The Forager: New haunts and old favourites
Today, a new restaurant for Leigh Street, the Clare Valley Gourmet Weekend, a favourite old pub reopens and much more.
‘Clever’ food coming to Leigh St
The excellent crew from Peel Street bar Clever Little Tailor is planning a bar/restaurant for neighbouring Leigh Street.
The bar’s Josh Baker, Crispian Fielke and Dana Whyte say the new project will include food by Matt Standen and drinks by Marshall King, the current bar manager at Clever Little Tailor.
“We are excited to announce that both Matt and Marshall will be coming on board as partners,” Whyte told The Forager. “We will focus on providing a space with well-crafted drinks and uncomplicated, honest food. We are also very pleased to be working with Matiya Marovich of Hey! Jose on concept and design.”
Standen has previously worked the kitchens at Tincat Cafe and Pranzo, and has just returned to Australia after a six-month research trip to Thailand (not necessarily for this project – but sounds intriguing).
Crown and Sceptre re-opens
As we first reported in April, the Crown and Sceptre Hotel in King William Street has been resurrected.
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It was one of the city’s favourite pubs when it closed suddenly in the middle of 2012. With the Gitsham siblings now in charge, the pub quietly reopened about a week ago with a refreshed look and a nice take on the standard pub menu.
Darren Gitsham, previously a manager at the Alma Tavern, the Duke of York and the British, tells us that old regulars have flooded back to the pub.
“We’ve been really pleased with everything so far,” he says.
The pub has DJs on Friday and Saturday nights, with plans afoot to launch a Thursday night session targeted at the uni crowd. A monthly band night is also in the works to give exposure to local musicians.
The menu – designed by chef Chris Dyer, who was most recently at a restaurant in New Zealand, but did his apprenticeship at the Lion many moons ago – is a rejig of a traditional pub menu, but with smaller plates to share in line with modern tastes.
That’s his food in the hero shot at the top of today’s column – including chicken larb, cauliflower and cheese croquettes, and potato skins. Alongside the usual burger, schnitzel and steak are dishes like confit duck leg, freekeh salad, and a “bucket o’ school prawns” served with lemon dill mayo.
Clare Valley Gourmet
The 30th-anniversary Clare Valley Gourmet Weekend is upon us, with space left at plenty of events if you’d like to make a last-minute dash north.
Friday night’s gala dinner is sold out, as are events at Reilly’s and a select few others, but most of the day-time activities have room.
A good bet for dinner on Saturday night might be Skillogalee’s Long Table Dinner by the Vines, featuring a five-course dinner with matched wines from the past decade, “handpicked from Skillogalee’s cellar”.
There are special bus services from Adelaide if, understandably, you don’t want to drive. Go here to book your bus.
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For gourmet weekend program details, go here.
Adelaide Food and Wine Festival
It’s only just ended, but the independent Adelaide Food and Wine Festival is already kicking goals for next April’s event.
Festival founder Amanda James Pritchard has scored her first international guest chef, and he’s a heavy-hitter – pastry legend Will Goldfarb.
Pritchard has also announced next year’s dates – April 10-19. To keep you going this winter, the festival is planning a series of “satellite” events over the coming months – a “Sips in the City” wine event, at Hanuman restaurant on July 11; a food quiz at the Market Shed on Holland, Winemakers without Borders at Willunga’s Fino restaurant, and a food truck festival at Bowden in July. Keep reading The Forager for details closer to the events.
d’Arenberg adventures
McLaren Vale’s d’Arenberg winery is packaging up all kinds of local adventures, in a new kind of marketing push.
The experiences include private tastings and the chance to blend your own wine, masterclasses coupled with a degustation, and a four-wheel-drive tour of the Vales, or – if you want the full treatment – a scenic flight followed by wine blending and then a degustation at d’Arry’s Verandah restaurant. Full details here.
Meanwhile, d’Arry’s Verandah has launched a new autumn menu and degustation menu. Go here for details.
Pre- and post-game drinks
The Adelaide Festival Centre is getting in on the Adelaide Oval catering extravaganza, opening “The River Deck” outdoor bar overlooking the Torrens.
The bar, serving drinks and snacks, is on the north side of the Dunstan Playhouse on a new outdoor area built as part of the Torrens River footbridge project.
The bar is open two hours before AFL games at the Oval, and one hour after.
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