Fish Head Adelaide restaurant review

Quirky, Asian-style Fish Head delights locals in the nation’s best-value dining city.

Crowd pleaser: Adelaide’s Fish Head. Picture: Keturah de Klerk

It's the unpredictable nature of it all that keeps the fire alight. That combination of people, fate, circumstance and nature... It's why we go out to eat, isn't it? The possibilities. And a cocktail of these factors can change an experience in the time it takes to drink a cold beer.

One minute, I'm sitting at a copper-clad table (so hot right now) listening to moronic, manufactured music not even Shazam can identify, staring at an empty dining room thinking, "Serious mistake."

Five minutes later, the Adelaide crowd has arrived, en masse, and with it a sense of reassurance I'm not in the wrong place after all. The first dishes are in front of me and the flavours are pleasing. And the whole experience has been tipped on its head. The music is still abominable - but two out of three, etc, as Meatloaf once observed.

One of a string of Adelaide restaurants owned by the publicityshy Walter Ventura, Fish Head is on my radar for the operator's fecund track record of quirk. (Anyone who can christen his crowd-pleasing, mid-financial-palate restaurants Gin Long, Hispanic Mechanic, Cliche Exhibition and Tony Tomatoes has to have a sense of humour, right?) Chef Nu Suandokmai's touch with spice and fresh herbs fundamental to his native Thailand - infuses everything on a menu that might loosely be described as Indian Malaysian. With a touch of Thai.

The Indian/Australian waiters from this restaurant's seven-year incarnation as British India (under the same proprietor) remain on duty; friendly, a little overworked when the pressure hits, short of an ear for music but long on good-natured banter. I'd be happy serving food this good at these prices, too.

Let's take a dish of whole leatherjacket as our case in point.

This humble fish is one of the great wild seafood bargains left on menus. Here, they score the fish on the angle, deep fry it so that it gets those gnarly/crisp thinner edges, then smother it in a quite delicious sauce of galangal, chilli and garlic and goodness knows what else.

The meaty carcass is brown with spice and caramelised shallot and chilli-hot without being offensive.

Perfect, really. And it's served on a lime-dressed salad of green papaya and halved cherry tomatoes with a side of lemongrass sambal.

It's $23. Adelaide's reputation as the bang-for-buck dining city is under no clear or immediate threat.

With stir-fried water spinach, gluggy rice (not good enough) and a piece of tandoor-cooked naan this might easily make a happy dinner for two. But then you'd miss other bargains ...

Like marinated, garlicky tandoor quail plated with coconut cream and plenty of tandoor sauce; a little warmth to the crockery might complement the gentle heat of the sauce. Or a piece of fragrant fish cooked with spices and coconut cream in banana leaf (pictured), topped with fried shallot; minced versions of something similar are common in Bali. It's lovely, and comes with a vibrant herb/citrus salad, but I do get concerned when "fish of the day" is farmed salmon.

Or possibly the simplest surprise of all, sticky rice cooked in salty coconut cream and served with house-made coconut ice cream, fresh young coconut and toasted, crushed peanuts. It's a Thai beach party, right there. I'm having fun.

And then, as quickly as they came... they went. The Adelaide school-night sweet spot seems to be from 7 to 8.30pm. But I'd be staggered if they didn't leave happy.

They certainly didn't leave poor.

Fish cooked with spices and coconut cream in banana leaf. Picture: Keturah de Klerk

AT A GLANCE

270 Morphett Street, Adelaide

Contact: 08 8212 2411

fishhead.net.au

Hours: Lunch Fri, Sun; dinner Tue-Sat

Typical prices: Entree $13; main $25; dessert $11

Summary: Much to like, at very reasonable prices

Like this? Try ... Ria, Perth; Longtime, Brisbane