible, from among the young membership. There is also some serious hospo experience. It starts with the owners, Stock and his mate/business partner Mark Kamleh, who lives in the same street at Sellicks Beach and took the lease earlier this year.

To run the kitchen, they recruited Annika Berlingieri (formerly catering at Vigna Bottin cellar door), and then Alessandro Gramazio (Herringbone, Oggi) to create a menu that embraces pub classics, a logical emphasis on seafood, and soulful renditions of bistro (the pie) and trattoria (lasagne, eggplant parmigiana) favourites. Nothing is over $30 but, even at this price point, the effort to elevate the simplest plate is admirable. Kingfish, for example, are brought in whole and broken down so the prime belly portions can shine in a crudo plate accompanied by segments of orange and fennel in a white balsamic dressing. Offcuts poached with coconut milk become a filling for a pastie.

Beef bourguignon pie at the Silver Sands Beach Club. Picture: Supplied

Kinkawooka mussels, fennel, serrano ham at Silver Sands Beach Club. Picture: Supplied

And the bones are used in making the broth that is pooled beneath a pile of poached Kinkawooka mussels, at their winter best, finished with shaved ham and fennel, a combination Stock brought home from a trip to France. Tradition dictates that fries must be served on the side but, while they are sensational, I’d still like some bread for dunking as well. Fries are also one half of the house fish and chips, in which the bold choice of Coorong mullet rather than a more neutral fillet to encase in beer batter proves a winner on all levels. The decision on the salt and pepper squid, on the other hand, is more pragmatic, the cost of the best local calamari, apparently, putting it out of reach.

It is the day’s sole disappointment.

Coorong mullet fish and chips at Silver Sands Beach Club. Picture: Supplied

Swordfish steak at Silver Sands Beach Club. Picture: Supplied

A grilled swordfish steak draped over slices of kohlrabi stacked like a potato bake (or dauphinoise, to use the proper term) sounds très French bistro, but add a roasted tomato sugo and green olive and caper salsa and it jumps from Paris to Positano.

To finish, rum baba filled with double cream and a sprinkle of lemon zest is so light and bright you might just forget to share.

Stock, of course, has put together a wine list (plus a second premium collection) the likes of which you will struggle to find in a surf club anywhere in the country.

Already busy, the Silver Sands Beach Club should be bonkers over summer. So if you want your schnitty and chablis, better get there soon.