Restaurant Reviews

Rigoni’s Bistro

- Alex 2 Comments

 

 

date of visit:  20 April 2010

A friend is heading to Hong Kong for a 3 month stint and, as a final farewell dinner, requested something ‘not Asian’.  Having walked through Leigh Street that same morning, I suggested Rigoni’s Bistro, which I last visited in November last year for a wine dinner with Nicolas Belfrage MW, hosted by East End Cellars.

We had an early booking (6:30pm) but even at this stage of a Tuesday night the restaurant was reasonably busy.  We were tucked in the back corner, at a well sized round table, and immediately started with drinks and plenty of water.

The menu at Rigoni’s is seasonal (so you’re not faced with the same food, year in year out) and falls in to a category that I call ‘interesting Italian’.  Many Italian restaurants feature a menu packed with spaghetti (or variation) carbonara, amatriciana, pesto … and a few token meat dishes and pizzas thrown in with little thought.  It is always refreshing to come across an Italian menu offering variety.  If you’re in Melbourne and after a similar experience I can recommend Balzari, in Carlton.

The great disappointment of the evening was that the prawn ravioli, my first choice for main course, had sold out at lunch.  Our waitress informed us that the ravioli are made in house and there had been no time to prepare more.  I turned to my (very close) second preference – the porcini tagliatelle with swiss brown mushrooms, taleggio, chestnuts and thyme.  For an entree, I opted for the tomato bruschetta (in fact, it was bruschettas all round).

Being brutally honest, I felt that $5.90 for the tomato bruschetta was a little too much.  I really enjoyed it (Andy thought it only so-so) but I suspect many would consider the portion too small.  A single slice of (good) bread, laden with a fresh, garlicky tomato topping.

However, my main course was wonderful.  The tagliatelle (also clearly made in-house) was itself flavoured with the porcini and so was a deep chocolate colour.  The taleggio was cubed and melted gently against the heat of the pasta, the mushrooms were buttery and soft, the chestnuts provided a contrast in texture and the thyme added even more richness of flavour.  The waitress had warned me it was a rich dish, but I think I would have had no problems demolishing a portion twice its size!

Andy’s choice was the venison with rosemary and juniper, served with pickled red cabbage.  The meat appeared to be perfectly cooked and he said it was very tender.  He commented that, on its own, it could be considered a little salty, but the sweetness of the red cabbage offset that perfectly.

Heading in to dessert territory, Andy chose the chocolate tasting plate (a very popular choice at our table of 7) and I went for the lemon tart.  The lemon tart was lovely – served with a small salad of grapefruits and mint and, rather than cream, a yoghurt lebne.  I’m not a fan of grapefruit but in this instance the salad worked very well: the extreme tartness of the grapefruit was balanced by the pink grapefruit and mint.  The tart itself had super short pastry and was deliciously creamy, with a caramelised topping.  In some respects, the yoghurt could be considered superfluous, but it was very light and acted as a counterpoint to the already rich tart.

I hope it’s apparent that the food at Rigoni’s exceeded expectations and I am keen to head back, if only to get my hands on the prawn ravioli.  The service was excellent – attentive but not intrusive and I found the meal well paced.  The only annoyances are that the restaurant is a little noisy and that it is only open Monday to Friday!

Rigoni’s is also open for both breakfast and lunch throughout the week.

Rigoni’s Bistro

Excellent Italian in the City Centre

Excellent service, excellent (and interesting) Italian food. What more could you ask for?

Rating:4.5 stars
****1/2

Rigoni's Bistro/Lounge on Urbanspoon

Kartees Indian Restaurant

- Alex 2 Comments

date of visit:  March 2010

At Eating Adelaide we are keen eaters of curry.   One of my complaints while living in Headingley was that there was no decent, nearby curry to be had.  In fact, for an area with an above average population of students much of the takeaway food available was depressingly ordinary.  Other places I’d lived in the UK had been far kinder and at one stage I’d even lived next door to a curry restaurant.  I was such a good customer I never had to pay for naan.

So our hopes were high for Kartees.  The vivid orange restaurant is on South Road, right by Flinders Medical Centre.  Initial reports (all third hand – via twitter and other sites) sounded promising so we headed off to see for ourselves.

Kartees has a small, basic restaurant attached to what seems to be predominantly a takeaway business.  As we waited for our order there were two couples in the restaurant area.  The restaurant is licensed and corkage is $5 per bottle (wine only).

The first thing I noticed about the menu was the incongruous appearance of both spring rolls and dim sim amongst the entrées … not exactly what I’d expect at an Indian restaurant.

We skipped entrées in our (massive) order: butter chicken, chicken masala, dhall, pilau rice, a naan and 8 pappadums. This set us back around $40 and was more than enough for two people for dinner and then lunch the next day.

Unfortunately, the quality of the food was all over the place. The pappadums were quite greasy. I actually really enjoy them like this but I recognise that it’s a sign that the oil in which they were cooked was not hot enough. The naan bread was the disappointment of the meal – it was singularly woeful. It was obviously straight from a packet, and was tough, tasteless, and downright scary. I had just a few pieces – and for me to leave carbs is really saying something.

The highlight of the meal was the dhall – you could taste the curry leaves, and it had good flavour and consistency.

And everything else was in between. The chicken curries were (we think) mislabelled … after serious consideration we came to the conclusion that the butter chicken was incredibly bland and, while the chicken masala had more flavour, it was certainly not the ‘hot’ marked on the menu. The real problem with both these dishes was that the large pieces of chicken were very over cooked. They were dry and stringy – even if the sauces had been incredible the meat alone would have rendered the dishes below average.

Andy rated the pilau rice quite highly whereas I remained on the fence … I’m not a big fan of peas in anything so I’m not the best person to pass judgement! The portion was huge and, in addition to the peas and spices, it also came with chicken, so you could actually treat this as a main course.

I really wanted to like Kartees – it’s relatively close to home and good take away curry is worth its weight in gold (well, depending on how tired and hungry you are). But, despite the tasty dhall, the experience fell short. On the one hand, it wasn’t particularly expensive, but on the other, I’m not sure I’m that happy about paying for bland, over cooked chicken. We’ve got a good collection of spices at home and putting together a quick, mid-week curry need not be a performance.

Unfortunately, Kartees hasn’t made it on to our emergency take away food short list.

Kartees Indian Restaurant

Uninspiring takeaway curry

While cheap, with generously sized portions, we found the food disappointing. A pass, but only just.

Rating:2.5 stars
**1/2

1423D South Road, Bedford Park, SA, 5042
phone 08 8277 0393

Vietnam Sunrise

- Alex Leave a comment

 from heredate of visit: March 2010

The relatively recent acquisition of a reliable car has meant that culinary forays can be made a little further afield than the CBD. An outing to Thebarton Theatre provided the perfect opportunity to pay a flying visit to Vietnam Sunrise.

I love Vietnamese food for its light, fresh flavours – a crude description could be “Thai without the chilli”, and I’d driven past this unprepossessing restaurant enough times to take note of it. It shares its shop frontage with a supermarket, a pasta shop and a charity shop on Henley Beach Road, just opposite Holbrooks Road. As you drive past it looks tiny and possibly a little dark and maybe even shabby.

Reality could not be further from this. The restaurant is deep, well lit and furnished with well spaced tables and bright red chairs. We wandered in just after 6pm on a Thursday evening and were seated at the front, giving us the perfect opportunity to watch our fellow diners.

Hmm, just one table to people watch then … but during the course of our meal the restaurant began to fill up (and, as is depressingly common, noise levels increased). I suspect that were you wishing to dine on a Friday or Saturday evening a booking would be well advised.

As we were on a schedule there was time just for main courses. I couldn’t convince Andy to try a Vietnamese beer, so beverage wise our choices were limited to a James Boags and a pineapple juice -check out franchise like this from here. Food wise I couldn’t go past the Vietnamese roast pork. In a manner, I’ve had this dish before but I wasn’t entirely sure what I would get – but as long as it contained plenty of belly pork with crackling I knew I would be happy. Andy chose the Seafood Treasure Basket, which promised scallops, squid, king prawns and mussels in a crisp noodle basket. As the evening wore on it became obvious that this was a very popular choice amongst Vietnam Sunrise’s diners.

When my pork arrived I couldn’t have been happier … 2 huge slices of crispy, crunchy belly pork with perfect crackling, accompanied by pickles and a ton of salad, including plenty of fresh mint and coriander. Being me, and lacking instructions otherwise, I ate everything separately, reserving my mint and coriander for my vermicelli noodles. It turns out that what I should have done is wrap my pork in lettuce leaf and add the salad, pickles and noodles to the package. Well, I know for next time!

At first, Andy’s seafood basket looked a little short on the seafood front, but as he dug through to the bottom there were no complaints. He enjoyed the sauce, which softened the bottom of the basket, making it easy to eat (although, personally, I enjoyed the crispy edges!).

Both dishes were generously proportioned and priced at under $20 and we left spending under $50 for our entire meal. On subsequent visits I’d be inclined to share (both entrees and mains) in order to maximise exposure – there’s no way I could manage 2, let alone 3 courses.

Aside from needing instructions with my roast pork, the only criticism of our meal would have to be the noticeable wait between the arrival of my pork and Andy’s seafood basket. Given that we were only a table of two in a restaurant less than 50% full when we ordered the gap was disconcerting.

We left Vietnam Sunrise full and happy. We’ll definitely be heading back!

Vietnam Sunrise

Good value Vietnamese

Excellent, cheap Vietnamese food in a bright restaurant just out of the city centre.

Rating:4.5 stars
****1/2