Category Archive: FOOD
It Was Wonderful – Ludwig Bemelmans
Bemmie's bar at the Carlyle
Born 27 April 1898, Bemmie was the classic bon vivant. Read his essays and autobiographical pieces, La Bonne Table and Tell Them it was Wonderful for a literate glass of the driest, coolest champagne.
Continue Reading →Africola
4 East Terrace, Adelaide, (8223 3885) February 2018 The Old Continent meets the Dark Continent in this funky, uber-trendy gourmet kitchen which is crowded, noisy, but full of interest, including pretty and witty decor. The staff shoot from the hip, but at least they are hip when they shoot, and they know (and love) the bill of fare. The trick is to sample the full flavour of the veldt without over-ordering. Over a dry champagne, we plumped for a starter of crispy eggplant with chilli and shallot sauce. This arrived under a duvet of what appeared to be dessicated coconut…
Continue Reading →Magill Estate
17 January 2018 Magill Estate is The Varnished Culture’s favourite eating joint in Adelaide. It is not cheap; it is not overly casual (although dress code is fairly relaxed these days). Hence we tend to get there on special occasions. But if you can afford it, or have the wherewithal to save up a few hundred bucks, do yourself a favour and go – any day or night there will be a special occasion. The day had been warm and the sunset was red, giving us a lovely view over the historic Penfolds vines, down the hill towards the city…
Continue Reading →Spaghetti Western
111 King William Street, May 2017 Another Italian restaurant in Adelaide? Give us a break! But Spaghetti Western is an attempt at something different, positioning itself neatly between the haute Mediterranean cuisine of, say, an Il Bacaro in Melbourne, and the ho-hum, red-and-white-checked pasta houses that line the streets like weeds. It is also cleverly situated, being near the various laneway bars and watering-holes popping-up on Waymouth Street, just around the corner. Modelled on a fusion of the mock 19thC horse operas such as The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (where, incidentally, the best grub the gunslingers usually get is a smear of stinking beans)…
Continue Reading →Sean’s Kitchen
(Adelaide, May 2017) This sliver of a dining room just adjacent the Adelaide Casino (and in fact, part of the Skycity complex – on the way to the loo you can peer through a window at the poor wretches playing the pokies) is trendy, at least on current trends. Whilst L thought the refectory-type furniture a tad less than comfortable, there was compensation provided by the confident menu and spot-on service. Our table started with a Waldorf salad ‘Moderne’ à la Sean and the King Crab Cocktail – these saucy homages to the 1970s were adequate, but seasoned by nostalgia rather than hitting us…
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