Featuring: Maylands Hotel, Bistro François, SiSea…

ADELAIDE doesn’t have a great record in recent years as far as classic French restaurants is concerned.
Perhaps the closest has been Hey Jupiter, in the heart of Adelaide’s East End, where you can start the day with a very authentic croque monsieur or brioche French toast and end it with steak frites (plus seared foie gras if you wish) or duck confit with duck fat potatoes.
For a while there was also Cliché in North Adelaide, which had a succession of chefs and a fair reputation for its cooking, but more significantly it was where chef Fabien Streit met bartender Nazza Falaschetti – and when Cliché closed they decided to open their own French restaurant.
Before migrating to Australia, Streit ‘cheffed’ in restaurants around France and Falaschetti grew up working in his family’s bars and cafes across San Benedetto del Tronto in Italy’s Marche region. Their combined skills and experience are now on display at Bistro François, a skinny, simply furnished but congenial space with outdoor dining in the heart of King William Road’s restaurant precinct.
It’s deliberately not a posh-looking place, with chef Streit determined that his menu should be affordable in a casual setting: “We’re trying to get rid of the image that French food always has to be rich and fancy,” adds Falaschetti.
French classics feature most prominently on the menu. Snails, of course, in the small dishes, along with a twice-baked cheese souffle and duck and pork rillettes. But the standout dish amidst the starters is a truly excellent onion soup served in a deep mini tureen, topped with Swiss cheese on croutons. This will be a very popular cool weather dish.
The larger, main course dishes start with a classic boeuf bourguignon of slowly braised beef cheek in a rich red wine sauce, paired with buttery pureed potatoes, lardons and roasted whole carrots. Again, a great dish for cooler weather. But then it’s hard to go past the classic steak frites, with traditional flat iron steak served sliced with red wine jus, hand cut chips, a slice of very garlicky butter and a leafy side salad.
The wine list could offer a broader choice but it’s adequate enough and still early days, but overall Bistro François provides a welcome breath of French air and flair. Bistro François, 144a King William Road, Hyde Park. Open for lunch and dinner Tuesday to Saturday. Phone (08) 7001 9210.
Some years ago the 139-year-old Maylands Hotel, in Adelaide’s eastern suburbs, was famous both for the Italian food served up by the Clappis family, with Sonia in the kitchen, Enzo out front and son Andy baking fabulous bread – and for the fact that it was the first pub in South Australia, if not wider, to install an espresso machine on the front bar fed by a dedicated water purification system due to Adelaide’s chlorinated water. And of course, there were no pokies.
Then it entered a darker, more traditional pub era, with pokies and standard pub tucker until it was taken over recently by the family-owned Matthews Hospitality Group, which has restored its focus on good food and wine, booted out the pokies and given the whole place a refreshing makeover.

The Clappis family, which went on to create its own unique dining venue, Our Place at Willunga Hill near McLaren Vale, would be very pleased with the result.
Designer Deb Barnes commented: “The hotel was tired and needed a facelift; nothing structural, purely cosmetic to smarten it up,” which she has done giving the place a somewhat retro, art deco vintage feel, through four distinct dining areas.
More significantly the kitchen is led by chef Cristian Carbone, whose menu includes the expected pub classics such as fish and chips – the fish changes according to what’s best in the market, given a twist with a gin-flavoured tempura batter – or a waygu beef burger with smoked pancetta from Hahndorf in the Adelaide Hills.
But there are also more modern and adventurous dishes such as starters that include miso-glazed seared duck breast bao buns with kewpie mayonnaise, or local hiramasa kingfish crudo with fermented green chilli oil. Larger dishes include crisp-skinned duck and noodle salad, or a seafood plate with grilled Harvey Bay scallops, half baby lobster, crumbed fish and herbed scallop potatoes. Maylands Hotel, 67 Phillis Street, Maylands. Open for lunch and dinner daily. Phone (08) 8362 1810.
Anyone familiar with European fresh food markets such as Boqueria, just off Las Ramblas in Barcelona, will enjoy the way that market dining is becoming more of a feature in the Adelaide Central Market, already well acknowledged as one of the great fresh food markets in the world.
Two of the market’s stalwarts, Mark Gleeson and Ian Bernt, whose Providore cake and pastry business has been a longstanding feature of the market, recognised the opportunity for more high quality, market stall-sized dining venues and nabbed Stall 76 on the northern edge of the market, which they’ve named SiSea.
Featuring signature dishes including Eyre Peninsula wok-tossed mussels – including a 1kg pot with chips and a free beer, a terrific Mediterranean-style seafood soup, and a Spanish touch with bocadillos and tapas dishes, it’s been an instant hit. Weekly specials include dishes such as crisp-skin salmon with sweet spiced pepperonata and chargrilled ciabatta. All-day breakfast dishes include a range of omelettes.
If you’re lucky you’ll get a seat at the counter overlooking the kitchen, but there are nearby tables available. The wine list is well-priced and local, with Sapporo beer on tap. SiSea, Stall 76, Adelaide Central Market, Gouger Street, Adelaide. Open breakfast and lunch Tuesday to Saturday, dinner Friday. (No phone)