Food Awards 2018: SA’s top restaurants, bar, cafe, chef and service hailed
From eccentric food adventures to old-fashioned warm service, here are the best of South Australia’s eateries and the people who brought them to life.
From eccentric food adventures to old-fashioned warm service, here are the best of South Australia’s eateries and the people who brought them to life.
Yalumba Adelaide Food Legends
Phan family (Vietnam)
When Dinh Phan came to Australia in 1975 aboard a crowded boat of Vietnamese refugees, dishes such as banh mi and pho would have been unknown to all but the most adventurous of travellers.
New arrivals like this were viewed very differently back then and, after moving to Adelaide and finding his feet over the next decade, Dinh opened a restaurant introducing the food he knew from home.
That was back in 1984 – as the staff uniforms proudly remind everyone who walks through the door of Vietnam.
The bright and bouncy salads, soups and stir-fries he sent out quickly found a following.
Now, of course, Vietnamese food has become a staple everywhere from lunchtime food halls to slick pan-Asian diners. But the unassuming restaurant on Addison Rd is as busy as ever.
It is still run by Dinh, wife Suong Thi Ho and their children, whose hard work and unwavering belief is recognised in the awards and clippings plastered along one wall.
It’s the first choice for both its local community and well-informed food lovers who are prepared to cross town for their favourite dishes. The dining room can be frenetic, even early in the evening, and the tables out the front on the footpath are frequently filled.
Big family groups can be seen loading up their cold rolls, digging into steaming hotpots of rice or broth, reaching across for the last fried morsel.
Staff weave their way between tables, carrying trays piled with more supplies.
The breadth of the menu can be overwhelming so it’s best to ignore the Chinese section and focus on the “signature” and “specials” pages – or follow the recommendations that are always enthusiastically proffered.
That way you won’t miss the salt and pepper eggplant topped by a feisty sprinkle of chilli, onion, garlic, spring onion and coriander.
Or the spring rolls wrapped in Vietnamese-style rice paper and filled with prawn, vermicelli, mushroom and carrot.
The “special” seafood salad lives up to its moniker with steamed prawns, scallops and sections of squid tube in a zippy lime dressing.
And don’t forget the quails. The little birds are split in half and presented to show off their lacquered skin but it is the minced lemongrass and chilli underneath that provides the whack of flavour. Forget knives, fork and manners for a moment and get stuck in.
Desserts include a standard repertoire such as fried ice cream but also more creative options, including a lychee panna cotta, that hint at the direction to be taken by the more contemporary Viet Next Door, set to open early next year.
This project is in the hands of the next generation of the Phan family, who look set to be an important part of Adelaide’s dining world for a long time to come.
73 Addison Rd, Pennington, 8447 3395, vietnamrestaurant.com.au
Restaurant of the Year + Best Regional Restaurant (independent)
The Salopian Inn
On the back of the menu at The Salopian, there is a mud-map of owner/chef Karena Armstrong’s backyard.
It shows the layout of the vegie patches, rows of rhubarb and asparagus, and a line of fruit trees (peaches, pears and plums but also loquat and feijoa). There’s a beehive near the white nectarine, horseradish beside the water tank and two runs for the chooks.
Eating at The Salopian has long felt like dropping by to see a friend – where do they find such warm, competent staff? – but the personal connection to what is happening in the kitchen is now just as strong.
And with baskets of pristine, just-plucked vegetables, greens, herbs and aromats coming from home every day, Karena’s cooking is better than ever – which is to say extraordinarily good.
That’s why The Salopian Inn is our Restaurant of the Year for 2018. Yes, it perfectly captures the relaxed dining ethos of the moment, as well as representing the extraordinary contribution our wine regions make to the state’s gastronomical riches.
But in the end it came down to our review team asking a simple question: Where would we choose to eat today, next week and next month?
A meal at The Salopian doesn’t need to be a special occasion, but it can be.
At times you will be there simply to satisfy a craving for the pork and prawn dumplings with a roasted chilli dressing that have few rivals, anywhere. The same goes for the heavenly pork buns.
Other dishes are more complex but never to the point of fussiness or mucking with the integrity of ingredients used.
Lime pickled garfish fillet, for instance, tastes of fish not acid and is dressed up with avocado, shredded beetroot, nasturtium petals, skinny rings of fried onion and a mix of herbs. It’s totally gorgeous.
A magnificent piece of steamed snapper with ginger and soy is cosied up to a spring harvest of peas, broad beans and a wedge of sweet, tender young cabbage.
The dry-aged and grass-fed rump or T-bone will have the meat lovers saying they haven’t tasted a better steak.
Waiting staff all seem to share in the house DNA, no matter their age, gender or background. Comfortable in their own skin … good talkers … impeccably briefed … and they are committed to ensuring the customers they are looking after have the best time.
Another small thing – your waiter won’t finish their shift halfway through the meal so they will be there to make sure the account is OK and farewell you at the end.
The drinks list, like the food, is better than ever. Co-owner Alex Marchetti has curated an excellent selection of affordable options by the glass, now supplemented by a few treats kept fresh using Coravin technology. And the gin list continues to grow, with more than 200 now behind the bar.
Admire the display from a share-table at the front, take in vineyard views through one of the old sash windows or laze in the sun out on the veranda.
Either way, you will experience the best of hospitality at an inn that’s been looking after travellers since 1851 but has never been in better hands.
The Salopian Inn, cnr Main and McMurtries roads, McLaren Vale,
TAFE SA Chef of the Year
Jock Zonfrillo, Orana / Bistro Blackwood
Upstairs or downstairs? What dining mood are you in tonight?
Whether it’s the thrilling adventure of native flavours and fine-dining comfort of Orana, or more accessible, everyday pleasures of Bistro Blackwood, you can be assured that the same ethos is in play.
The consistently outstanding dining experience across both these venues, as well as the important work being done to support Indigenous communities, is the reason Jock Zonfrillo is our Chef of the Year.
Add the title to a list of achievements for 2018 that includes Orana being ranked the best restaurant in the country and Jock winning the prestigious Basque Culinary World Prize for chefs improving society through gastronomy.
Not that there is any chance of Jock resting on his laurels – the constant striving to build and improve is evident in everything he does.
Orana, for instance, has evolved in a way that should give it broader appeal. The astringent bush flavours have mellowed and the previous rapid-fire delivery of snacks is more measured and flows seamlessly into other courses.
New high points include the simple street food pleasure of sensational flaky roti wrapped with Spencer Gulf prawn and a stunning arrangement of camellia petals, labneh and native currants that will have you looking at flowers in a new light.
Ideas and ingredients flow between Orana and Blackwood seamlessly, partly because chefs (and service staff) move between the two.
That roti, for instance, was first spotted in Blackwood, filled with a prawn mousse and served with a rockin’ fermented chilli sambal. And some of the native and foraged ingredients still make it downstairs.
However, deliciousness is now the priority at Blackwood and it doesn’t matter where in the world Jock has stumbled upon it.
The Italian side of his Italian/Scottish heritage seems to be calling loudly at the moment, not only in the mortadella sandwiches which his nonna made when he was growing up, but also in the excellent vitello tonnato, the risotto and pasta dishes that are regularly part of the mix (start with a cracking negroni to put you in the mood).
Prices are reasonable too, considering the quality of the package, and there is even a $10 kids’ menu.
Put both parts together and it’s a double act to match anything in the country, making Jock a standout Chef of the Year.
1/285 Rundle St, city,
Best new restaurant
d’Arenberg Cube
This award aims to recognise a restaurant that is “new”, not only in the sense of recently opened, but also in the sense of offering something different from those that have come before.
With that in mind, there can be few arguments in anointing the dining space in the phantasmagorical d’Arenberg Cube.
A visit to the Cube is to plunge, like Alice down the rabbit hole, into Chester Osborn’s head. How else do you explain the way a childhood obsession with the Rubik’s Cube has been translated into a four-storey edifice that has the potential to boost the fortunes of not just this winery, but the region as a whole.
Or why the third-floor restaurant juxtaposes harlequin-coloured seating, tribal masks and shields, and an antique contraption that presses butter into perfect rounds.
All of this, however, fades into the background when eating the food of South African-born husband-and-wife chefs Brendan Wessels and Lindsay Durr who, with a state-of-the-art kitchen, a skilled band of helpers and the words of Chester ringing in their ears, are producing a succession of tricked-up morsels that will constantly delight.
A sphere of foie gras is transformed Heston-style into a “grape” in a tawny port skin. Campfire “coals” are filled with barramundi and smeared with a Vegemite mayo in a tribute to the chefs’ new home (it works!).
The pace slows and serving sizes grow. Shards of cauliflower wafer dotted with curry leaf lean against a pile of blue swimmer crabmeat. Smoked eel is wrapped in a neat package of rice congee, white soy gel, sea parsley and a sheet of lardo. It’s Harry-met-Sally good.
The same goes for the white chocolate “namaleka” mousse with lemon curd, fennel and candied ginger, so long as you forgive the conceit of Italian meringue etched out by a 3D printer.
Dining at the Cube won’t be for everyone. For those prepared to shrug off some of the eccentricities, however, it’s an exhilarating ride.
58 Osborn Rd, McLaren Vale, 8329 4888,
Best hotel dining
Port Admiral
When the young owners reopened this landmark hotel at the heart of the Port, the community might have had cause for concern. What would these city slickers, with a background in trendy bars and cafes, do to their local?
They needn’t have worried. The Port Admiral is still very much a pub. The respect for the history of this place and affection for traditional front bar culture is on display at every turn.
It just does the stuff that pubs do – a decent feed, reasonable prices, community spirit, smiling faces – better than almost anywhere else.
The Admiral menu melds pub grub, a fish-and-chipper and the vibrant, veg-loving style of food that chef Stewart Wesson does so well.
Most plates are $20 or less and only one costs more than $25. That’s what you will pay for the Admiral’s wood-grilled 250g sirloin with two sides, which might well be the best value steak deal in town.
Or how about a plate of crunchy zucchini fritters with sumac-spiked yoghurt and a perky salad including shaved zucchini, leaves, herbs and roasted chickpeas?
The pub grub includes burgers and a chicken schnitzel, which is a flattened breast fillet with the wing still attached.
Dessert? Why not, especially when you can have doughnuts, brownies, strawberries and ice cream in one sundae.
55 Commercial Rd, Port Adelaide, 8341 2249,
Best wine list
fermentAsian
The art of a great restaurant wine list can be as wide a practice as that of the associated kitchens, from small and intensely defined regional, even estate driven sets to broader pages, seemingly unlimited by any horizon.
The very best have a sense of the person who created the selection, the curator and the collector who delivers with a blend of equanimity and excitement their vision for drinks to be as important as the food in a complete restaurant experience.
While we have awarded this list several times over the years, we keep coming back to it as the pinnacle of the art.
Grant Dickson’s list at fermentAsian is better than ever. His coverage celebrates local to global with contextual maturity. His backgrounding on every wine by the glass is astounding to start with, let alone his celebration of under-the-radar wine styles without denying a place for the classics.
Anyone who opens this list will not only drink well at the time, but come away a better informed enthusiast. Bravo again and again.
90 Murray St, Tanunda, 8563 0765,
Best community restaurant
Topiary
This delightful restaurant turns a suburban nursery into a community garden. It’s a case of forage and feast, for all.
Green thumbs can browse and later meet up with those less captivated by mulch and roses, over one of chef/owner Kane Pollard’s seasonal meals. Or you can skip the garden shopping altogether and just make it brunch, lunch or afternoon tea in a lovely patch surrounded by lush greenery and colour connecting with the Newman’s Nursery at Tea Tree Gully.
The food, served by super friendly staff indoors or out, amid French provincial columns, sandstone arbours and riotous colour, is generally just as pretty. Ingredients, many foraged, go into modern dishes all made from scratch, down to house-made bread and cultured butter.
The mood on the plates is stylish yet unpretentious enough that there will be something for everyone, from young gardeners and diners looking for fresh ideas to grandmas who love bubbles and petits fours or good bread and jam.
There’s also a vegan menu, as well as creative breakfasts and high tea.
Perhaps forage a little yourself on a plate of toasty haloumi, hidden like fallen logs under shaved spring veg, petals and greens.
One of two cracker fish dishes rates among the best of the year.
Perfectly cooked Coorong mullet fillet is given light smoky treatment, then nestled under ribbons of fennel tangled with wide inky pasta all laced with citrusy zing.
The desserts are large and rich so perhaps share if it’s part of a full repast. Mind you, sweetie-loving grans might not agree.
1361 North East Rd, Tea Tree Gully, 8263 0818,
Best Regional Restaurant (Winery)
Fino at Seppeltsfield
Fino defines what relaxed, modern dining can be in a regional setting.
The expansive courtyard with its signature date palms and fountain could place you in an elite European mansion, a glass of estate sherry in hand.
However, that local riesling and the on-point, shared menu offered by proprietors Sharon Romeo and David Swain could only come from one place.
Swain’s cooking focuses on one key ingredient in each dish, often counterpointed with the perfect savoury or vegetable foil — a chicken terrine, savoy and freekeh celebrating uncomplicated flavours and textures, while cauliflower and chickpea, nuts and subtle chilli shows command of the vegetarian oeuvre as well.
The menu, available in three-, five- and six-plate options, builds from lighter weight to something more substantial, such as dry-aged sirloin, anchovy butter and chard that’s as simple, clever and flavour-full as any steak dish could be.
Take your meal with a Seppeltsfield wine experience, a five-flight estate drinks set, though the wine list will take you further domestically and globally if desired.
Service is engaging, efficient and welcoming, ensuring an equally memorable experience for those wanting to delve deep into the food and wine offering, and more casual visitors attracted also to Seppeltsfield’s package of cellar door, crafts and history.
730 Seppeltsfield Rd, Seppeltsfield, 8562 8528,
Best Italian
Osteria Oggi
Settled into one of the arched alcoves along the wall at Oggi, you watch the dining room action playing out before you as if it were on a stage.
Wait staff work with well-rehearsed precision and a touch of flamboyance, while diners at the long communal table perform with ever-increasing enthusiasm as the night rolls on.
Hovering above this scene on their raised platform, the white-shirted kitchen crew could be ancient gods looking over their world. All it needs is a soundtrack of Puccini or Rossini – instead we have Duran Duran.
For while Oggi has its foundations built firmly on Italian tradition, it is delivered with a lighthearted spirit and contemporary panache.
Take the slices of gorgeous, silken veal tongue that take the place of poached meat in a vitello tonnato. Or the tomato-smeared soldiers laden with anchovy fillets and capers.
The crab tagliatelle, with freshly picked meat, scorched corn and a cap of crustacean foam, is one of Adelaide’s best pastas.
The pappardelle with chicken livers and chicory is another. And a whole grilled nannygai (snapper) to share with lemony potatoes, roast tomatoes and shredded fennel is the perfect communal plate.
Italian-accented wines, Italian-accented staff and a room that feels as if you’ve dropped in on a sunny piazza – nowhere else captures “la dolce vita” quite like this.
76 Pirie St, city, 8359 2525, osteriaoggi.com.au
Best Japanese / Korean
Shobosho
Shobosho signals loud and clear that the time has come for Asian cuisine to jump much higher than Adelaide has been used to in Chinatown.
Set in the pumping bar district of the CBD’s inner west laneways, the restaurant is now connected to the street more than ever with an all-day, eight-seater, short-order yakitori bar, Sho.
The main space up a short flight of steps offers booths, long tables and at-the-bar options – get close to the central pass if you want to immerse yourself in the action of the open kitchen, see the dishes obsessively plated, and feel the heat of the various charcoal grills on the go.
This is one of Shobosho’s highlights, as it presents the restaurant experience as thrilling entertainment.
The menu centres on Japanese and Korean creations with the flame and smoke of the grills key to the flavour spectrum.
Snacks grow in size and complexity to start with, all plates for sharing: try the unique salt, vinegar and nori potato crisps with a Japanese beer, or the spring onion flat bread with curried onion oil.
Vegetables such as grilled snake beans or roasted leeks are now signatures.
As are the spiced pork pot sticker dumplings and the spit-roasted teriyaki chicken, their sauces powered with dark spice and chilli that excite the senses.
Full of energy, great for groups and bar drinks, Shobosho is above all a buzzy and exciting night out.
17 Leigh St, city, 8366 2224, shobosho.com.au
Best Chinese
Empress Restaurant
Plumes of smoke swirl and eddy inside the glass dome like a fortune teller’s ball.
The waiter lifts the cloche with a flourish and, as the vapour clears, it reveals slices of duck with glossy, treacle-coloured skin.
Adelaide’s Chinese eateries, at least those in the vicinity of Gouger St, are normally more concerned with function than theatre such as this.
Empress, on the other hand, offers a dining experience more in keeping with its upwardly mobile, eastern suburbs locale.
From the suave decor to attentive service and a half-decent wine selection, it is a serious step up — with or without the tea-smoked duck.
Early bonus points are awarded for agreeing immediately to increase the portions in a few of the starters to suit a larger group.
Certainly, no one would have wanted to miss a superb prawn dumpling filled with chunks of seafood that still have spring and crunch (the yum cha at lunch is one of the best in town).
Murray cod, a fish custom-built for steaming with ginger, shallots and a soy broth, is deboned by a waiter, revealing meat that is barely set into luscious, pearly lobes. Squishy batons of eggplant are tossed through an addictive chilli bean sauce with just enough bite.
Do you really want dessert? Choose the bombe alaska and dinner can finish up with some theatre as well.
351 Greenhill Rd, Toorak Gardens, 8333 1789,
Best South-East Asian
Golden Boy
Get a “tuktuk” at Golden Boy and someone else will do the hard work of choosing what to eat. You can also plan your own journey through the dishes, controlling the level of spice – and, here, there are no wrong turns.
Flavours are big and boisterous, but never out of balance, just like the crowd that has filled this dining room from the day it opened five years ago.
Start with charry, tender kampot pepper fried chicken (be generous with the green chilli relish sambal), braised pork pancakes or soft-shelled crab tossed with sea salt and chilli.
The papaya salad sets a benchmark, with perfect balance and some added complexity through glimpses of tamarind and dried prawn.
Lush pork belly sits in contrast with its apple salad bed. Barbecued turmeric chicken with khao mun kai sauce brings a taste of the streets. For spiceheads, everything is improved by the glorious prik nam pla chilli sauce.
Golden Boy is convivial but sophisticated. While inside can be rowdy fun, outside is more peaceful, so there is a space to suit everyone. The staff are cool but not too cool, the wine list is succinct and spot on.
It’s the food of South-East Asia in a thoroughly Australian setting – just make sure to book early.
309 North Tce, city, 8227 0799,
Best Indian
Cinnamon Club
The food in many of our Indian restaurants should come with a safety warning.
No other style of cooking can make the diner feel so unbearably, uncomfortably full as the intensely rich northern-style curries that are the staple of many places.
Cinnamon Club, which has just opened its third suburban restaurant in Hyde Park, shows there is another way.
While it ticks off the standard kormas and vindaloos, its repertoire stretches across the subcontinent to regions where dairy foods are rarely used and the cooking is every bit as light, fragrant and uplifting as other Asian cuisines so popular right now.
The dosa is worthy of a visit in its own right. The fermented rice and lentil pancake, somehow crisp and chewy all at once, is rolled into a fat cylinder with a choice of fillings such as the golden mashed potato and curry leaves of the marsala dosa, with little dipping bowls of coconut, tomato chutney and vegetable sambhar on the side. Fabulous.
Swollen samosas of fragrant spiced lamb are covered in exemplary short pastry without a hint of oil. The mysteriously named “Chicken 65” is coated in shredded curry leaf and a spice blend that puts the Colonel to shame.
“Trio of fish” is a platter of barramundi fillet prepared in three different ways: roasted in the tandoor oven; dusted in spices before frying; and wrapped in a banana leaf and steamed with coconut and green chilli.
1/179 King William Rd, Hyde Park, 8299 9993, cinnamonclub.net.au
Best bar
Udaberri
Like many good things in life (cheese and wine), this Basque-inspired bar gets better with age.
Udaberri was one of the first small but beautiful watering holes to light up Adelaide’s small bar scene and continues to be a crowd pleaser. It’s like a warm, familiar hug — seven days a week.
Business founder Rob Dinnen and co-owner Ben Walsh have continued to redefine and finetune their offering: especially the food. Spanish bar food doesn’t get better.
The pinxtos (Basque tapas) has always been stellar but new head chef Perryn Gannon took things up a notch when he hit the kitchen in mid-2018. After 18 years in Amsterdam, Perryn is a master of brunch and, in addition to the late-night bar menu, now serves a brunch menu on Fridays and Saturdays (alongside sous chef Alix Gannon — his sister).
For the glass, there’s a solid list of gin and tonics, cocktails, ciders, beer, sherries, port and dessert wines. Roja (red) and bianco (white) by the glass and bottle span South Australia, Spain and Portugal.
There’s a lot to love but, above all, this bar is approachable. Ambient tunes spun by nightly DJs, a street-art licked courtyard, and cracking Bloody Marys make this a winner from whatever angle you look at it.
11-13 Leigh St, city, 8410 5733, udaberri.com.au
Best Cafe
The Flying Fig
Sturdy barrels filled with fermenting krauts and pickles sit on a shelf at the back of The Flying Fig. In the kitchen, trays of bagels are ready to cook, before being filled with the lox salmon that is also cured in-house.
While many cafes are content to smash avocadoes, flip burgers and serve up the same as everyone else, The Flying Fig is recreating the classic fare of New York’s Jewish delis with no corners cut.
Owner Paul Serafin already had experience running cafes in the CBD when a visit to the Big Apple and legendary establishments such as Katz’s set him in a new direction.
Moving out to a quieter setting in North Adelaide, he has combined the authentic deli culture with a cafe that meets the needs of its local community.
Ideas like the special of a bowl of soup (homely minestrone) and half a sandwich are all about giving customers what they are after.
For breakfast/brunch that might be a buckwheat blini with poached eggs, lox and pickled green tomato or a corned beef hash. Later in the day, the menu expands to include a matzo ball soup that should cure most ills and a reuben sandwich which doesn’t muck around with the formula – slices of corned beef, house-made cabbage and caraway sauerkraut, and Russian dressing, all on toasted rye. Magnificent.
The Flying Fig has a short wine list or you can try one of the refreshing house-made shrubs (cocktails).
161 Jeffcott St, North Adelaide, 7226 1788
Best Cheap Eats
La Popular Taqueria
Forget bland packet tortillas filled with minced meat and sour cream. Daniella Guevara brings an authentic taste of her former home in Mexico to a colourful and casual diner in the heart of the Port.
And considering the care and hard work that goes into each of the tacos and other offerings, it is all incredibly good value for money.
For a start, all tortillas are handmade using maize flour.
And the mole is a blend of dozens of spices, chillies, nuts and raisins, as well as cacao, that creates a rich brown sauce with layers of flavour.
Firstly try the frijoles: black turtle beans cooked down into a comforting, purple sludge finished with a little grated cheese. Escabeche is the perfect side dish of pickled jalapenos and vegies that adds an element of freshness to the slow-cooked meats.
Tacos come in seven choices, or you can order a tasting flight with them all. The pork (cochinita) is a favourite, the meat marinated in spices including achiote to impart its red colour, stewed slowly in aromatic banana leaf and then shredded. Add habanero sauce and pickled onion to taste. Delicious.
That mole is traditionally served with chicken but there is also a vegan version using potato.
Order from a range of local and imported beers, wines, cocktails and plenty of tequila, then propose a toast to our Cheap Eats champ for 2018.
226 St Vincent St, Port Adelaide, 0466 105 004,
Best service
George Kasimatis, Georges on Waymouth
George Kasimatis has been taking care of business at his restaurant in Waymouth St for more than 15 years now, long before the precinct was activated to its current popular status.
He’s weathered the changes not only surrounding his digs but also in community dining habits by championing what he knows best, adapting an elite Euro bistro view in the kitchen to season more than fashion, and celebrating the timeless satisfaction of fine service as an equal partner in a total restaurant experience.
Waiters in white aprons, a warm greeting at the door, table linen as a given, service with a keen eye and generous smile – these are all part of the DNA that George has instilled in his staff, and exudes personally.
Call it old-world charm, perhaps, but here lies a genuine respect for the guest and the desire to nourish as well as entertain.
His passion to get everything right at the table is tempered with a mannered sophistication and unparalleled generosity, the number of return customers the ultimate reflection of a host who defines the meaning of warm and natural hospitality.
20 Waymouth St, city, 8211 6960, georgesonwaymouth.com.au