InDaily‘s new weekly food column is your source for the latest South Australian food news – openings, closings, produce, chef movements, hot spots, local food trends and more.
Cushdy gives up on Hindley Street
Six years in Hindley Street has proven to be enough for Shaun Pattinson, the influential mixologist, and his classy cocktail lounge Cushdy.
Cushdy will close at the end of September, and Pattinson says that the Hindley Street stigma got too much for him in the end.
While he’s still going out on top – having won numerous awards and maintaining a strong loyal following – he says the location never sat well with him, nor, it seems, many Adelaideans.
“We’ve probably achieved as much as we can in this location,” Pattinson told The Forager.
“A high end cocktail bar in Hindley Street is not easy – that was a factor. I have never enjoyed that location, but we’ve always made the most of it.”
He feels he was never fully embraced in his own city where wine culture rules and, he believes, cocktails are equated with a hard-drinking, underage culture, rather than being seen as something adult and sophisticated.
“It’s a lot safer to say wine and food, rather than spirits and cocktails.”
The reverse is probably true in Melbourne and Sydney and, indeed, interstate travelers sought out the renowned bar, regardless of its location.
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Locals, Pattinson argues, are very location conscious – and for Cushdy’s target customers, Hindley Street wasn’t the place they wanted to be. Pattinson calls it “the Hindley Street stigma”.
Pattinson will take a break from running his own place for a while, before launching a new venture, which is yet to be fully formed in his mind.
One thing is certain though – it won’t be presented as a cocktail lounge.
Slaying ’em
Genteel Burnside Village has come under the thrall of The Slayer.
It’s not a demon raised from hades – it’s a $30,000 piece of Seattle-made engineering, known as the Ferrari of coffee machines.
South Australia’s first Slayer has been installed at Dolce & Co, the new outlet for the high-end patisserie based at Gilbert Street restaurant supply shop Ecotel.
The patisserie has made a sweet name for itself, particularly amongst city locals, for its impeccable cakes and pastries. In the evenings, it turns from production kitchen to cooking school, where budding Zumbos learn all about the finer points of pastry.
Ecotel’s Yazan Akeel had been promising new outlets for some time, and he’s now delivered, with the Burnside Village outlet quietly opening a few weeks ago.
A Central Market outlet is also on the way in the next few months. Akeel says it is likely to be adjacent to one of the main entrances to the market.
But back to the Slayer.
This is a very special machine and the proof is in the shot of Guatemalan single origin coffee that Akeel poured for The Forager – it’s viscous, like honey, and almost as sweet. Incredible.
The secret is in the fact that every group head has an individual boiler and allows the barista complete control over variables such as brew temperature for every shot. This baby never runs out of steam.
While you might come to Dolce & Co for the coffee, you’ll stay for the sweets and pastries, including arguably Adelaide’s flakiest croissants, baked using Belgian butter (88 per cent fat which, in the world of French baking, is a good thing).
Dolce & Co’s other treats including house-made ice-creams on a stick (including a strawberry coated, balsamic vinegar and white pepper version), macarons, cakes, and a very popular tiny version of the classic croquembouche – just enough for one.
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Akeel says another Slayer has just entered the state, brought in by a high-end cafe. Watch this space.
Mexican street food
Dolce & Co’s coffee gets some of its excellence from Veneziano coffee beans – the same beans which contribute to the excellent coffee at the Adelaide Hills’ best-kept food secret, Sazon Espresso in Mt Barker.
The Gawler Street cafe, run by Mexico City-born brothers Oswaldo and Jose Estrella, is best known among locals, who pack the cafe’s appealing room for breakfast and lunch most days. The coffee is consistently good, and the Mexican hot chocolate is the best antidote for a chilly day in the Hills.
On Friday nights, Sazon offers dinner – simple Mexican street food including quesadillas, tostadas, flautas and tacos, with margaritas and sangria to wash it all down.
Friday nights have been huge since the experiment began in November last year, so bookings are essential.
Have Chung Jae cook for you
Chef Chung Jae Lee may have left Gouger Street favourite Mapo after an 11-year stint – but there is good news for fans of his refined Korean food.
Chung Jae is offering his services for private dinner parties in your home, with the price set at $149 per head for a three course meal.
There’s even better news for InDaily readers – be one of the first six readers to book a dinner with Chung Jae, tell them that you’re an InDaily reader, and you’ll receive a free bottle of French champagne with your meal.
The “private chef” phenomenon has taken off overseas, and Chung Jae is curious to see how the idea will work in Adelaide.
His menu will include some dishes familiar to Mapo diners, including crispy pork belly with fried kimchi, bulgogi with butter lettuce and chilli paste, and coffee pork ribs.
Waiting staff can be provided at extra cost. Otherwise, you’ll handle the dishes yourselves. For his part Chung Jae promises to leave your kitchen in the state in which he found it.
Mapo, meanwhile, continues the tradition started by Chung Jae, whose cousin is still in the kitchen along with a new Korean chef.
To book a home dinner with Chung Jae, call Sam Lee on 0412 834 078.
The master
If you don’t fancy having Chung Jae come to your home, he will be back at Mapo for one night only in September – and he’ll be joined in the kitchen by South Australia’s favourite culinary hero Cheong Liew.
The pair will be cooking together in an event for the OzAsia festival. They’re calling it “A Mouth-watering Journey: From Penang to Seoul”.
The big night is September 27, and the cost is $149 per head for a banquet style dinner.
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