pub

The Warradale

- Alex 1 Comment

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date of visit: Sunday 2 September 2012

You’d think it was something of a tradition round ours – going out for a meal on Fathers Day. Last year we ended up at Bareñdoe by accident rather than design. This year, we ended up going out because we were too lazy to do anything at home.

We’d been out and about during the afternoon so we were looking for somewhere to stop off on the way home. As I actually knew it was Fathers Day I rang ahead. The Warradale was happy, and able, to accommodate us at 5:30pm. The Warradale is also the pub I thought I was going to when I dragged some friends out for dinner at the Morphett Arms almost a year ago exactly …

The person I’d spoken to on the phone was very pleasant and it was lovely to turn up and have our table ready to go, complete with requested high chair. We ate in the Bistro, but the Warradale does have other dining options (the Tavern and Garden/Verandah Bars both have separate menus on the website). Décor wise, the Bistro is very Adelaide modern pub although it does have some distinctive black and white angular mural decoration with a kitchen theme.

As it was the very start of service, the staff were all fresh, efficient and friendly. The friendliness seemed genuine, too. Andy was even wished a happy fathers day!

The menu is reasonably stock standard pub stuff – all the pub standards are there as well as the dishes that are fast becoming the new standards (salt and pepper squid, pasta with a prawn or crab and chilli sauce). Daily specials are written up on butcher paper at either end of the large dining room, but if you haven’t spotted them the staff should bring them to your attention. At least, our waitress did.

The salad bar is included with the meals (and the waitress made sure to point out that we just needed to take our side plates up – I like that, too often you’re left wondering if the salad bar is included) and it’s a cut above.  Quinoa, cranberry and pistachio salad, anyone?  There’s good fat black olives, some really smooth feta, a range of salads and sauces and hot vegetables that don’t look like they’ve spent all day having all the goodness boiled out of them.

With an utter lack of imagination we ordered schnitzels. Chicken parmi for me, beef with gravy for Andy. Schnitzels are $19 each, and that includes the basic sauces, but you’ll add $2.50 for parmigiana. Main courses mostly sit in the $20-30 price bracket. The schnitzels were actually pretty good – they had a really crispy, coarse crumb which stayed quite crunchy even under the toppings or gravy.  Neither schnitzel was dry and the Parmigiana topping was tomato, ham and cheese with a very generous layer of ham.

The wine (and beer) list is actually reasonable – shock horror!  There’s a selection of craft beers, five ciders and the number and range of wines available by the glass is impressive.  There’s a good range of premium spirits too – if you want to wrap up with an Armagnac you can indeed do that.

The Warradale is offering standard pub grub in a standard renovated pub setting.  While the salad bar and beverages list get a tick, my usual complaint applies:  at just $21.50 the Parmigiana is just too pricy.

The Tavern Bar does offer $9 schnitzels on a Tuesday and $12 schnitzels on a Wednesday.  I think that would be the way to go – perhaps followed by a glass of something in the Garden Bar …

The Warradale on Urbanspoon

The Highway

- Alex 5 Comments

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date of visit: Thursday 28 June 2012

We’re becoming very skilled in the art of eating our dinner early, to accommodate the baby, to the extent that, when booking, I now ask “when do you start dinner service?”.

Clearly The Highway isn’t used to such uncool customers because the lady who took my booking had to check! 5:30pm it was.

When we arrived our allocated table (even though at this stage we were the only people there!) wasn’t really going to work with a highchair – something that the waitress noticed before we were seated and sorted out immediately. We ended up with a perfect, cosy table in the corner.

With the baby in tow we cracked on with ordering our food, enjoying a couple of drinks while we looked over the menu. We were dining in the middle of Game Week – which had been one of the drawcards – so we could have chosen from dishes such as goat pie, a tasting plate of game sausages, kangaroo, emu and crocodile. In the end, none of us ended up trying out these dishes (the goat pie was almost picked) …

Andy went for the beef schnitzel with gravy (how predictable!) while I had the spaghettini with Spencer Gulf prawns, chilli and garlic. Other choices were the lamb rack and a main course serving of the crumbed lambs brains.

Main courses at The Highway aren’t particuarly cheap – they all hover around the $30. However, portion sizes are generous (to say the least) and I suspect that had we had entrées we wouldn’t have been able to finish our mains. My spaghettini and prawns was lovely – the pasta was al dente, the prawns were well cooked and it had just the right combination of chilli heat and garlickyness. I am a huge fan of spaghetti with chilli, oil and garlic which is really what this dish was, with prawns and cherry tomatoes added. I’d definitely order this again.

The lamb rack was very highly regarded and the lambs brains got the thumbs up, even though they were served on an excessively large pile of mash. Andy demolished his schnitzel with the help of the baby – who seemed to approve of the chips in particular! We also had a side of roast vegetables which was a really interesting mix: beetroot and fennel alongside the usual suspects.

Service wise, The Highway has got it spot on. The two waiters who dealt with us were both professional and efficient while being friendly and accommodating. Best of all, the baby was treated as though he was the most important guest in the restaurant (which, of course, he was!).

The Highway demonstrates that a pub can serve good, interesting food and be a better than average venue for a meal out. We’ll definitely return.

The Highway / HWY on Urbanspoon

Adelaide Hills Day Out

- Alex 6 Comments

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date of day out: Saturday 5 May 2012

A group of friends recently organised a day out wine tasting in the Adelaide Hills. We had a reasonably modest agenda for the day – lunch and three, maybe four, wineries.

For me, the day proper began at lunch time. Our original food plan was scuppered so, at the last minute and with no warning, twelve of us descended on the Charleston Hotel in a tiny town (population 120, apparently) called … Charleston.

Luckily for us, the dining room was empty because by the time we’d sorted out our table, only a handful of other diners could have squeezed in. We obviously massively swamped the poor kitchen (the rumour at the table was that there was one person working there) so yes, our food did take a while to come out and no, it didn’t all come out at once. But we quickly figured out what was happening so people had the good sense to start eating. From where I was sitting I heard only one complaint about the food which concerned a very disappointing looking bar meal of spaghetti bolognese. The disappointment was compounded because the individual concerned had considered ordering the awesome looking lamb burger.

I was pleased to note that, for $13, I could order a ‘half size’ schnitzel (topping/sauce extra). I don’t think I’ve had a pub meal where the schnitzel has not been ridiculously huge and I’ve often commented that the children’s sizes have looked sufficient. All the schnitzels (even the half sized ones!) were generously proportioned and thick. This meant they were juicy – no dried out cardboard here. The salad was definitely above par (although, as usual, drowned in dressing) – it was Greek style complete with feta.  And I very much enjoyed my glass of Kersbrook Hill Shiraz too!

The accommodating nature of the businesses around Lobethal was further demonstrated when we turned up at Golding Wines. The cellar door man didn’t bat an eye at our large group – he herded us towards a large table, lined up the entire range and led us through it. If you want a welcoming cellar door, I can think of few places that do this better than Golding*.

Next up we headed to Bird in Hand, where our large group most definitely caused a problem. “Have you booked?” … er, well, no. “Hmm, that will be $10 a head” … er, well, no. The cellar door was full of a bus load of tourists and obviously we represented hard work. While I realise that large groups arriving unannounced can cause problems there must be a more delicate way of dealing with the situation. As locals, it means that we’re unlikely to take guests (either overseas or interstate) to Bird in Hand in future …

We wrapped up the day with Barristers Block, where we were treated to some further Adelaide Hills hospitality. The tasting here was a lot less formal than at Goldings with everyone trying whatever they were interested in. Which worked well because by the end of the day the two cellar dogs were garnering a lot more attention than the wines from some people!

I’ve been all inspired to work my way through the wineries of the Adelaide Hills – I just can’t work out which end to start!  But hopefully there’ll be some more cellar door tales soon.

* I have been there several times before and I’m a fan of their Last Hurrah sparkling and Handcart Shiraz.

Charleston Hotel on Urbanspoon