Featuring: 2KW, Longview Vineyard, Herringbone, Coriole…
UNDER the guiding hand of McLaren Vale legend Mark Lloyd, Coriole has always been noted for its impressive range of new varietal wines, along with its better-than-average cellar door platters. The dining area itself is a treat, a covered courtyard with a pleasant rustic style, overlooking a cottage garden on one side and vineyards on the other, with views all the way to the coast. The vibe is casual and family friendly, but there’s nothing casual about the cooking.
The arrival last year of head chef Tom Tilbury, who has moved his Gather Food and Wine operation from Robe to Coriole, has taken the experience to a new level. His a la carte and tasting menus are totally focussed on local sustainable produce and provide a comprehensive insight into the flavours of the McLaren Vale region.
Dishes such as the barbecued baby octopus topped with a small garden of sea succulents collected by the chef on the nearby coastline, or sorrel leaves folded around shredded blue swimmer crab, and a tartare of finely chopped kangaroo mixed with native herbs and served with quandong highlight some of the great flavour combinations. Coriole, Chaffeys Rd, McLaren Vale. Open for lunch Thursday to Sunday; phone (08) 8323 8305.
Just as family friendly, and especially suited to larger groups for special occasions, Longview Vineyard also has continued to evolve both as a cellar door and restaurant, providing a range of choices from tasty cellar door small plates to the much more substantial Della Casa Sunday lunch, a multi-course event that will put paid to any further winery adventuring you might have planned.
The food theme is strongly Italian/Mediterranean under the experienced guidance of head chef Robert Paglia, whose La Dolce Vita catering company has built a tremendous reputation over the years. Longview owners, the Saturno family, are a discerning and demanding lot, so the food has to be excellent.
Cellar door tasting room plates might include spaghetti with Goolwa cockles and black garlic, or a tagliata of flat iron steak with parsley and anchovy sauce, and rosemary potatoes, topped with shaved parmigiano reggiano. But it’s with the (very reasonably) fixed price Sunday lunch, served in the sprawling barn-style dining room and veranda next door, that Paglia’s kitchen team really show what they can do. Settle in for six courses, starting with an antipasti platter with wood-grilled vegetables, fiori di latte, arancini and cold meats, concluding with a plate of Italian cheeses. In between you might be served baked gnocchi with a beef and vegetable ragu, chicken involtini with cannellini beans and pancetta, a seasonal salad and a dessert – with any luck the ricotta, orange and almond cake with rosemary syrup. Once again the views over the surrounding vineyards are gorgeous – and if it’s all too much and the home run seems too difficult, they also provide luxurious accommodation. Longview, Pound Rd, Macclesfield. Restaurant open for lunch Friday-Sunday, cellar door dining Thursday-Monday; phone (08) 8388 9694.
A new team has taken over the former Panacea, for many years a Halifax St dining favourite, renamed it Herringbone and lifted it to new levels under chef Quentin Whittle, who built a big reputation when he led the team at Stone’s Throw.
Whittle’s no-nonsense, big-flavoured dishes draw on a wide range of influences, from the Mediterranean to Asia. There are signs of culinary cross-dressing when Coffin Bay oysters are given real zing with a fiery nam jim, while kingfish sashimi are served with fried cavolo nero, but Whittle’s experience is such that every dish not only looks delicious, but tastes that way, too. Dishes such as his Sicillian-influenced gnocchi with chilli and sultanas, divided by a long wedge of creamy pumpkin, or pan-seared kingfish sitting on carrot and miso sauce with toasted fennel show maximum flavour development without resorting to cheap tricks of excessive salt and butter. The wine list, though small, is full of interest. Herringbone, 72-74 Halifax St, Adelaide. Open for lunch Tuesday-Friday; dinner Wednesday-Saturday; phone (08) 8232 3523.
Al fresco dining smack in the heart of the city? Not a problem when, as with 2KW, you’re a majestic eight stories above the traffic lights with a rooftop garden and restaurant providing a flexible range of intimate dining spaces, from communal table to window seats, shaded outdoor cabanas and a garden terrace.
2KW has been fortunate in its choice of head chefs, each managing to stamp a distinct personality on its menu, and the arrival of Trent Lymn has done so again. Though originally from Adelaide, his path has included top-level gastropubs in London and a cafe in Argentina, and at 2KW his menu reflects his interest in both native Australian ingredients and the Italian and Spanish flavours typical of Argentina. Standout dishes include an escabeche of Port Lincoln sardines topped with garlic crumb, or a very simply presented burrata teamed with terrific tomatoes and pickled green almond, both of which are eclipsed by a large fillet of Murray cod on a Geraldton wax beurre blanc surrounded by large clams – a dish for two. 2KW, 2 King William St, Adelaide. Open for lunch and dinner daily; phone (08) 8212 5511.