Enoteca

Posted on October 21, 2010 by The Hungry Bon Vivant

I GET slightly apprehensive whenever I go to a fine dining restaurant, especially when I’ve heard mixed reports. So was the case with Adelaide’s Enoteca – some people told me it was good, others said it was overrated.

Enoteca is housed in the South Australian Italian Club on Carrington Street in the south-east corner of the city. When I was much, much younger my parents took my brother and me to the Italian Club on an almost weekly basis for dinner where endless courses of antipasti, pasta, scaloppini and deserts appeared in front of my wide-eyed face. Back then dining at the Italian Club was more like being a guest at an Italian wedding banquet than a restaurant (and yes, I did learn the infamous “chicken dance” there). I also believe that my “Anglo” parents were also up to mischief by encouraging my brother and me to dance with the Italian girls there (my father’s obsession for Italian cooking would be given a boost if there was an Italian daughter-in-law in the family).

Enoteca is way, way different than my 1970s experiences. Flashbacks of images of ageing Italian men and women drinking home-made red wine out of tumblers and dancing on gaudy industrial-strength carpet with rabid children (like myself) running in between them (and away from cute Italian girls), disappeared when I entered Enoteca’s stylish and softly-illuminated interior. It is open (somewhat stark), yet chic. A bar is to one side of the space and is the feature of the room. The tables are neatly dressed with white-linen tablecloths and tea candles and are positioned around the rest of the space (and have enough distance from other tables so that you aren’t dining on top of other guests) and you sit on high-back leather chairs. Low lighting and long pale tulle drapes soften the “starkness”. In the middle of the room is a table which is surrounded on three sides by a tulle curtain and that is where me and my guests dined. This table is excellent – it is like having your own little private dining room – in front of you is the bar and on the sides and behind you are other guests. You have privacy without missing out on the action in the rest of the restaurant. Waiting staff, smartly dressed in pressed black uniforms, are professional and enthusiastic about the food and the wine on offer (especially apparent from our waiter for the evening – Nathaniel). Service was attentive but unobtrusive.

The menu proudly promotes the use of specific South Australian-sourced produce (and the odd interstate visitor). The al-la-carte menu includes: quagila al burro (butter  poached quail with cauliflower puree, crisp pancetta, cauliflowerettes and hazelnut vinaigrette); risotto al anatra (ferron vialone nano rice with braised duck leg, hazelnuts, ruby chard and red onion); pappardelle coniglio (pappardelle with braised wild rabbit, seasonal vegetables and sage butter sauce) and pancia di maiale al forno in agrodolce (roasted pork belly, fried eggplant, black cabbage and sweet sour sauce). Diners can order from the al-la-carte menu or go for a choice of degustation menus (one with selected wine for each course). The four of us decided to have the degustation menu – six courses for $100 per head ($75 for four courses), and chose our own wine. Being winter the degustation selection offered some appetising rustic courses.

To kick things off, Nathaniel delivered some McLaren Vale Coriole olives and virgin olive oil to accompany the bread while waiting for the main event to begin.

The first course was a carpaccio of Port Lincoln Kingfish. The translucent slices of kingfish were topped with finely chopped parsley, baby capers, sea salt, and slices of grapefruit and blood orange and drizzled with Coriole virgin olive oil. An amazing array of flavours (salty, tart and tangy) danced on the tongue. It was an impressive fresh and light dish and set the scene for the quality of the courses to come.

Next was the scallop and prawn ravioli. On our plates were two ample and perfectly cooked (al dente, of course), pillows of ravioli stuffed with fresh minced scallop and prawn resting in a thin fragrant and tangy puddle of saffron and citrus sauce. Occasionally scattered finely-diced morsels of fresh tomato added a wonderful acidity and freshness to the whole dish. To top it off was a wonderfully steamed zuchinni flower  placed across the two pillows. Just superb.

Out came the third course – a mushroom, chestnut and truffled pecorino soup. We all got a hefty waft of the soup as it approached. The soup was smooth with a rich texture, a pleasing mocha colour and was full of body with upfront earthy mushroom and truffle flavours. The fat of the cheese forced the flavours to cover the whole mouth and last, and last, and last. Great richness, excellent combination of flavours and well balanced – we wanted more.

Not long afterwards the cotechino sausage topped with salsa verde on a bed of black lentils with translucent mustard fruits arrived. The char-grilled Italian sausage was rich and spicy and the lentls were superbly cooked in stock making it a heavy, rustic monster of a dish. The sweet mustard fruits helped cut through the heavy char of the sausage. Being winter it was a well chosen menu item. Nathaniel informed us that the sausage was made at Entotecca.

We were beginning to suffer palate fatigue from the barrage of big flavours when, just in the nick of time, Nathaniel brought out rhubarb sorbets – wonderful, frosty little bombs that exploded on our tongues, cleansing and revitalising, and readying us for more.

If there was to be a ‘main course’ then the Scotch fillet with a pizzaiola sauce that followed would be it. To the centre of the plate was a stack of slices of medium-cooked Scotch fillet topped with grilled zucchini and dressed with a rich, sweet tomato sauce with chunky black olives and salty capers. The meat was tender and moist and the slow-cooked rustic-inspired sauce brought back memories of good ol’ Italian home-style cooking. I admit I was sceptical seeing a “pizzaiola sauce” on the menu but why not, especially when you use top ingredients and have pride in what you deliver (and we were in the “Italian Club” after all). The steaks were accompanied by a salad with refreshing sliced fennel, lettuce and cucumber dressed with white balsamic vinegar and Coriole virgin olive oil.

Last but not least, the four of us shared a plate of zeppole – fluffy little donut balls filled with apple, tossed in cinnamon and served with a rhubarb coulis and double cream and neatly sitting on a slice of panforte. The donuts were delicious but the cheese plate that followed them was sublime. The highlight was the Bianco Sottobosco (an Alba black truffle-infused cow and goat’s milk cheese from Italy’s Piemonte region). The blu del Monviso (a creamy blue from the Po Valley), and the taleggio (a semi-soft wash rind cheese from Valtaleggio) came a close second.

We left Enoteca and ventured into the crisp winter air with smiles all round and with renewed confidence in Adelaide’s fine dining scene. Enoteca proved the sceptics wrong on this night and I finally got to the chance to behave myself (well, almost) in the Italian Club.

The verdict: Traditional Italian fare with some surprising and intelligent contemporary twists. A clever and unashamedly paraochial use of local South Australian produce. Service was excellent, polite and unobtrusive. Good value for a fine dining restaurant.

What: Enoteca, 262 Carrington Street, Adelaide. Phone (08) 8227 0766. Open for lunch from Wednesday to Friday and dinner from Wednesday to Saturday. Website: http://www.enotecacucina.com.au

Ate there: 3 July 2010.

Thank you to one of my dining companions, dear friend and fellow bon vivant, Corey (who hasn’t yet escaped Adelaide and can be seen lurking around Adelaide Central Market and various noodle restaurants reading comics on his iPad), for his contribution to this review. He, too, is sceptical of the sceptics.

Posted in Adelaide, Italian, South Australia | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Morsels: Phu Quoc Vietnamese Restaurant

Posted on September 30, 2010 by The Hungry Bon Vivant

THERE seems to be a hundred eateries in Cabramatta from the glitzy (with neon-flashing lights, gilt ornaments and blaring music), to the tiny (that have a few ageing tables and chairs with a nook crammed with a handful of cooks boiling, frying and grilling). What they all have in common is that they will almost certainly have pho available (and what seems to be hundreds of varieties of it).

Cabramatta – Sydney’s “Little Vietnam” – is a good place to savour pho, Vietnam’s “breakfast of champions”. Pho (pronounced “fir”) is that wonderful yet simple fragrant soup laden with rice noodles, topped with meat and garnished with herbs.

Phu Quoc (near a corner of John and Hill streets), isn’t  pokey, tiny or glitzy (but it has some neon), and, yes, it serves pho.

It takes me 45 minutes to get to Cabramatta and I usually make the most out of the trip by exploring the warrens of lanes in the shopping area buying up on foodstuffs and eating. Phu Quoc was discovered by chance on one such visit. My children, who are lovers of  ‘noodle soup’ (i.e. pho), just stormed into the place one Sunday morning and have had a regular table there ever since (unfortunately they don’t pick up the bill or have a line of credit there). They affectionately call it the “noodle cafe”.

The restaurant is clean, provides baby high chairs, has the ubiquitous long communal tables adorned with sauce bottles; tissue boxes; tea thermos and cutlery on hand; and the staff are welcoming of families (and put up with the odd spill). It gets popular from 9am when it opens with locals cramming into chairs, and I have even spotted Maeve O’Meara (of SBS Food fame), there.

Phu Quoc’s pho tai ($9.50 for the large bowl), is generous and aromatic. It is accompanied by a plate of Asian basil, bean sprouts and lemon wedge (which is used to ‘dress’ the pho). The pho itself is full of thin slices of raw beef (which is slowly cooking in the steamy broth), with chopped spring onion, coriander and slices of onion. Underneath lie a pile of slippery white rice noodles. But what makes pho, well,  pho, is the broth. Phu Quoc’s beef broth is dark brown but not murky (it has obviously been skimmed constantly during its hours of simmering), and wafts of star anise with hints of cinnamon. The broth is hearty with those blends of cinnamon and star anise flavours lingering in the mouth. The usual practice is to dress the pho with torn Asian basil and bean sprouts and depending on your constitution – chilli. The basil adds a ‘rawer’ fresh liquorice flavour to the broth. The freshly cooked slices of beef were tender with that milky raw beef flavour that fills the mouth while the rice noodles were not overdone and had just the right firmness to them (they do get a tad soft if wallowing in the soup for too long). If you want to eat pho the “Vietnamese way”, the traditional practice is to dip the strips of beef  into hoi sin or chilli sauce (and of course bottles of these are on the table), before chewing.

When finished off with a tall glass of cafe sua da (iced coffee) it’s the ultimate power breakfast to energize the body before crashing through the crowds of shoppers in Cabramatta’s maze of lanes.

The verdict: A hearty yet refined and aromatic pho which is true to the style. Phu Quoc champions the breakfast of champions.

What: Phu Quoc, 11/117 Cnr John & Hill Street, Cabramatta, NSW 2166. Phone (02) 9724 2188. Open seven days from 9am to 9pm.

Ate there: 19 September 2010.

Posted in Casual dining, Hawker food, New South Wales, Street Food, Sydney, Uncategorized, Vietnamese | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Morsels: Midori Sushi and Rolls

Posted on September 11, 2010 by The Hungry Bon Vivant

DECENT and well-priced Bento boxes are hard to come by in Sydney but I have found one and it’s from a tiny Japanese eatery tucked away in a small suburban shopping complex in Meadowbank.

Midori Sushi and Rolls is on the lower ground floor of the Village Plaza at the Shepherds Bay complex which primarily services residents in the high-density apartments built on former industrial land overlooking the Parramatta River. I come here because it has one of the closest Aldi stores near to me. I will now come here more regularly to eat because of Midori’s Bento boxes and ramen.

The eatery has a large front glass counter with a refrigerated section displaying an array of freshly-made sushi rolls which are made on the premises and to order if desired. To one side, staff busily make the sushi rolls which seem to walk out of the door as shoppers line to take them home, while in a small kitchen another staff member is busily preparing the cooked dishes available.

As almost always when I have walked past, there are some “in the know” Japanese sitting at the small tables tucked way in a L-shaped area (there is room for about 18 people), eating ramen, udon or having a bento box. Seeing a regular Japanese clientèle on my shopping visits was what got me to try Midori.

On my first visit to Midori I opted for the miso ramen with teriyaki chicken ($9.50). It took about 10 minutes to arrive and when it did I was delightfully surprised by its character. The soup was served in a brown plastic “ceramic-look” bowl with wooden ladle – both sitting on a weaved straw-look mat on a square ‘lacquered’ tray. The ramen was topped with two slices of kamaboko (the fish cake with a pink swirl); a spoonful of corn kernels; a clump of tall white enokitaki (mushrooms); bean sprouts; what seemed to be mizuna (which is like a mustard green); two sheets of nori paper on the side; and slices of beautifully marinated and grilled teriyaki chicken. The ramen was creative and unusual – each topping wonderfully playing in the mouth in terms of textures and flavours. The mizuna added a peppery crunchy spicness; the enotaki some lovely earthy and fresh flavours, the corn added the sweetness, the kamaboko and nori the saltiness; and the succulent marinated chicken offered a haromious combination of toffee and grilled-smoke flavours. The miso broth, with its pleasant savoury nuttiness, acted like a chemical precursor to all those individual flavours and textures that swarmed on top of the al-dente ramen noodles.

On my second visit I had one of Midori’s Bento boxes (after seeing a few customers having one last time). The chilli pork bento box ($12.50) was a black plastic and partitioned box with a serving of grilled chilli-sauce marinated pork on rice; two pieces of sushi roll; a small leaf and tomato salad and two pieces of nigiri sushi sitting next to some rolled salmon sashimi. It came with miso soup (that good-quality instant variety). The strips of pork loin had been marinated (and basted) more than likely in tobanjan (a Japanese chilli paste) and grilled. The pork was tender and juicy with a lovely semi-sweet spicy and smoky flavour. The California-roll=style cooked tuna and avocado rolls as well as the fresh salmon nigri sushi were well made (the salmon melting in the mouth). The salad was the perfect palate cleanser.  The whole deal was enough for a satisfying, but not too heavy, lunch.

Midori’s udon soup with tempura vegetables ($9.50) was ordered on my third and most recent visit. A round and halved tempura fritter (with diced and shredded vegetables such as onions, carrot and spring onions and potatoes), sat to one side of the bowl of soup. The soup was similar to the contents of the ramen that I had on my first visit. Inside the bowl of dashi stock was thick and perfectly cooked udon noodles topped with two slices of kamaboko; white enokitaki; mizuna and shredded nori. The broth was quite fishy, yet pleasant. It was ideal that the tempura vegetable cake was to the side as it allowed me to dip it into the broth and eat while still crunchy (with other tempura udon soups the tempura is already in the soup which causes the morsel to go soggy. Although the tempura was enjoyable  it did not have that wonderful light and delicate tempura batter that I was expecting.

Midori also has a range of other ramen and udon noodle soups as well as a choice of different bento boxes (such as teriyaki chicken), and those popular freshly-made sushi rolls. Japanese green tea is also available by the teapot. PS: the bento boxes can be ordered as a take-away.

The verdict: Midori dishes out quality food that would be expected in larger, more established (and expensive) Japanese eateries.  It is well priced, seems popular with the locals and serves something a little bit different than the usual mundane and predictable food available at shopping centre “sushi bars” with higher turnover and visibility. Excellent value and a wonderful discovery.

What: Midori Sushi and Rolls, lower ground floor at the Village Plaza at Shepherds Bay, Bay Road, Meadowbank NSW 2114. You can find it to your left from the travelators as you head towards Aldi. It seems to be open from around 10am, 7 days.

Ate there: 28  August and 11 and 25 September 2010.

Posted in Japanese, New South Wales, Ramen, Sydney | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment