Eden Dining Room and Bar

- Alex Prichard Leave a comment

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date of visit: Sunday 28 July 2013
disclaimer: it being Adelaide and all, I’m acquainted with Eden’s owner, Chad, and some current and previous staff

It’s been about a year since my last visit to Eden Dining Room and Bar. While I’ve tried to drag friends there on various occasions, they mostly live on the wrong side of the city and it has actually been my parents who have managed several repeat visits.

While lunch service is scaled back in winter, you can still find yourself a hearty Sunday roast at Eden and, on a gorgeously sunny winter’s day, sitting in the window, catching that sun, is the perfect way to spend the afternoon. And if you don’t like roast, that’s fine, because the à la carte menu is available too.

Toddler in tow, we had to make some strategic decisions about how many courses to order so we cut to the chase with just main courses. Everyone ordered the Sunday roast (roast lamb, with Yorkshire puddings and a selection of vegetables) bar me. I ordered the gnocchi with beurre noisette, sorrel and porcini. Andy won’t eat mushrooms so the only time I get to eat them is when I’m out and about. I am also a total sucker for simple pasta dishes! For the toddler we ordered the pork belly entrée (pictured), served with several types of radish and nashi pears.

We started with bubbles and beers and washed our food down with a bottle of very sensibly priced 2012 Ochota Barrels Green Room Syrah Grenache. Eden’s wine list is a very strong match to a good menu. You’ll find wines that you won’t see on other lists and there’s a great variety. This is something that Chad and his team is really proud of – and rightly so. Being picky, I’d say that one thing I’d like to see smartened up is the sparkling wine by the glass selection, which is currently limited to two.

As we were expecting, the food at Eden is not only beautiful on the plate but delicious once you start pulling apart the artistry. The house made gnocchi were excellent: very light and the butter and mushroom sauce was fantastically rich and unctuous without being greasy. I’d be quite happy to come back and eat that every day.

When our food was put down, the toddler took one look at my plate and announced “that’s mine!” but all that changed when his pork turned up. You see – even two year olds eat with their eyes. Pork demolished and bits of radish tasted and then picked around, he set his sights on his father’s lamb. The lamb roast received a universal thumbs up and it was an incredibly generous portion.

We wrapped up our meal with some Pedro Ximenez (I had to drink most of Andy’s because he was driving and he’s not a huge fan of sweet alcoholic things) and coffees. Once it was clear that the toddler was on to babychino number two, Chad whipped up an amazing vanilla and licorice foam for him. As he hoovered it up his little eyes lit up like you wouldn’t believe!

As it was my birthday lunch, my parents paid so I can’t put an exact figure on lunch. But I do know that while Eden isn’t the cheapest place to eat in Glenelg it is probably the slickest venue serving the prettiest food. Somewhere I really must head back to before the next year is up!

Eden Dining Room & Bar on Urbanspoon

Five Ways With Avocados

- Alex Prichard 1 Comment

Avocado
cc licensed photo by Livin’ Spoonful

On Wednesday night I chatted to 5AA’s Peter Godfrey about avocados. While they might be a fruit he’s just getting into, they’re very very popular in our household. The toddler can demolish one in a single sitting and both Andy and I love them.

Unsurprisingly, for a Mexican fruit, some of avocado’s best pairings are flavours like lime (citrus is a great way of stopping the flesh browning) and coriander.

At the moment, they’re insanely cheap here in South Australia (our local supermarket, a Foodland, is selling them for 59 cents each!) so head to the shops to stock up.

Here’s some common and less common ways to use your bounty!

  • Split your ripe avocado in half, remove the stone and fill with a simple vinaigrette (good quality olive oil, good quality vinegar or lemon juice, grainy mustard and salt and pepper). A perfect, self contained snack or small entrée.
  • Mash with some yoghurt and season for a very simple guacamole. For something fancier, add some lime juice, some coriander and even some cayenne pepper or chilli powder.
  • Make ice cream. Jamie Oliver has an avocado ice cream recipe and you make this vegan friendly by replacing the milk with coconut milk.
  • No changes are required to make this avocado chocolate mousse vegan friendly.  Banana and avocado create the mousse-texture.
  • Eat raw.  Yes – you can indeed create raw chocolate brownies.  The brownie itself is based around walnuts and dates and avocado comes into its own for the icing.

I haven’t tried these last three – chocolate mousse and brownies don’t really need any tweaking, as far as I’m concerned!  But I do like the idea of messing around with the avocado icecream.

What’s your favourite way to eat avocado?

Paul’s Seafood on Gouger

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date of visit: Wednesday 24 July 2013

Almost four years since our last (blogged) visit to Paul’s. Andy loves this place and, in amongst the many many Asian eateries on Gouger Street, Paul’s is a blast of fresh sea air.

Paul’s is not a flashy, first date kind of venue. From the street, it looks like a fish and chip shop and that really is what it is. The fryer sits at the front of the shop, with a fridge of fish in front of it. Tables and chairs are basic and there is a tiny bar at the back, from behind which comes not only drinks but plates stacked with the basic salad, ready to be filled with fried, battered, crumbed or grilled seafood.

If you’re not in the mood for seafood, you don’t go to Paul’s: pretty much the only non piscine option is the garlic bread. The laminated menu lists the fish you can have (snapper, barramundi … you know the drill) and a basic specials menu might list things like salt and pepper soft shell crab or grilled moreton bay bugs.

Service is swift, making Paul’s an ideal venue for those with small people in tow (oh wait! that’s us!) or with somewhere else to be. We arrived around a quarter past five and while the restaurant wasn’t technically open yet, we were able to sit down, scan the menu and feed the toddler sultanas.

For the toddler, we chose the entrée portion of whitebait, while I had the salt and pepper squid (main portion, but I really could have done with the small option) and Andy had the soft shell crab. The whitebait came with some lettuce while the main courses came with lettuce, tomato and cucumber as well as Paul’s hand cut wedges.

I really like that the food is basic. The salt and pepper squid, at $20 a portion, tears strips off that which you’ll find similarly priced in a pub. I also much prefer the simple salad which is obviously crisp and fresh and NOT drowned in dressing. And the wedges are better too. Given that Andy always orders the soft shell crab when it’s on the menu, that must be good too. And the toddler rated the whitebait highly.

Service is relaxed and casual but efficient. Last night we were in the fortunate position of finishing our food before the toddler had finished his. The waitress cleared Andy’s plate, asking him if he had finished first. The toddler, clearly concerned that his little fish were about to disappear wailed “I not finished eating!” as she disappeared. Rest assured, the staff at Paul’s won’t allow your food to disappear …

For the three of us (food, a Boags and a glass of Skillogalee Riesling), after our Entertainment Book discount, the bill came to $55. A cheap, cheerful and tasty night out.

Pauls on Gouger on Urbanspoon