Summertown Aristologist review — it’s the real deal, writes Simon Wilkinson
A CELLAR-DOOR eatery with a hands-on approach embodies the qualities that many visitors find so attractive about the Adelaide Hills.
HERE’S a new game to play next time you are eating out. Let’s call it Hospo Spotto. See how many kitchen and floor staff from other restaurants you can recognise enjoying the experience of being tended to by somebody else. And if you want good odds of scoring at least a few points, then The Summertown Aristologist is a good place to start.
For chefs from the fast and slick city, the quick escape up Greenhill Rd to a place that revels in being a little rough around the edges and dirty under the fingernails has obvious appeal. And for switched-on food lovers visiting from other parts, it has become a hub for all that the new guard in the Hills has come to represent.
Some, I’m sure, will be more than slightly envious of the Summertown crew, who open only three days in a week and spend the rest of their work time growing veg, milling grain, producing smallgoods … living the dream. Still, I’m sure it will not be everyone’s glass of unfiltered pinot noir. The beards are out of control. Vegies outweigh meat. And where some will choose adjectives such as funky and earthy others might talk about the pong.
Settled in for a weekend lunch, however, and it is all unbelievably convivial. Everyone that walks in seems to know three others already there and that is before, right on cue, the team from city siblings Orana and Blackwood arrive for a birthday bash.
Their former colleague Aaron Fenwick, who helped open the Aristologist 18 months ago, has the afternoon off but, in his place, a familiar face in Jonathan Marinis shows he has easily fitted into the spirit of things.
Over in the kitchen, where a gleaming meat slicer looks the only flash bit of kit, chef Oliver Edwards also looks well settled a year after moving here from Melbourne. He talks with parental pride about what is growing up in the Aristologist patch and the joy of crunching sweet-leaved raw cabbage or baby sprouts.
And in a lunch with so much to love among the seven savoury dishes available, it is indeed the veg that shine the brightest, whether they are taking the lead or playing a support role.
You can almost imagine those little sprouts squealing as they are split in half and thrown into a ferociously hot pan, so their outer layers wither and char, developing all those roasty-toasting flavours. They are plopped on to soy bean cream that is like a whipped curd, but lighter, and crowned with a frizz of fried leek and toasted sesame seeds. It’s an inspired combination that just happens to be vegan, which somehow makes it seem okay to slather an extra thick layer of house-cultured butter on dark, treacly bread.
Seafood comes direct from the source (via Fair Fish SA) and tends to be the smaller, bycatch species. Tommy ruff fillets are custom-made for an escabeche-style treatment, their firmish texture and proud fishiness balanced by a smooth-edged vinegar marinade, carrot slices and celery. Fried silver whiting is more delicate and has just enough presence to stand up to charred spring onions and a fresh orange dressing.
Red meat is only offered a single beast at a time, or not at all as is the case today. Instead there is a “duck pasta” in which the duck features only as a component of the broth and the spelt noodles are a little too wholesome for my liking, even with a sprinkling of porcini dust and grated egg yolk. “Chicken, garden greens”, however, is exactly as promised: slices of roasted breast and thigh, a bed of broccoli and wilted chard, and a deep puddle of amber-coloured broth that is worth a final slurp straight out of the bowl.
The two desserts are treble and bass: a dome of chewy meringue with orange curd, lemon thyme and segments of fresh citrus in one bowl alongside a wedge of walnut cake with poached pear and burnt butter ice cream in the other.
As we leave, the shadows on the hillsides are lengthening and chimney smoke hangs in the air. The party in the Aristologist, however, is just getting started. It might not suit every taste but, for mine, this is dining stripped of artifice, honest and real. Come and see what the fuss is about and who happens to be there. Spotto!
THE SUMMERTOWN ARISTOLOGIST
1097 Greenhill Rd, Summertown, 0477 410 105, thesummertownaristologist.com
OWNERS Anton van Klopper, Jasper Button, Aaron Fenwick
CHEFS Oliver Edwards, Brianna Smith
FOOD Contemporary
ENTREE / MAIN $16-$25 DESSERT $7-$14
DRINKS All-natural wine list featuring labels from the owners’, other locals and internationals.
Open for
LUNCH and DINNER Fri-Sun