About once every month, a group of people with little in common aside from a shared love of food and an interest in blogging/tweeting about it meet up for dinner. You might remember I posted about my first such dinner at Tognini’s a few months ago. Tuesday night was the first time I’ve been able to get back to one of these dinners. As always, the food was delicious and the company entertaining.
The Gunshop at West End kindly put on a Queensland Tasting Menu – six courses, some of which feature regularly on the menu, and some of which are new items. As there was a large group of us, we each only had to pay $40 for a fantastic array of food. What I really loved about it was the focus on Queensland, seasonal ingredients. In fact, they were careful to advise us that the oysters were actually slightly before their peak, which will be in about 2 weeks time. The Gunshop was recently named Delicious Magazine’s “Australian Cafe of the Year” – and if dinner is anything to go by, that is a deserving title.
Several other bloggers have already posted about this meal – in particular I agree with Gastronomy Gal’s assessment. I should mention that I was particularly impressed by the wild boar – especially as I’m not usually a big pork fan (except for bacon of course!). Another highlight was the new season peach souffle which was delicate and perfectly risen.
Without further ado, here is a run-down of what we ate:
- Stradbroke island rock oysters, tomato and 50 year old sherry vinegar
- Seared Hervey Bay scallops, salmon pearls, persimmon (foam) and squid ink dressing
- West Queensland wild boar, Moreton bay bug, ham (jammon foam) and pineapple
- Goondiwindi lamb rack, salsify puree, Toowoomba olives and fresh peas
- Selection of Queensland cheese and accompaniments
- Witches Chase cloth wrapped 18 month aged cheddar
- Kingaroy Bunya Black brie
- Atherton Tablelands Gallo Washed Rind
- Gympie Farm ash rolled cherve
- New season peach souffle, raspberry ice cream and QLD vanilla creme anglaise
The Gunshop
53 Mollison St
West End
Ph: 07 3844-2241
Web: http://www.thegunshopcafe.com/
Upon the recommendation of our good friend D, we had lunch at the Salopian Inn whilst we visited McLaren Vale. I’m glad we did, although perhaps my jeans weren’t so happy about it.
The place was packed for Sunday lunch and we didn’t have a booking but we were fortunate enough to grab the last table.
We had learnt our lesson (somewhat) from previous meals in SA, so passed on bread and entrees. Ultimately we passed on dessert too. Our mains (with a side of beans) turned out to be more than enough to keep us full until dinner.
Beef cheek is one of those fantastic cuts for slow-cooking. When it’s done well, the meat almost dissolves in your mouth. The chef at Salopian Inn knows how to cook beef cheek! And the accompanying duck-fat potatoes and parsnip were delicious. I couldn’t pinpoint what was in the sauce accompanying the beef cheek but it was so good. It’s times like these that I realise the inadequacies of the English language (and my own skills!).
J had twice roasted duck, pink peppercorn, baked quince, beetroot, witlof, pomegranate sauce. I’m not a fan of duck, so I didn’t taste his dish, but he assures me it was wonderful. We now understand why Salopian Inn came so highly recommended and was so busy. And the wines from the adjoining cellar door (Gemtree and Dowie Doole) weren’t bad either!
Salopian Inn
Cnr McMurtrie & Main Rds
McLaren Vale SA
Ph: 08 8323 8769
Web: http://mvbeer.com/the-salopian-inn.html
Maggie Beer is a food legend, and a personal icon of mine. Unfortunately, Maggie was in Brisbane the weekend we were in Adelaide! The next best thing was visiting Pheasant Farm and Maggie’s Farm Shop in the Barossa.
I couldn’t visit the farm without trying Maggie’s pheasant pie (or terrine as it was served). This was as delicious as expected – and the sour cream pastry was beautiful! I believe it was served with Maggie’s “Cabernet sauce” which is amazingly good – so good in fact we brought a bottle of it home with us! We also enjoyed the “picnic basket” with vegetable pate.
We stuck around for a cooking demonstration – featuring Maggie’s favourite ingredient – Verjuice (the juice of unripened wine grapes). I was quite excited because the demonstration was held in the kitchen featured on Maggie’s tv show “The Cook and the Chef”. I even had a nerdy photo taken of me in the kitchen!
Maggie Beer’s Farm Shop
Pheasant Farm Rd
Seppeltsfield SA
Ph: 08 8562 4477
Web: http://www.maggiebeer.com.au/home/
I’ll just do a quick review for 1918, since they certainly had no shortage of customers when we visited.
It was a freezing cold night in the Barossa Valley and, even though we felt like we’d done nothing but eat all day, we needed something hearty to take away the chill.
For some reason we thought it was necessary to have bread to start (in fairness, it is baked fresh each day and served with parmesan olive oil), and then french fries as a side (the aioli was delicious). We ordered before we saw how big the mains were!
My main was the Fish of the Day. On the day in question, it was seared salmon served with zucchini fritters and a mandarin sauce. My salmon was cooked just how I like it (medium rare) and the zucchini fritters had a hint of Indian spice – I think perhaps coriander seeds. The mandarin sauce was a perfect foil to the salmon.
Unfortunately, J’s dish wasn’t quite as successful. He had the grilled lamb loin with merguez sausage, slow roasted onions, cavalo nero and cherry tomatoes. Although the portion was generous, he felt the lamb was a bit tough and the dish as a whole needed something to bring the different elements together. His words “it’s a bit boring”.
After all this food, we couldn’t bring ourselves to order dessert just yet…so we ran across to Foodland and bought some Maggie Beer icecream to enjoy later in the evening (what, I can’t go without dessert – I’m on holidays!).
1918 Bistro and Grill
94 Murray St
Tanunda SA
Ph: 08 8563 0405
Web: http://www.1918.com.au/
My two best friends generously gifted J and I with a voucher to Penfolds Magill Estate, knowing we were planning a holiday to Adelaide and the Barossa. We had no idea what to expect, although in true food blogger style I investigated the menu online beforehand.
Magill Estate is the Penfolds restaurant located in a suburb east of Adelaide. Adelaide is flat, so you are able to see quite far from the restaurant’s elevated location. We had dinner looking out on hundreds of twinkling lights. Unfortunately, the restaurant was lit for “mood” rather than great photographs – I apologise for the exceptionally poor quality of these shots.
The service was impeccable – I think you can tell you’re in a high-class establishment when you have separate wine, water and food waiters… As we were driving up to the Barossa that night, we decided to forgo the entrees and skip straight to dessert. Fortunately we were still treated to an amuse bouche.
At the outset, I have to say that as much as I admire chefs who use molecular gastronomy, it’s always seemed a bit pretentious to me. I’m a home cook – I tend to cook simple, hearty and delicious dishes and molecular gastronomy would do my head in if I were to attempt it. I can’t say Magill Estate is going to make me start attempting this sort of food, but I now understand what some of the fuss is about. Our amuse bouche was a divine combination of cream, cavier, dried trout flakes, broth and … tomato bubbles. I had to conceal a smirk when I heard this. But then I smelt them…and tasted them. The tomato flavour was so intense and concentrated and, even though the bubbles burst on your tongue, they managed to impart so much flavour to the dish. Tomato bubbles, where have you been my whole life?
For my main I ordered a chicken dish (unfortunately it’s not listed on the website and my memory fails me). Suffice to say, it was the most succulent and delicious chicken I’ve ever eaten. It’s worth mentioning also our side dish of green beans – perfectly cooked yet retaining some crunch, they were served with anchovy, garlic, ham and chilli. Divine.
Before dessert we were again treated to an amuse bouche. This time a pre-dessert of doughnut icecream, raspberry coulis, freeze-dried raspberries, chocolate-coffee dust and milk foam. Words cannot describe. Our waiter later told us that they actually make doughnuts on-site in the morning which they then incorporate into the icecream. The icecream was smooth so I have no idea how they do that!
Finally, my dessert was carrot cake. Of course, it was a bit more sophisticated than that! I had carrot-cake dirt, scattered with large chunks of steamed carrot (the only bit I didn’t really enjoy – I think they were a bit too large), sultanas and walnuts. It was served with lemon curd, orange bubbles and cheesecake icecream.
If you’re ever in Adelaide and looking for a high quality restaurant (and have the budget to match!), visit Magill Estate. It was easily one of the best meals of my life thus far.
Penfolds Magill Estate Restaurant
78 Penfold Rd
Magill SA
Ph: 08 8301 5551
Web: www.penfolds.com
Full disclosure: I did not pay for this meal. Tognini’s and Rymill wines were kind enough to provide a group of Brisbane food blogger’s with a delicious 3-course meal and wine. However, these opinions are mine alone.
Tonight was the first time I felt like a bona fide blogger. Most of the time I feel like my words and pictures are just absorbed into the internet ether. My humble little blog isn’t reinventing the wheel, it just putters along in its own little corner of the net. However, tonight I was able to enjoy a fantastic dinner with a bunch of like-minded Brisbane foodies and bloggers. And it was my first “freebie”. I’ve finally made it! :p Don’t worry I won’t be giving up my day job any time soon…
Tognini’s started out as an Italian deli in Milton 17 years ago. Over the years it has grown and evolved – the Milton store grew larger, added a bistro and started serving lunch and breakfast. There are now 3 deli/bistros and the Spring Hill branch introduced dinner service in April this year.
Narelle Tognini was our kind hostess for the evening. We started out with a cheese platter. Tognini’s is the place in Brisbane for strong, stinky cheeses – many imported from Italy and France. Our platter had 3 of Narelle’s favourites – a soft washed rind from France (sadly the name escapes me…); a dolche Italian gorgonzola (delicious with fruit toast!); and Testun di Pecora Chestnut, a hard pecorino from Piemonte in Italy. Served with fruit bread, crackers, dried figs and candied cumquat, I could quite happily have called this dinner.
However, the chef had other plans! Our mains were served in enormous terracotta platters – even with 14 of us eating we barely made a dint! Pictured is the valpolicella risotto with Italian sausage and peas. This was smooth and rich from the sausage crumbled throughout. Unpictured is the creamy polenta with hickory smoked chicken (apparently I was incapable of taking a crisp picture, despite several attempts). This was my favourite dish of the night. I’ve never been a huge fan of polenta – whenever I’ve made it it’s been grainy and bland. This polenta may have changed my life. Unfortunately, one of the chefs (Jasper) explained the secret to its success – cream and butter. I don’t know why I was surprised…
Dessert was a simple, but beautifully balanced creme brulee. Is there anything more satisfying then cracking the sugar on a good creme brulee?
Throughout dinner we sampled two wines by Rymill. I believe the red was the 2004 MC2, which is a blend of Cabernet (Franc and Sauvignon) and Merlot. The white may have been the sbs – a Sauvignon Blanc and Semillion blend. I’m not a wine expert by any means but I enjoyed both.
In all honesty, tonight was really fabulous. It was exactly what I’m all about – hearty, rustic, wholesome food, made with love and eaten amidst good conversation.
Tognini’s Bistro Cafe Deli
Spring Hill Marketplace
Cnr Turbot and Boundary St
Spring Hill
Ph: 3831 5300
Web: http://www.togninis.com/bistrocafedeli.html
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