Rosey’s Cafe, Unley

- Alex Prichard Leave a comment

Big Breakfast at Rosey's

date of visit: Saturday 24 May 2014

Some of the best things in life are the unplanned things (something I could do with remembering occasionally …). Last Saturday saw us tootling around Unley mid-morning with tummies starting to grumble. We had finished all our chores (the best way to describe shopping for a shower screen) and coffee, at a minimum, was in order.

Rosey’s was chosen on nothing more scientific than the fact that it was in the right spot (the toddler currently walks about 2 metres before exclaiming “my legs are tired from all this walking”) and had a table free. We sat inside but Rosey’s also has a very cute covered courtyard – complete with blankets ready for the chilly weather.

I was all geared up for coffee and cake but, because Andy decided to have the big breakfast, I felt my arm twisted and ordered scrambled eggs with a side of chipolatas. With the toddler, you never know how much of your own food you’re likely to eat, so it’s always best to order more … Even though he’d already announced he wanted a chocolate brownie.

Coffees and a bottle of water under way we had only a short wait for our breakfasts. I personally think that scrambled eggs are always a marvellous test of a venue and Rosey’s eggs cut the mustard. Rather than a granular mess they were more like a very very soft folded omelette, with some chive running through them and arranged across some really good sourdough bread from Mylor Bakery.

Scrambled eggss& chipolatas at Rosey's

The chipolatas (a serve of 3, I was allowed to eat 1) were dense and full of flavour. Andy’s big breakfast was big and, aside from the mushrooms, was demolished smartly. Some reviews on urbanspoon complain that bacon is missing (it’s not – see the picture!) and one noted that the mushrooms were very vinegar-y. Yes, the mushrooms have been finished with a splash of Balsamic vinegar and yes, it is noticeable but I found them more than acceptable. The big breakfast was served across the same Mylor Bakery bread.

The chocolate brownies at Rosey’s are supposed to be amazing – but I wouldn’t know as I wasn’t allowed to try any. My child ploughed through half the brownie before pausing to eat chipolatas and then polished it off.

And the coffee? It was excellent.

The best part of our brunch at Rosey’s was the price. Yes, the big breakfast is $20 (it is a significant amount of food) but we left having spent $46. Considering that often we find ourselves spending close to $30 for coffee and cake for the three of us, this represented a bargain. My eggs were just $10 and would have been ample had I not known I was going to have to share.

Unfortunately for us, Rosey’s is a bit far from home to become a regular haunt, but anywhere that takes enough pride in its food to serve such good bread (and good eggs) gets a big tick from me.

Rosey’s Café
139 Unley Road
Unley SA 5061
phone: 08 7225 0690

Rosey's on Urbanspoon

Redsalt at Crowne Plaza

- Alex Prichard 2 Comments

 

date of visit: Wednesday 14 May 2014

disclaimer: I attended the dinner as a guest of Crowne Plaza Adelaide.

20140514_183242

I love hotel restaurants – some of my most memorable (for good reasons!) meals have been in hotel dining rooms. The variety in decor and cuisine and the superb people watching opportunities usually make for a top lunch or dinner out.

The Crowne Plaza in Hindmarsh Square is (I think) the newest hotel in Adelaide but no longer the newbie. It sits where once upon a time there was a cinema and also around the corner from where I used to work. The hotel’s restaurant, Redsalt, has been on my to-do list for absolutely ages.

Fortunately for me, I was invited along to a bloggers’ dinner to preview the newly launched Winter menu. After a brief cold snap, Adelaide was back to some unseasonably mild weather, so winter dining might not have been the first thing on my mind but that’s something that can be overcome easily …

We started off with a few introductions (though, being Adelaide, everyone knew almost everyone else already anyway!), a glass of NV Croser and the chef’s tasting plate.

The chef’s tasting plate consisted of tastes of a few of the dishes you’ll find under ‘begin’ on the menu. There were three takes on salmon (the pan seared salmon with a black sesame seed crust the absolute winner in my mind – I could have eaten solely that and been happy), a scallop with chorizo and parsnip puree and the Balsamic pork belly with squid.

This was a very beautiful plate of food which not only looked good but worked well together. The trio of salmon was the highlight and something you should seriously consider. The one weak point was that the squid with the pork belly was a little chewy.

20140514_190430

Our second course was a taster of the pasta dishes that Redsalt offers. Roman gnocchi with harissa, goats cheese and lime ravioli and black squid ink and lemon risotto – topped with squid that was again slightly chewy. This was combination of dishes which worked really well together, and I’m surprised that it doesn’t feature on the menu as an entrée in its own right (it may well be too labour intensive though). The star here for me was the goats cheese and lime ravioli – the fattiness of the cheese was cut through beautifully by a really intense hit of lime. Our wine pairing with this was a Petaluma Sauvignon Blanc which worked really well (though, if you are a die hard Riesling fan, an intensely limey Clare Valley Riesling would work brilliantly too).

20140514_193825

For main course, I chose the braised beef cheek, with mixed wild mushrooms, garlic pomme puree and port jus. This was a really hearty dish. The enormous cheek was falling part and imparted a lovely stickiness to the both the mushrooms and the sauce. The potatoes were silky smooth and the sauce (while a touch salty for me – but I’m normally a super low salt person – I know my dad would have thought it was perfect!) was rich and dense. This dish is on the menu at $29 and considering the pedestrian fare you can pay over $30 for in Adelaide this alone makes Redsalt worth ducking into on a cold winter’s day.

20140514_203208

We finished with a coffee semifreddo, served in a little cup and topped with Frangelico froth. This would have done as dessert on its own but it was accompanied by two large cinnamon doughnuts. The doughnuts were really good but by this stage even I could only manage one, preferring to concentrate my efforts on the semifreddo and froth. I think with coffee desserts it is always a challenge to get the balance of sweetness, bitterness and coffee flavour right but this nailed it and, of course, Frangelico is a great pairing with coffee.

The menu at Redsalt treads a very clever line between comfort food and all things slightly trendy or novel. It’s the type of menu where that difficult family member who only eats meat and three vege will be kept just as happy as a more adventurous eater. The prices are really keen: some of the signature and grill dishes push past the $30 mark ($125 for 800g of Wagyu anyone?!) but most main courses come in at $25-30. Based on what I tasted, this is great value.

As an added bonus, Redsalt has a focus on local ingredients and is a member of Eat Local SA so you can enjoy your dinner knowing you’re supporting all manner of local food producers. It also makes it a great place to take any interstate or overseas visitors.

The bottom line with any review is would I go back (and pay my own money)? Aside from already having recommended Redsalt to a few people, yes, I’d go back in a heartbeat.

Crowne Plaza Adelaide
16 Hindmarsh Square
Adelaide SA 5000
phone: 08 8206 8888

Crowne Plaza Adelaide - Redsalt Restaurant Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato

Leek, Potato and Blue Cheese Soup

- Alex Prichard Leave a comment

Leek, potato & blue cheese soup

For a week or so, winter threatened to make an appearance here in Adelaide. But then it disappeared and we’ve had the warmest couple of May weeks for about 100 years.

Which is a shame because I love winter food. I not only love eating it but I love that so often it is the type of food you can prepare well in advance and then just pop into the oven after a long day at work, leaving the cook with nothing more strenuous to do than crack open a bottle of red.

Earlier this week we revisited the leek, chicken and hazelnut pie (yes, all the way back in 2009!) and I’d had to buy a whole bunch of leeks.

So now I’m busy using them up. Which isn’t a problem because I love leeks. I also love soup and while it’s not Andy’s favourite thing to eat (by a long stretch) he’ll tolerate it in small doses.

I’d also been thinking about how I hadn’t really used any of my cookbooks for a while so while I didn’t need a recipe for leek and potato soup I had a quick flick through for inspiration. Regular readers will know I have something of a soft spot for James Martin so I was pleased to find a leek, potato and Stilton soup recipe in his book The Collection. An extra bonus was that it was even less work than I was considering!

His recipe needed a few tweaks to suit what was actually available so it’s my version that follows. The critical thing here is that it’s a one pot, boil it all up trick. Go easy with the blue cheese: they vary in strength and if you add too much you’ll really notice it!

This recipe will serve four.  Make sure you have plenty of good, crusty bread to hand!

 

Print
Leek, Potato and Blue Cheese Soup

Ingredients

  • 1 chicken stock pot (or cube)
  • 700 mL hot water
  • 1 medium sized leek, sliced in half (split) and chopped
  • ½ large onion, roughly chopped
  • 1 large clove of garlic, chopped
  • 1 large potato, peeled and chopped
  • 100g blue cheese, chopped
  • sour cream
  • parsley

Instructions

  1. Place stock pot (or cube) and water in a large pot and bring to the boil.
  2. Add the leek, onion, garlic and potato to the stock and cook covered (you don't want the liquid evaporating!) until the vegetables are soft.
  3. Add half the blue cheese and stir to melt. Then blitz the soup and check the flavour. You need to check the strength of the blue cheese flavour AFTER blitzing as it's the only way of guaranteeing the flavour is through the soup.
  4. If you want to add more cheese, go ahead.
  5. Finish by correcting the seasoning - it's unlikely you'll need salt though you might want to pass the pepper separately.
  6. Serve the soup hot, with a quenelle (that's a dollop!) of sour cream and a sprinkling of parsley.
https://eatingadelaide.com/leek-potato-blue-cheese-soup/