Restaurant Reviews

Legacy of India, Blackwood

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date of visit: Sunday 6 January 2013

Our first meal out for the year and a chance to flex the Entertainment Book’s muscles! Andy chose Indian (as you do, on a 36°C day) and as his first choice was closed on a Sunday we opted for this little restaurant in Blackwood. This decision was largely based on its opening time of 5pm and the fact that that sits very well with when the toddler usually decides he wants to eat.

It’s hardly surprising that when we arrived at about 20 past 5, there was no one else in the restaurant. It’s actually a lot smaller than it looks from the outside and it was pretty unfortunate that on a rather warm day the only air conditioning in place was a portable unit, placed by the bar.

The tables are covered with butcher paper and you’re provided with crayons so if you or your children are so inclined you can doodle while you wait (or eat). Our child was more inclined to hoover up the pappadums – we couldn’t work out if he was saying “nice” over and over again or if it was “eyes” (I guess the cumin seeds could seem like eyes when you’re two). Either way, he demolished the first lot and the restaurant manager very kindly brought him out more.

We started with onion bhaji for Andy and vegetable samosas for me. The samosas weren’t that great: the pastry was really heavy and slightly undercooked and the filling was a bit homogenous in texture. The bhaji were much nicer but still only rated OK. The mint sauce was a somewhat scary green colour and too much on the sweet side for me. The toddler rated the centre of the bhaji but much preferred the cucumber and red onion from the salad.

The main courses were much much better. I chose to just have dahl with a plain naan and Andy opted for the beef do piaza which he reckons you don’t see on too many curry house menus here. The beef do piaza was a big hit with the toddler and it was really delicious: the beef was incredibly tender and the sauce was rich and full of onion sweetness. My dahl also hit the spot. At first I was a bit concerned that the lentils were slightly undercooked but I think that’s because I’m conditioned to dahl either being red lentils or cooked to a pap. I’d guess this was chana dahl (the yellow split peas, which hold their shape much better than red lentils) and it actually meant that the dish had some texture and distinction between lentils and sauce. It was tempered with tomato and was creamy, spicy and did a good job of being soaked up by my naan (which was good too – deliciously buttery!).

Andy had a couple of beers and there was plenty of water on hand throughout the meal. We only really dealt with the restaurant manager but she was lovely. While no one else dined in for the hour or so we were there (you learn to eat quickly with a toddler, because as soon as they’re full, they think it’s meal over for everyone!) the restaurant was doing a cracking trade in takeaways. And a lot of those seemed to be regulars, which suggests that the Legacy of India is consistent.

The final bill came in at around $62 ($46 after Entertainment Book discount) which we both felt was a little on the expensive side. Many of the main courses hover around the $17-18 mark so by the time you add sides, entrées and drinks, two people can spend quite a lot of money. Having said that, I would go back – but I’d definitely choose a different entrée!

Legacy of India Blackwood on Urbanspoon

Plant 13 Bowden

- Alex 5 Comments

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date of visit: Sunday 2 December 2012

Another venture out Thebarton way saw me looking for another place to eat. For a part of Adelaide that, on the surface, looks decidedly industrial and unloved, there’s a surprising number of eateries. Since our September visit to The Loose Caboose, another new place has popped up: Plant 13.

After sitting in Stereosonic traffic on Port Road, I was pretty pleased that we were able to park easily and have a nice, quiet sit down (yes, grandma-mode was well and truly on!). Plant 13 is a former pub, in a lovely Federation building – so right away it’s pleasing to see that the building has been loved rather than ripped down.

The Plant 13 philosophy is a holistic one: meat is sourced from happy animals, many ingredients are grown on site and they make as much as possible on site. Personally, this is the type of thing which makes me happy: low food miles, ethically raised meat and good, hard work in the kitchen.

Menu wise, the dishes have a strong American slant: things like buttermilk biscuits (which I think is really scones for the rest of us!), pancakes with bacon and maple syrup, and Philly cheese steak all feature on the menu. For drinks Plant 13 produces all kinds of interesting combinations (mostly served in jars, from what we could see) – so if coffee isn’t your thing, you can have iced tea, an apple pie smoothie or a citrus blitz (which is what was recommended to us, but you’re going to struggle to get me to drink a mix of blood orange, lemon, lime, mint and sugar syrup – especially when coffee is in the offing).

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We arrived in time for what could be called a ‘late lunch’ (around 2pm I think) and Plant 13 was busy but not so packed we couldn’t be seated. I had already sussed out the menu online (and Plant 13 is to be commended for keeping the online menu absolutely up to date – as I write this it’s the December menu, dated 5 December) so I knew I was going to be ordering the gnocchi with brown mushrooms, black garlic (I bet that’s one of next year’s trend ingredients …) and brown butter. Andy ordered the pulled BBQ pork bun with coleslaw. Plant 13 does also provide a short children’s menu but after some umming and aahing we asked if we could just order a single sausage for the toddler (he had already had lunch).

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We both really enjoyed our food. Andy rated his pulled pork as superior to that at The Loose Caboose, and while the toddler turned his nose up at the pork part of Andy’s dish, he did like the white cabbage from the coleslaw very much indeed. The gnocchi was really good too: obviously housemade which is always a plus, it was very light (though it did have a slight bounce to it) and the simple sauce of mushrooms, garlic and butter worked really well. The sauce also had some kind of vinegar through it (I’d guess balsamic) and that little line of acidity worked really well to cut through the butter and keep the dish tasting fresh right through to the last mouthful.

The sausage was also housemade and duly demolished.

So, while portion sizes aren’t massive, food wise, Plant 13 gets a big tick from us.

But even better than the food was the fabulous service. Our waitress (Phoebe) was really lovely – she made sure we were all settled, suggested drinks to go with our food, offered us a high chair (we had a booster seat in tow but it was looking for a while like I was going to fail to operate it!) and absolutely nothing was too much trouble. Cole, who is described on the website and ‘chef and host’ was very affable too – making sure that everyone was happy and chatting away to us about the toddler. Nothing tells you how much a venue knows about service more than how they treat parents with a small child.

Our overall view was that we preferred Plant 13 to The Loose Caboose. It was marginally cheaper ($40.40 was the final bill) but that wasn’t the clincher. It was the much more personal and sincere service, the tasty food and the fact that it’s a menu planned with a conscience.  I’d love to see more venues like this in Adelaide – and preferably closer to home.

And best of all? When we left, the construction site next to the carpark contained a DIGGER. It took us 20 minutes to get the toddler into the car …

Plant 13 Bowden on Urbanspoon

Hilton Brasserie – 30th Birthday Lunch

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date of visit: Wednesday 28 November 2012

The short version of this post is that the food was very, very good.

The long version? Here goes.

Adelaide’s Hilton is turning 30 and, for the month of November, the hotel has been running a ton of promotions. I spotted one of these promotions on Facebook: a $30 3 course lunch, valid mid week for the entire month. The deal duly grabbed, it loitered around in my inbox until I happened upon a day off work. As instructed, on 26 November (so a good way into the month!) I rang the Brasserie to make a booking. The first person I spoke to hadn’t heard of this deal and put me on hold, the second person I spoke to (perhaps someone who randomly picked up the phone) also didn’t seem sure. “Hmmm, maybe the deal is not valid at lunch time, I only work mornings, no, it should be all ok.”

When we arrived, our reservation was in order and our voucher was examined and taken. We sat down and were presented with the à la carte menu. “Are you sure this is right? Do we not have a special menu for the $30 lunch deal?”. Hmmm, the waitress wasn’t sure, so off she went to check. She returned with the special menu. Sigh.

Next up, I started inspecting the wine list. Bubbles is the civilised way to start any meal and the Brasserie offers 4 by the glass. These were mostly wines I wasn’t too familiar with so I asked about the $8 a glass Hardy’s Riddle Brut Reserve. The response? It was along the lines of “ooooh, I wouldn’t have that, it’s not really very good”.

Oh my god. I’m assuming the odd international guest stays at the Hilton and maybe even eats in the Brasserie. In case whoever is driving the wine list at the Hilton hasn’t noticed – South Australia produces a reasonable amount of quality wine. There is NO EXCUSE to have a wine on your wine list that your staff are actively suggesting people stay away from. I’m sure you can find a good South Australian bubbly you can sell for $8 a glass …

After I’d picked myself up off the chair a cruise through the wine list saw me spot an error (guys – the grape variety is Grüner Veltliner, the place in Austria is just Kremstal) so I wasn’t that surprised when a question about one of the wines meant that the waiter had to disappear off for ages to find someone to ask. If you’re interested, we ended up ordering a 2009 Yalumba FDW 7C Chardonnay. It retails around $25 a bottle, so the mark up to $68 is a bit steep. Cracking wine nonetheless.

You’ve probably figured out that the Hilton Brasserie is winning no points from me for its wine list (which I’d describe as pretty solid but tending towards boring) or wine service.

As I’ve mentioned – the food was really lovely. The lunch menu gave us a choice of 3 entrées, mains and desserts. I started with an octopus salad, followed by a chicken breast and wrapped up with a chocolate and hazelnut icecream.

All the dishes looked beautiful and tasted the same. My octopus salad was well seasoned, with the charry octopus set off by salt and the salad dressing (hmm, that might not sound as complimentary as it should … it was delicious). My chicken breast (huge!) was beautifully cooked, so the meat was lovely and moist. The crushed potatoes were really good and the red wine sauce worked – all top notch. My parents were similarly impressed with their food (grilled feta, followed by whiting and hand cut chips and Italian sausages). In fact, my dad’s comment was “hmmm, these sausages aren’t too bad at all” (that’s really high praise!) and they were both very enthusiastic about the chips. As we had an extra portion of chips, I can confirm that they were, indeed, excellent.

The desserts were lovely too: Haigh’s chocolate and hazelnut icecream, with black pepper roasted strawberries? What could go wrong?! Mum had the cherry ripe cheesecake and her only observation on that was that it could have done with a bit more cherry flavour.

Service wise, things are casual in the Brasserie but the staff were all attentive and keen to help out and answer questions. I could not fault their professionalim in that respect.

After such a beautiful meal, it’s a shame I’ve come away thinking that, while I personally would return, I wouldn’t take interstate or overseas guests there.

Please, Hilton, please, please fix your wine list and wine service.