Author: Alex Prichard

A Little Light Bar Crawling

- Alex Prichard Leave a comment

Cage Under Lights
photo by Theen Moy, cc licensed
Peel Street … not actually this quiet …

As you’ll know if you live in Adelaide, our liquor licensing laws have changed, making it much easier for small venues to open.  And boy has there been a rush: bars are opening faster than … um, something very fast.

Thanks to an insanely hectic couple of weeks, I’ve actually had a chance to check out some bars, miss out on others and generally wear myself out.

What have I missed? Yes, I’m still the only person in Adelaide (or so it seems) who hasn’t yet been to Clever Little Tailor (CLT). In fact, I’ve got a friend who lives in London who’s been there so maybe I’m the only person in Australia … Every time I wander down Peel Street, CLT is full to the brim and I’m just not the kind of person who queues. In addition to this, I’m also old and grumpy and once I have my drink, I like to sit down quietly and have a nice chat. I guess I’ll just have to make sure that next time I head there I get there at 4pm when it opens!

So whizzing past CLT but staying on Peel Street, we headed in to Peel St, where we managed to find a sneaky seat at the bar, only to be told that it was booked for about 20 minutes or so. So now we book seats at bars in Adelaide? Peel St is actually more restaurant than bar and the menu, wine list and friendly service were enough for it to be put on the ‘to do’ list. If you want to head there for a meal I’d recommend booking. If you’re just having a cheeky drink, you’ll have to try your luck.

On the same evening, with still an hour or so to kill til our dinner reservation at Cos, we headed to Leigh Street. We knew that Udaberri would be totally rammed (and we were right) so we sat outside Casablabla and enjoyed a couple of drinks. We were actually able to hear each other talk! We left just before the belly dancing kicked in though …

On a separate occasion (this time a Wednesday night) I ducked in to Proof (at just 8 weeks or so old this is nowhere near the baby of the Adelaide bar scene …), and enjoyed a glass of Austrian Grüner Veltliner and a conversation with some friends. However, it was busy and I suspect come Friday nights you can expect to be shoulder to shoulder with the bar men (who, I might add, were nattily dressed in shirts, ties and waistcoats). Proof is on Anster Street, just off Waymouth Street (usually described as being behind Press*).

Meal wise on these occasions I ate at Cos, on Leigh Street, and Melt, on Waymouth Street. At Cos we had a lovely meal (sweetbreads, steak tartare and lemon tart for me, pork belly, fish and affogato for Andy, accompanied by Rieslingfreak No 8) and were very well looked after. At Melt, they were happy to adapt the tasting menu (insanely reasonably priced at $39 a head) to accommodate the vegan at our table. While some of the dishes were a little under-seasoned some were absolutely amazing. The stand out dish for me was the No 38 pizza: chargrilled courgette/zucchini, caramelised onion, speck, lemon and mint. That was one serious pizza.

This is just a tiny bite of the bars popping up all over Adelaide … what’s your favourite new drinking hole?

Product Review: Griffiths Just Fair Coffee

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Disclaimer: I was sent the coffee to try.

Once upon a time I drank a lot of coffee. In my previous job, a group of us had a share in our own plunger and ground coffee round and, until very recently, my current employer provided us with a lovely barista grade coffee machine*. Almost 4 years ago, I decided 6 long blacks a day was probably a bad thing and went cold turkey for a while. Now, I have one (very infrequently two) cup of coffee a day. So I like it to be good.

Sadly, coffee is one of those products that is often brought to us by people who aren’t treated very well by the corporate chain in which they find themselves. Personally, I think it’s important to look for Fairtrade products, because in theory the farmers will have received a fair price (and fair treatment) for their raw commodity.

I’m pretty sure we all know that I also think it’s important to try to buy Australian. So while a small amount of coffee is actually grown in Australia (mostly in the Atherton Tablelands in Far North Queensland) it is less than commonplace. Actually, even finding Australian owned, local coffee roasters is pretty tricky but one of these is Griffiths.

Griffiths’ new product is Just Fair, an Australian Certified Organic, Fairtrade coffee that is roasted (and ground) in Melbourne. I was sent the espresso beans to try.

The beans come in a tin, rather than a bag, which is very handy for storage (I don’t usually grind a whole tin/bag at once). They are, obviously, 100% Arabica. All well and good, providing the resultant coffee hits the mark taste wise.

Now, I confess we don’t have a proper coffee grinder at home (I am one of those bad people who uses a spice grinder) and often we find that lighter roast beans will end up producing a rather insipid cup of coffee. I’m pleased that this isn’t the case with the Just Fair coffee. It’s a good strong roast, with richness of flavour and a healthy kick of bitterness. I was very happy and I would recommend this for anyone who likes a strong coffee. In fact, this is definitely a coffee that I’d consider as an alternative to our usual brand.

Just Fair retails for around $12 for a 250g tin. You can buy beans or ground and there’s a decaf option too. For a bit of novelty, you can trace your beans’ journey on the Just Fair website.

* For the record, that machine has been replaced by an awful pod machine.  Productivity has, naturally, decreased!

Cellar Door Wine Festival 2014 – Social Media Ambassador

- Alex Prichard 2 Comments

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Tasting plate of SA goodies – that rare beef was amazing!

Even before I had a child, a week that involved every night out would have left me feeling a little knackered. Last week was such a week: epic on many, many counts and my sanity (and the long suffering Andy’s sanity) saved quite possibly only by the fact that the toddler spent Friday night at his grandparents’ house.

Every night out was a good night out, don’t get me wrong, but I could have done with them rather more spaced out. Let’s fast forward through the week to Thursday night.

A couple of weeks ago I received an email from the Adelaide Convention Centre, which is the organisation behind the annual Cellar Door Wine Festival. Would I like to be a social media ambassador for the 2014 festival?

On the one hand, this suggests that I either drink too much or spend too much time on twitter … but on the other, did they really have to ask?!

With Thursday night by that stage the only night free in an already hectic week, I shouldn’t have been surprised when that was the night of the program’s launch. I headed off to the Convention Centre, post Dora the Explorer, feeling a little less than glamorous and wondering what awaited me.

What awaited me was a tiny taste of what awaits everyone come Valentine’s Day 2014 – the opening day of the Festival. Next year you can expect to see the same overwhelming array of wineries but there’s going to be an increasing emphasis on food and local producers. Marion Grasby (ex Masterchef) will be hosting master classes, as will Valérie Henbest of the Smelly Cheese Shop. If you don’t already have a date for Valentine’s Day, consider yourself on notice to find one.

This partnership with the Smelly Cheese extends to a very special cheese themed competition. Details are coming but, in the meantime, if you love cheese, perhaps consider taking a selfie of your next close encounter and keeping it stashed away ready for the competition to open!

The ambassadors were treated to a lovely meal: amazing antipasto (seriously amazing – everyone was so impressed with the pastrami in particular), a seared tuna entrée, served on a melon salad dressed with soy sauce which was genius (and tasted a lot better than it sounds written down!), a tasting plate (shown above) for main course and a Haigh’s flourless chocolate cake for dessert. That also received some rave reviews (unsurprising, really).

We were also spoiled with a souvenir (see the photo below) as well as an amazing goodie box filled with South Australian eats, drinks and treats – and a tomato plant*. I might be pitting the tomato plant against my own seedlings and seeing how it fares.

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* Not so random, when you consider that tomatoes were often referred to as love apples. Remember, the Festival opens on Valentine’s Day.