Featuring: Jolley’s Boathouse, Stone’s Throw, Longview Vineyard…
JOLLEY’S Boathouse is yet another of those Adelaide restaurants that have quietly, unassumingly clocked up 30 years, but Jolley’s has more of a story than most because its roots extend back into the very formative days of Adelaide’s restaurant scene.
Back in 1977, when Adelaide had few restaurants worthy of the name, a rather special “home dining” restaurant was winning high praise – Belinda’s Restaurant, run by Belinda Hannaford. It had just one table, seating 12 guests. Within a year national wine identity Len Evans wrote about a “tiny restaurant that serves only one table. The food is so good, quite the best I’ve had in Adelaide.” A decade later, Hannaford managed to acquire the lease of a tumbledown boatshed beside the Torrens River in the heart of the city, which included a kiosk selling ice cream and hot dogs. That was the start of Jolly’s Boathouse which, under new owners, would evolve into one of Adelaide’s most celebrated restaurants. A review in 1989 recorded: “Jolley’s Boathouse is one of Adelaide’s perfect places in which to lunch on a sunny day or dine romantically on a steamy night, perhaps seated on a terrace overlooking floodlit river banks.” It still is. This is where you can get a bird’s eye view of the life of ducks and other creatures, some of them human, beside the still waters of the Torrens where the peace is only faintly interrupted by the distant exertions of joggers pounding past. Diners are thankfully shielded from the exertions, but not the view, by floor to ceiling windows surrounding three sides of the restaurant. Executive chef Tony Carroll, now in his 16th year at Jolley’s, consistently turns out exemplary dishes that tread the sometimes-difficult-to-manage fusion of classic European technique with Asian ingredients and flavours. Start with freshly-shucked Angasi oysters from Coffin Bay before moving on to entrees such as steamed Goolwa pippis or caramelised pork belly with green papaya. No-one has had the heart to tell the river-dwelling ducks that one of Carroll’s best dishes is the tea-smoked duck, currently served with red dates, ginger caramel and stir-fried Asian greens, which never leaves the menu. Jolley’s Boathouse, Jolley’s Lane, Adelaide. Open for lunch Sunday to Friday, dinner Monday to Saturday; phone (08) 8223 2891.
Like Jolley’s, Stone’s Throw enchants with a conservatory-style dining room but without a river to look on to. With its high-pitched, glass roof and doors opening on to a green-encased courtyard, this is more of a suburban oasis and wonderful on a summery day.
With its narrow frontage, Stone’s Throw at first looks like a narrow bar, attractive enough but giving little hint of what lies beyond as it expands into a wide dining room, all in unrelenting Spartan white, from floor to chairs and ceilings. There’s plenty of colour, though, in head chef Quentin Whittle’s eclectic menu that borrows from many food cultures with rare confidence and ease. Thickly-cut Port Lincoln kingfish sashimi sits next on the menu to chargrilled local octopus with a thick, charred tomato vinaigrette, while fried zucchini flowers stuffed with fontina and porcini are listed next to an elaborate, towering green mango salad, a cornucopia of colour and flavour. A stand-out dish is the chargrilled Barossa chicken, given an Asian-style treatment with fresh turmeric, kaffir lime leaves and grilled snake beans. This is confident cooking, each dish coherent and authentic, though vastly different to its neighbour. And of course there’s that bar at the front for before or after drinks. Stone’s Throw, 127 The Parade, Norwood. Open for lunch and dinner Tuesday to Sunday; phone (08) 8333 1007.
Leading Adelaide Hills, family-owned-and-operated wine company Longview Vineyard has turned the traditional notion of a wine experience on its head with the opening of two purpose-built tasting venues that includes a new Italian-style long Sunday lunch.
And it’s the lunch that really does set this cellar door apart from the rest, a multi-course feast that draws on the Italian heritage of the Saturno family. As joint owner Mark Saturno says: “It’s the way our Nonna used to cook for us.” Surrounded by natural stone, recycled metal and timber, black steel framed windows and with a deck overlooking some of Longview’s oldest vines, this is a great indoor-outdoor dining space perfect for autumn dining. This is dining the Italian way, with lots of shared dishes many of which feature hand-made, locally sourced produce, including the Saturno family’s cured Italian cold cuts. Antipasto dishes might include roasted broad beans and chick peas with rosemary and chilli salt or grilled asparagus with an artichoke and garlic dip, while main courses might include in-house smoked chicken with pancetta and a tomato and green olive sauce, and a fresh green pea salad with basil, mint and red wine dressing. There’s usually a selection of three desserts – try the Aperol jelly shots with prosecco ice and raspberries, and a cheese course to finish, perhaps Parmigiano Reggiano with fresh fruit. Longview Vineyard, 154 Pound Rd, Macclesfield. Open 11am-5pm daily; phone (08) 8338 9694.