Simon Wilkinson’s best SA restaurant meals and dishes of 2021
Our food reviewer Simon Wilkinson has spent as much of the year as he could eating at SA’s restaurants – now he’s chosen his favourite meals and dishes of 2021. Check out the list.
SA Weekend
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It’s been another year of creativity in the state’s restaurants, remarkable given the pressures they have faced that are beyond their control. Based on reviews by SA Weekend food writer Simon Wilkinson and a handful of other meals, he’s picked his favourite dishes for 2021.
While some will be seasonal and not available at the moment, it’s still worth booking a table to discover what our finest chefs are up to now
SNACKS
Balls of happiness – Daughter In Law
Forget the risque name – that’s all part of the fun at this East End hotspot. Properly known as gol gappa or pani puri, these fragile globes of crisp semolina are filled with a relish of date and tamarind, another tangy one based on coriander, and thick yoghurt. Trying to take a delicate bite will likely end in catastrophe, so it is best to open wide, shove the whole lot in and prepare for a magnificent explosion of sweet, sour, creaminess and crunch. daughterinlaw.com.au
Crab and prawn dumplings – Honey Bang Bang
The year’s best dumplings come from this unpretentious diner in the Adelaide Hills. Plump with crab and prawn meat, these over-sized packages are splashed with a potent brown emulsion spiked with chilli and Szechuan pepper. It’s crab, Singapore style, without the mess. Also worthy of mention is the “Chicco Roll”, a tongue-in-cheek name for a fried Sri Lankan pancake filled with a mix of meat, potatoes and fresh curry leaves. honeybangbang.com.au
Prawn tostada masa – Bowden Brewing
Bowden’s community-minded brewery and Mexican cantina serves up many fine snacks to accompany your chosen beverage. The stand out, however, is the crisp tostada (a fried tortilla) loaded up with whipped avocado, chunks of gently poached king prawn meat, habanero hot sauce and a sprinkle of fermented chilli powder. The fried head stuck on top is there for more than its good looks. Those with the stomach for such things will find it adds crunch and a turbo boost of crustacean funk that makes this snack one for a repeat order. bowdenbrewing.com
Tea-smoked pork pancakes – Bush DeVine, Paulett Wines
It’s the accompaniments that star in these chewy, charred pancakes loaded with slices of tea-smoked pork, cucumber pickles and a weapons-grade chilli relish that comes with a warning. Chef Erky’s house-made hoisin also deserves particular mention, with three types of native myrtle leaf giving it underlying notes of licorice and five-spice. Put together, it’s a porcine peking duck that arrives via the backstreets of Bangkok and the Australian bush. paulettwines.com.au
SEAFOOD
Abalone and asparagus in paperbark – Restaurant Botanic
Justin James’s tour de force at the revamped Restaurant Botanic is so damn consistent, so thrilling from start to finish, it is near impossible to pick one dish out of the menu. That being the case, I’ve picked two. The first is this charred paperbark parcel that is unwrapped to reveal a whole abalone, neatly dissected and spread out to fit a sliver of fresh asparagus between each slice. A fermented asparagus puree and abalone liver butter bring the whole orchestra into play. How do you top that? restaurantbotanic.com.au
Murray cod, cockles, chilli and sea urchin butter – Jolley’s Boathouse
Sitting at Jolley’s as the boats and the birds drift along the Torrens, river fish seems the most appropriate choice. Chef Jack Ingram’s Murray cod fillet has the most gorgeous, lustrous flesh and is accompanied by pipis in their opened shells and discs of grilled leek, all drizzled with an Asian-leaning emulsion that is enriched with a sea urchin and fermented chilli butter. Fresh leaves of the Vietnamese herb rau-ram complete a dish that is up at the high-water mark for the year. jolleysboathouse.com
Salted mulloway, kipfler, kohlrabi – Fino Vino
David Swain is the master of restraint. At times that means only three or four ingredients, matched so well it seems they were raised to be together. For this dish it is mulloway fillet, cured in salt in the style of an Italian baccala, then soaked, lightly steamed and broken into delicate flakes. Slices of potato, shaved kohlrabi, olive oil and preserved lemon all add their own subtle nuances. Quiet perfection. finovino.net.au
Grilled Coffin Bay marron – Tasting Australia Airlines event
This most memorable of once-in-a-lifetime meals isn’t in a restaurant. As part of the Tasting Australia trip to Coffin Bay in May, travellers were taken by bus to a local marron farm. There, on a dreamy, gum-lined bank of one of the waterways, popular chef (and now TA festival director) Darren Robertson grills split marron above the coals of a campfire. As the shells char and flesh whitens, he dribbles them with a mix of lemongrass, coconut and butter. Swoon. tastingaustralia.com.au
MEAT
Beef short rib, charred carrot – eleven
Callum Hann and Themis Chryssidis have made an inspired call in appointing Dan Murphy (Appellation) to take charge in their handsome city eatery. His seductive, cohesive dishes include this small slab of short rib, lifted from its bone, spice-rubbed, braised and finished over charcoal to develop an intense dark crust. Carrot, grilled and puree, pickled onion and a green peppercorn sauce finish a combination that is beautifully crafted.elevenadl.com.au
Grilled pork chop apple, quince – Seed, Clare
Guy Parkinson’s bistro and bar are a godsend for Clare, whether you are a long-time local or just passing through. It’s certainly worth the trip for this heritage-breed pork chop from Boston Bay that is grilled on a wood fire under a weight that helps the marbling render evenly through the meat. It has a hint of bacony smoke and fat that work beautifully with a reduction sauce bolstered with marinated prunes. Add butter-fried slices of apple and quince, along with a quince puree, and this is bistro with the bells and whistles. seedclarevalley.com
Grilled ox tongue, tonnato – Bar Lune
Don’t let the merry-making at Bar Lune fool you. The cooking at this must-visit suburban wine bar is mostly razor sharp. Take this skewer loaded with paper-thin folds of pickled ox tongue. A quick turn on the grill crisps the edges and turns them into a delicate, melting, mildly bacony pleasure that sits comfortably with a tonnato-style mayonnaise, capers and grated pecorino. It will make converts of your offal-wary mates. barlune.com.au
VEG
Perfect autumn egg gingko – Golding Wines
The passing of the seasons are on full display at this Adelaide Hills winery and this dish is a perfect expression of the time of year. The hero ingredient, poached but still as wobbly as a nervous jelly, is surrounded by a seasonal collection of roasted Jerusalem artichoke, mushrooms and leek. Underpinning it all is a puree of deeply caramelised onion which, with the runny yolk, makes everything it touches taste oh-so-good. goldingwines.com.au
Penobscot salad – Watervale Hotel
Forget ordinary, dreary salad. This joyful bowl, full of ingredients from up the road at Penobscot Farm, is like frolicking through a magical cottage garden. Leaves and stems of lettuces, cabbages and other greens; slices of beetroot, cucumber and squash; apple, radish and a mix of petals and blooms have all been plucked or snipped or pulled from the ground that morning. All chef Nicola Palmer and her team need to do is give them a clean and apply the lightest of dressings. watervalehotel.com.au
Blistered peperonata – Fugazzi
The name comes from the Italian dish of sweet, stewed peppers but in the hands of Fugazzi chef Max Sharrad it is taken to another level. Capsicum is roasted, marinated and roasted again until it becomes an intense vegetable toffee offset by a vibrant green pool of thyme oil. Totally addictive, it is easily the side dish of the year, best seen alongside a grilled flat iron steak with anchovy butter. fugazzi.com.au
DESSERT
Be the Bee – Sol Restaurant, Eos Hotel
Oh my goodness. Kane Pollard, a chef with an innate feel for nature, has created a dessert that will take your breath away. “Be the Bee” looks like a just-opened sunflower, with petals of dried pumpkin dusted in calendula (marigold) powder. At the centre are shiny beads of mead gel, finger lime and a pumpkin custard, all layered into a treacle snap shell. It’s a truly beautiful plate that tastes just as good. skycityadelaide.com.au
Milk tart – Aurora
The Aurora menu channels many influences (Japanese, Thai, French) but it is the flavours of South Africa that have a special significance to chef Brendan Wessels (ex d’Arenberg Cube). Slabs of beef and peri peri chicken (of course) are cooked over wood on the braai. More subtle and just as close to his heart is the milk tart, a delicate set custard fragrant with grated nutmeg and a fine sable biscuit lid, matched with mandarin syrup and an ice-cream flavoured by rooibos, the nation’s popular red tea. auroraadl.com.au
Bunya Bunya semi-freddo – Restaurant Botanic
The second part of the Botanic double-act. The spiky fallen branches (as opposed to the nut) from a nearby bunya bunya tree are used to flavour a semi-frozen cream with fragile toffee top, as well as the matching syrup. Think of old wooden boxes filled with toasted marshmallows and nuts as a starting point but the overall effect is transcendental.
Coconut and lychee panna cotta – Blue Rose
Surprising sparks of heat from various forms of chilli are one of the pleasures to be found at this new Henley Beach eatery. They even pop up in a dessert of coconut and lychee panna cotta topped with a finely shaved lemon granita. It sounds an unlikely match but the interplay between the fragrant, rich cream and tangy ice is wonderful, more so when a little sprinkle of feisty red powder gets involved. bluerosehenley.com
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