The Wine Underground - Review

The logistics of what to do on New Years Eve can be a real struggle. Party, transport, booze, parking. Could the prospect of vomit and sore feet get you excited about a new years eve?! It used to get me foaming at the mouth, so please roll me over! This year was a little more refined, the choice was made to attend a moderately priced degustation at The Wine Underground, 121 Pirie St. This is not my first choice of venue but many options on NYE were over priced or booked out or both! So you may wonder why this moderately priced option for a unique experience. The truth was because I had suggested it to a colleague as an alternative for ‘Citrus’ on Hutt St. and they were pleasantly surprised. So I thought it only wise to try out the new look Wine Underground after it was damaged by an explosion. I had high hopes for the night’s food as the chefs listed on their website are experienced and are more than capable at impressing on the plate. On arrival I enquired about the presence of a Chef of who I knew well enough to enquire about, but sadly a long haired “ink festooned” chef informed me she no longer worked there. Bugger! Dessert’s potential has just crashed, and when I preview the menu some things have been changed from the email version - Hmmm interesting.

We are greeted over the bar in a Restaurant which seems an interesting way to do business, but it is near impossible to miss the bar as you enter the underground restaurant. We perch on the stools and peruse the well lit scene. No zebras were harmed in the making of the carpet squares but it may have added to the drama if the squares were once a herd on the savannah.
After a sweet glass of Billecart – Salmon we sat and ordered a Vertigo Adelaide Hills Riesling which only really matched the Snapper which was the pick of the night. The smoked potato puree was wonderfully intense but I am not sure if vanilla nage is really necessary. The entre was aesthetically pleasing but when tested really needed to be re ordered onto the fork, I am sure the artistic endeavour of our junior chef is worthy but for the sake of the flavour of the dish remove the candied orange and put it on the dessert and try something not so sweet. The erratic wine list has limited choice by the glass which should be rare in a restaurant that attempts a degustation, perhaps a sommelier would help but good help is hard to find. The Maude New Zealand Pinot Noir was the most boisterous type red on the short glass list of reds. The pinot was well matched to the quail, so much in fact that I ran out half way through the tail of ox! The quail breast was brilliantly cooked and was rich and pungent. The twice cooked leg reminded me of the colonels secrets herbs and spices, so the secrets out! The remainder of the dish despite being interesting texturally didn’t come together to support the quail. Poor little bird never saw it coming. The oxtail received good treatment and the outcome reflected it, although I was suspicious of the peas! The peas! Was I seriously pushing the peas around the plate wondering, pondering, calculating, hypothesizing? How much of a wanker would I seem If I asked if the peas were fresh? Why should I seem? Why should the peas be in question in the first place? I know frozen packet peas. I have served more than my fare share to Hotel punters, and they know they are packet peas. (No questions asked) Is it ok to serve packet peas on a $115 per head degustation dinner? Maybe. Maybe not. Dessert was just average and the young girls and boys at the local “Cold Rock” could give you something similar, but they don’t have Sevenhill Tokay.
When I recommended The Wine Underground to my colleague I was lucky that they enjoyed the experience and appreciated the recommendation. I was foolish to have not been there myself prior, but I am not sure if I would change my recommendation. I am sure though a moderately priced degustation will have some glaring issues that will leave you with unanswered questions.
Giles

Tongue Thai'd - Review.

The Scullery has sampled much Thai food in its short history and sometimes I am amazed, sometimes disappointed and sometimes... well I dunno?
What is the real reason a restaurant opens for business? People have a passion for food and hospitality and want to create an experience that fills a niche.... There are many and varied reasons and can go onto the very tenuous but there is very little reason needed when the experience is quality and the food is superb. I believe there is an ebb and flow of clientele based on popularity that can make a restaurant and then break it. People work extremely hard to build the popularity of their restaurants and they enjoy the adrenalin of this in flow. But if that rythym is not maintained the experience will drop off and the clientele will only remember their last visit not the many before that one. So it all seems good with many clientele still coming through the door all based on their last visit - a good one perhaps? Management are not worried because the signs have not changed. The edge is near though and the flood of customers will stop as quickly as it started all based on a critical mass of punters now not so sure of their favourite little Tongue Thai'd restaurant.
I observed some very worrying signs at this favourite little Thai Restaurant, our party were booked in and early on what was always going to be a busy night. (Saturday 27th December - Chrissy leftovers all gone!) Our effeminate host allowed us the choice of moving tables which was very accommodating, and we slipped inside to a table right in the thoroughfare of the tiny, boldly coloured rooms. Some "San Pell", "Creatures" and "Singha" and we ordered promptly and succinctly. The menu is controlled down to price differences of each variation of a dish as is customary in a Thai restaurant, but the menu does not go further than the popular favourites. The 'specials' are used for the genuine Thai gems, like Duck Salad, Green Paw Paw 'Som Tom' spicy salad and others. We settle into our catch up conversation and I keep one eye on the front of house counter, it is what I like to do! Entre's arrive sluggishly which is a concern as they are merely deep fried spring rolls, tofu and Tom Kah Gai. The Tom Kah Gai soup was to sweet to really be thought of as a geniune article. Tongue Thai'd is full and the food is moving out of the kitchen to some big tables, and a banquet type room at the rear of the restaurant. The managers are working and the staff are coping, as soon as one of the large tables finishes up and leaves the manager sits down and the staff are still just coping. This manager is entitled to sit and enjoy the bustle of their busy restaurant, but all around him the wheels start to fall off. We wait a further hour for our mains. The first rush was over and being such a busy night the second wave of punters were now having to wait until 10 o clock for food ordered at eight! I ordered the Paw Paw salad, and was interested when after 40 minutes I am informed the salad was no longer available, this quietly wreaks of a lack of communication between the wait staff and the kitchen. My choices become limited as many of the specials suddenly are no longer available. Being a manager down the staff face tough questions about where's? and why's? this is of course the job of the manager - who is not around. The staff that were coping are now not, they are now heavy footed in an emptying restaurant confused by their own lack of communication. We moved table from 22 to 19, it was somehow the hurdle neither the staff nor the kitchen could quite get over. Just change the number on the order and remember both copies. So after these signs had passed we were pleased to see our meals, which were of a good size. The Red, Green and Penang Curries were all of a consistent standard but no finesse to speak of. The Penang usually the most subtle was over sweet without enough balance (lime acid) to carry the dish. The vegetable’s used were the same for each dish, a rough chop of bamboo shoot, red ‘caps’, 'broc' and onion. This may seem like common, time saving practise, but I’d say it is lazy at the toughest of times. To be honest the food was below standard and really could be criticised further but it would add to mounting case for the 'ebb' from this little Thai Restaurant. With so many loyal punters disappointed in one evening I do not really need to add to their frustration. They will of course think twice when returning, despite the times when the food was great and the staff in rhythm with their needs. A niche is often formed quicker than it is filled, so there is time on the side of the little Thai restaurant, but I will not burn a scented candle in hope for them.

Giles

Festive Photo's...

Kim Wang Super Market, It is super for a reason!

Central Market Frenzy before the holidays!

Individual Lemon Curd tarts for a function - delicious!

Giles

Festive Photo's...

Stephanie Alexander's confusing pancake recipe...

Merlin Inn Catering Satay's are always a hit with the revellers.

Anyone for torte? Cibo lemon torte is a must!

Giles

The Queens Head - Review.

As the crow flies with a stones throw you could describe the vicinity of The Queens Head Hotel from the picturesque Adelaide Oval. It has long been an ideal venue for a decent beer during a summer full of cricket and general frivolity. With forty minutes for a lunch break on a casual Monday I once again venture to the low profile of the very austere venue. I spy some changes with my return to the renovated venue perhaps four years ago, this time someone has made some poor choices. One thing I don't like is a fake facade, this is sadly the first thing that you see on entering the front bar. Fake timber flooring laid the incorrect way in relation to the building tells me someone did not consider the consequences of that decision. I move through to the saloon bar where there used to be a superb bar/bench setup length ways in the tight room, it created a wonderful richness to the room which is now replaced with smaller rectangular tables at bar height which effectively changes the saloon to an ideal speed dating venue! With few minutes to play with I choose a quick fresher dish to lunch on combined with a plastic receptacle of sparkling ale. I went for the floured squid with dill and tomato on rocket doused with a mayo of supermarket quality, I admit I expected more from the dish. The mayo was lifeless, squid was cooked in oil not hot enough to do the job properly and the decision to serve the whole mess in a bowl more suited to a hand full of Ferrero-Rocher it made me feel as though the management did not care about what I thought of this dish. They only care that the floors are easy to mop at the end of the day and that they never run out of glassware. Go back in time or wait another three years before someone cottons on and gets this place back to basics. It is a fake facade of a gastro pub in dire need of a reality check.


Giles