We spent a few days in January expanding the girth in various eateries south of Adelaide. Here are three establishments I’d heartily recommend.
Fino
‘We’ll give you a bit of time to settle in before we come down and test you out’ was what we last uttered to Sharon Romeo, co-proprietor of Fino in Willunga, some 6 years ago. I think it’s fair enough to say that we have given her enough time to get her ‘shit together’ and boy has she. Fino is a little beaut of a place with a well drilled team, fabulous atmosphere and energetic, flavoursome cooking that shines.
As we were seated in the courtyard, a little shaky from one too many the night before, Sharon helped us back on the horse that bucked us off with a cheeky glass of 2010 Pittnauer rose. This Austrian rose made from Blaufrankish crackles with energy and pings with snappy red fruits, it is pithy and a great restorative drink if you’ve been on ‘the pith’ the night before. As good as I had started to feel, my brain was still mashed potato so I suggested to Shaz it would be best if she just fed us.
The locally made organic sour dough has a terrific crunchy exterior housing white pillows of loveliness and was served with a green, peppery first pressed olive oil from Diana Novello. Duck and veal sweetbreads terrine was wickedly rich and decadent, heading straight for a new home somewhere close to one’s aorta once swallowed. Incredibly fresh fillets of garfish lay on a bed of Sharon’s father’s preserved eggplant, snow peas and confit tomatoes to make a dish of great harmony with real zest and lift. To follow clams, sweet corn and chilli were texturally the bomb and just the thing for a warm summer’s day.
By this stage we were well and truly ready to embrace a serious bottle of wine from Sharon’s thoughtful wine list and a 2010 Ch�teau Thivin C�te de Brouilly Les Sept Vignes caught our eye. Some red pastel like fruits mix it up with a simmering casserole (think braising meats with dried herbs and pepper). It was silky in the mouth and has a little crushed juniper and tart cranberry just below the flesh. A delicious bojo that disappeared quicker than Julia’s promise to Andrew Wilkie. It went marvellously well with Inman valley chicken, cracked faro and herbs.
For desert crema Catalana delighted with its crunchy roof that housed the most wonderfully silken mass of cinnamon laced creaminess. A glass of Alain Brumont Pacheranc Doux ‘Les Larmes’ Celestes had the right sweetness and texture to work harmoniously with this magnificent dessert.
Coffee here is seriously good and the whole place is run by two ‘lifers’ of the South Australian’ hospitality industry and it shows. Fino is only 45 minutes from Adelaide and is certainly one of the best restaurants in our State, worthy of a special trip. We left and promised Sharon it wouldn’t be long before we see her again (she probably thinks “yeah right, not sure that I can hold my breath for 5 years”).
Fino
8 Hill St, Willunga
08 85564488
Aquacaf
Jordan Theodoras has cooked in some posh joints before. He now cooks brilliant quality chef food in the less posh digs of Goolwa’s aquacaf. Utilising fresh local ingredients the food has a wonderful vibrancy and texture about it and what seems quite simple on the plate, bursts with flavour and would be nigh impossible to replicate at home me suspects.
We hit aquacaf with our extended family (no they haven’t been stretched, although we are all quite tall), for a very pleasant leisurely lunch. The wine list is just ok and they are rather accommodating about byo so we took along a few good botts.
Sharing a few plates for starters is the go here and we started with a salad of falafel with tomato, cucumber and minted yoghurt, just the thing for a summer’s day and certainly a dish that ignites the taste buds. Deep fried snapper wings were kind of like KFF (Kentucky fried fish) and I meant to ask Jordon if he would reveal his 11 secret herbs and spices. The flesh of the Snapper was moist and tender and the batter was light and crunchy, a brilliant dish that worked very well with our 2010 Hu�t Vouvray Sec Clos du Bourg. This is a Sensational dry expression of Chenin Blanc that is piercing, fine and classy. There are subtle whiffs of green apple and minerals. It is juicy and mouth-watering with dense pulpy orchard fruits cut by a line of razor sharp acidity. It is sharp, clear, detailed with everything in crystal clear focus. The local fried squid was sweet, succulent and tender and also a fine match with the wine. A salad of smoked Kingfish was perhaps the highlight of the starters. I get a little concerned when various things are smoked, feeling that one is too often left with a smell and taste of smoke and not a lot else but this had been done with a lightness of hand with the integrity of flavour of the fish well and truly still intact.
The signature dish here is a fish pasty, sounds boring but it really is good. Light flaky pastry houses moist juicy pieces of local mulloway, fresh herbs and cheddar. It is beautifully seasoned and a simple heart of iceberg lettuce accompanies the pasty, which would please my father no end as he thinks all other lettuces are poofy. I have never heard Anne-Claude Leflaive recommend that her wine go with a pasty but we thought we’d give her 2009 Leflaive and Associes Rully 1er Cru a whirl. The more boisterous orchard fruits have calmed a little and now 6 months down the track it is showing a lot more mineral. It is full flavoured and a little broad but in a much better place than when first released.
Desserts and cakes here have previously been very good but we opted just to fire in a cheeky red Burgundy we brought along and then had one of their very good coffees. The 2008 Buisson-Charles Volnay 1er Cru Santenots is Compact, tight and unyielding at first. It breathes to show some crunchy red fruits, smoked meats, freshly tilled soil and dried flowers. It is dense but working within a narrow channel for now with crackling, minerally acidity on the back end.
Aqacaf is terrific. The food over delivers, service is casual, warm and friendly and it is a nice spot. The toilets are clean but smell like a portaloo on the third day of a rock festival, something evil is going on with the septic system. Book a table away from the loos and kick back for a great luncheon at this undervalued gem of a place.
Acquacaf
94 Barrage Road, Goolwa South
08 85551235
The Victory Hotel
Every town needs a pub like the Victory Hotel, well it doesn’t really because if every town had one the Victory would lose its USP (unique selling proposition) and it may not exist, but it is a bloody good pub none the less. Hotelier Doug Govan has spent a fair amount of ‘spondula’ on the place over the years, maintaining the front bars rustic charm for the hard core local ‘piss cutters’ and bringing the dining room up to a decent level for us toffy blow ins from the city. The wine cellar here has always been good but the recent opening of a ‘Burgundy only’ cellar has turned good to great.
Don’t know how other patrons feel about the way I look, but I feel totally comfortable walking in here with thongs and boardies on and having a serious crack at Doug’s well priced Burgs. We met up with good friends recently and kicked off with a ‘toothcrackingly’ cold Coopers pale ale and then launched straight into a 2005 Ramonet Puligny-Montrachet ‘Les Enseigneres’. This is classic Puligny with good richness for its level. It’s a wine that has plenty of ripe orchard fruits, white flowers and smoky minerals. It is drinking beautifully today and is still fresh, vibrant and energetic.
The menu at the Victory is fairly basic and cooking is assured but the simple thing to do here is have the Coopers ale battered King George whiting. I believe Doug has his own fisherman that catches these fresh daily and it never fails to excite. The kids had a Golden Gaytime for dessert (is this the greatest ice cream on a stick ever?) and we decided to have a cleansing red Burgundy and ordered a 2002 Michel Lafarge Volnay. It’s a strange wine with just a little sweet and sour with some ripe prune notes followed by tart cranberry and pomegranate and a light herbal streak. It is muscular in the mouth with a sweet mid palate but quite a firm, chewy finish.
The staff here are warm and amiable and it is certainly a children friendly place. We encourage you to book a table outside overlooking Sellicks beach on a warm day with some mates and see how much damage you can do to Doug’s cellar.
The Victory Hotel,
Main South Rd, Sellicks Hills
08 85563083