Panacea - Review

In Greek mythology Apollo was pretty much the god of everything and Panacea his granddaughter was the goddess of cures, let’s not delve into her siblings... they’re the ugly ones! Panacea the restaurant has been open for only a few weeks and the god’s are smiling on her. Panacea is not traditional al a carte dining, it offers a Spanish sharing al a carte menu. There are myths of defunct tapas bars and sold out sharing menus lurking in Adelaide’s recent past, can Panacea do as its name prescribes and cure the drought of modern sharing menu eateries? The greeting at Panacea is friendly and relaxed and by decree of the manager is the way it will stay, I feel at ease with their quiet confidence. Hospitality can wear a person down until they can be spread too thin over too much. Confidence could be replaced with complacency or attention to detail can be sold out to the margin of dollars and depleted efforts result in failure. What I see at Panacea is a concept become reality for Andy Curren and Adam Nero who have not short changed the style of Panacea. They have made their way into the CBD from the Hyde Park Cibo Espresso, and have given Dioni Pike (ex Wine Underground / Carrick Hill) Head Chef and ‘alchemist’ duties of this cure all on Halifax St. There is an even distribution of staff right through to the open plan galley kitchen so you can always sight a staff member. The menu was sampled in the manner appropriate to a tapas bar with a plate of Olives and Peppers ($8) that were smooth flavoured and lusciously textured. Closely followed by a medium sized plate titled a ‘Small Plate’ of Rabbit with white bean and Spanish sausage hotpot ($14). This is not surprisingly the most popular dish on the menu as it is the rich, slow roasted game that many would find very appealing, especially with a slice of crusty bread. Octopus Pulpo ala gallega ($17) a piled plate of octopus, could have been terrific but suffers from its reheating and could need more acidity in the coating of sauce. Cous Cous crumbed scallops ($15), were so sweet you could swear they were enhanced, but the light crumb brought the soft scallops balance and suited the tightly textured bean puree it was accompanied with. We made perhaps a false move and ordered pasta from their specials board on the rangehood, but only few would sneer at our diversion from the tapas. The Fettucine, vongole with tarragon and white wine sauce ($16) was a big serve, it had loads of cockles, less wine than tarragon, which made the dish aromatic and a special creaminess that was certainly not weighed down by the dairy. Selections of imbibes were easy to make off of such an eclectic wine list. For a glass divide the bottle price by five. Later I still had some wine to quaff so ordered the lip smacking Vine wrapped sardines ($15). A rich salty sardine nicely tempered by almonds and sultanas and mellowed further with vine leaves, perfect with a fleshy white wine. Panacea was expertly treating our ailments and then there were Churros with chocolate ($11) to be had! The utterly delicious serve of aromatic hot pastry and dark chocolate sauce will keep punters rolling in late well into the winter evenings. I could not get past a Pedro Ximenez Sherry with the small dessert as there would not be Tapas without Sherry! Make plans and book a table at Panacea or just roll in ‘Tapas style’ and claim a spot at the bar because the inner city of Adelaide is doing the same. They are coming back for more as I have because it is totally justified.

Giles