Everyone's a winner

94 Frome Street, Adelaide, northern Italian.

andre's cucina

WHAT becomes of the broken-hearted? Good things, it seems. At least in the case of MasterChef contestants.

There have been some rather excellent consolation prizes for those who missed the final cut on the show first time round. Chris got a book deal, just in case you need to cook a pig’s head; Poh got a television series, which made good sense to at least 49 per cent of the population; and Andre, he got a restaurant.

And unlike most food books, some TV series and a whole lot of chef-run restaurants, Andre’s actually has an idea behind it, a hook. And it’s a good one. A polenta bar.

I liked Andre’s Cucina & Polenta Bar just a little bit even before stumbling in, because rather than simply opening a restaurant to cash in on fleeting celebrity, Andre Ursini pursued an idea that was new, and different, and makes a lot of sense. It helps to like polenta, of course, and I do. Very, very much. And Ursini is punting there are more like me.

He’s done a pretty good job of giving the space a fresh, northern Italian feel without resorting to clichés. There’s the usual Italian produce stacked gratuitously on shelving; splashes of Ferrari-red enamel; bare timber tables; broad timber-blade Venetians; a bar behind which is a blackboard, showing the  specials of the day and declaring that they use Five Senses coffee. Hooray, an Italian restaurateur with great beans (and, it transpires, the technique/machinery to use them). It’s a small signal Ursini has done more than tick predictable boxes.

What Andre’s lacks in service polish it makes up for in warmth and goodwill. More importantly, the menu – built around polenta, but only to a logical point – is tasty and well prepared from quality ingredients.

Things such as frittelle di polenta from a short stuzzichini list, golden fried nuggets of soft polenta crumbed with a coarser corn crust, filled with pecorino and subtly chilli-dusted. Simple stuff, sure, but done really well, although some kind of dip or sauce might be useful.

Or fried Jerusalem artichoke wafers served with a terracotta pot of lemon aioli (and, like most things here, on a timber board). Again, not a lot to it, but well cooked and flavoursome, good with a glass of dry white wine (from a brief but useable list) and a chat.

Of five such appetisers, three incorporate cornmeal in some way. Then there are four soft polenta main courses, again served in brown glazed earthenware on boards: things such as a creamy-soft, fine-milled polenta blended with taleggio and topped with a sauté of button mushroom, truffle and parsley. Good sharing stuff, albeit with a slightly winterish bent.

Ironically, however, what I liked most came from a list entitled “La Cucina”: an assortment of various Italian ideas more about careful sourcing and preparation than actual cooking. One was “bagna cauda”, a timber board of spankingly fresh and nicely presented crudités (fennel, carrot, celery, broccolini, radish and more), chargrilled sourdough crostini and a warm pot of the delicious anchovy dipping sauce that is, literally, the “hot bath”. Terrific.

And so too the salumi selection, most sourced from Adelaide’s San Jose, finely sliced and presented on parchment paper covering yet another timber board. Cold, roasted, herb-filled porchetta; cured guanciale; prosciutto, of course; bresaola; mortadella (oh, that we might make it in this country from donkey) and lombo. And for a bit of light relief, some rocket and lemon. Of course.

I couldn’t manage dolci. Sweeties certainly weren’t required to get any further sense of this place. Andre came across on TV as an affable foodie; his restaurant feels the same way. If his dream was a friendly little Italian place with youthful zeal and plenty of contemporary references from the eastern states, his heart must indeed be rather full. Andre might not have come out of MasterChef a winner, but he’s done OK.

Andre's Cucina and Polenta Bar, 94 Frome Street, Adelaide, phone: [phone]
Prices: typical entrée $10; typical main $20; typical dessert $10
Summary: Anything but corny
Like this? Try: Giuseppe, Arnaldo & Sons, Melbourne; Greenhouse, Perth; Omerta, Sydney
Stars: 3/5