THE opening of Fino Vino in the Adelaide CBD in December is the latest and much anticipated venture by Fino Seppeltsfield partners David Swain and Sharon Romeo.
And while they see it as almost coming full circle back to the style they set at their original Fino south of the city at Willunga, their firm guiding hand continues at Seppeltsfield, although now very much the day-to-day responsibility of head chef Sam Smith.
Which means that despite the distraction of their new city venture, nothing will change at Seppeltsfield which, in fact, continues to evolve very positively under Smith’s stewardship.
Fino Seppeltsfield has been a major part of a massive $3 million restoration program by Seppeltsfield owner Warren Randall, creating a total of three dining areas: the original 1850s bottling hall that includes the main restaurant and cellar door facilities, a semi-subterranean dining area housed within the 1868 bluestone wine fermentation tanks, and an al fresco area overlooking a huge terraced courtyard and fountain.
Swain is a chef who pioneered an almost obsessive focus on finding the best regional produce, with an open back door kitchen that welcomed local goodies, while Romeo mastered the art of a small wine list that sought out the best and most interesting local wines, while providing challenges with imports from around the world. Both have won numerous awards for their respective skills.
Smith had previously been the highly experienced sous chef at Fino Willunga before moving to Seppeltsfield, and while he reflects all that he’s learned with Swain he’s now stamping his own authority on its kitchen. With 150,000 visitors a year to Seppeltsfield, he’s had to provide a series of sharing menus ranging from a relatively fast lunch to what has been described as “the best place in Australia for a long lunch”.
Summery dishes might include a gorgeous looking salad of beetroot, blood orange with walnuts and witlof, or asparagus with baby broad beans with chopped salted ricotta and green almonds. With any luck there’ll be some sort of roast chicken dish, possibly the best chicken you’ll ever eat, while carnivores can enjoy a 40-day dry aged rib-eye steak with chard gratin and a side of duck fat potatoes.
Wines, not surprisingly, include the fast expanding Seppeltsfield range, and of course the famed fortified. Lunch daily, dinner Friday-Saturday. 730 Seppeltsfield Rd, Seppeltsfield; phone (08) 8562 8528.
Adelaide has greatly enjoyed the recent arrival of two very modern style Italian restaurants in l’Italy and Nido (both previously reviewed in Adelaide Grapevine), but there remains a very significant place for a restaurant that continues to provide true to tradition Italian cooking at a very high standard, and that’s to be found at La La La Osteria.
The name, says owner-chef Marco Furlan, was for his mother, a singer who, when she forgot the words to a song, would sing “la, la, la”, as one does.
Furlan has a long history in Adelaide’s better-known Italian restaurants, though initially as a waiter with more attitude than the Italian football team. He ended up not just telling the chefs how to do their job but ultimately doing it for them, and better. For Furlan it’s more than cooking, it’s almost a philosophical mission, the best or nothing, and you can tell when you eat his food that no corners have been cut.
And while La La La, blandly located under a multi-story apartment building doesn’t look much from the street, Furlan managed to capture the best restaurant chairs in Adelaide when the former Alphutte closed down, all soft black leather, ensuring his customers are the best seated in town.
They’ll also get some of the finest Italian cooking. After starting with a slice of crisp, fluffy pizzeta with prosciutto and a perfect ball of burrata, next come dishes such as very simply treated grilled calamari, served with a chilli and a dash of balsamic, or an exemplary vitello tonnato, perfectly poached rare in duck stock served with tuna mayonnaise.
Another classic, saltimbocca, is also a perfect rendition – top quality veal layered with prosciutto, served with roast vegetables on the side. If you speak nicely to the waiter, Furlan might even prepare a mixed dish of grilled veal at one end, roast potato with peperonata in the middle and floured and fried flathead fillet with a squeeze of lemon juice at the other.
Perhaps his best dish, although not always available, is a baked duck risotto, where the rice has been cooked in duck stock, served with pistachio crumble on top. Open for breakfast and lunch Monday to Friday, dinner Tuesday to Saturday, La La La, 19 Gilles St, Adelaide; phone (08) 8212 3535.