Our fourth night in the Barossa saw us travel to the big smoke - Adelaide. Adelaide wasn't originally on the itinerary at all, but we were picking up Sandra from the airport that evening, so it made more sense for us to stay in the city. The Adelaide Fringe Festival was on too, so we got to go there too! (I was glad we got to spend a little time in Adelaide, as I'd never been before and I was keen to check it out.)
D'Artagnan
D'Artagnan
26 O'Connell Street
North Adelaide 5006
(08) 8267-6688
Website
The location for dinner was chosen by Jaci's friend Dave - D'Artagnan is located on busy O'Connell Street in North Adelaide, and had actually just opened the night before! It was decorated in a moody, cosy way - all dark greys and purple, warm banquette seats and a fireplace. Even though it was a Wednesday night and we only got there around 9pm, it was quite busy, and remained so well into the night.
D'Artagnan serves modern Australian cuisine, with Italian and French influences. We started with some nibblies - bread, olives and dukkah; oysters with seaweed and caviar and some ham and cheese croquettes.
The oysters were lovely and fresh, and I liked that the addition of seaweed complemented the oysters, without overpowering them. I didn't try the croquette, but according to Sandra, they were a little cool on the inside - certainly not frozen, just not piping hot as they should be.
The goat's cheese Bavarian (AKA Bavarois) was an unusual, but welcome choice on the menu. It also looked beautiful - I love the Italianate combo of red, white and green.
More of those ham and cheese croquettes accompanied the oven-roasted beef fillet. This time they were perfectly done, so the lukewarm ones must have been a once-off!
I ordered the Berkshire pork scotch, on the recommendation of the owner, and I'm sure glad I did!
It was a very generous serving of tender, juicy pork, with a nice slick of salty, savoury sauce. There were a couple of morel mushrooms underneath the pork as well - a very rare treat, considering how expensive and difficult to find they are.
Had I not ordered the pork, I would have definitely ordered the pappardelle - I'm a sucker for anything with broad beans! A simple combination, well executed.
After the meal and a couple of bottles of wine, it was rather late, so we skipped dessert. We were given some chocolate macarons to finish the meal. They looked good and were reasonably well made, but they were slightly chewy, and I wasn't blown away by them. (I must have been spoiled by Melbourne's best - and indeed, Tokyo's best!)
We then went over to Rundle Park to walk around The Garden of Unearthly Delights, an outdoor festival precinct with rides, drinks, stalls and various shows. The Garden, and the Fringe Festival in general, seems to be really, really popular - almost everyone we met in the Barossa had visited, or were planning on going, irrespective of age or profession. Apparently on the first Saturday night it was open, there was a two-hour queue to get in!
Sarah and Sandra dined at D'Artagnan as guests of Tourism Barossa, as part of the prize for winning the Barossa's Table competition.
The location for dinner was chosen by Jaci's friend Dave - D'Artagnan is located on busy O'Connell Street in North Adelaide, and had actually just opened the night before! It was decorated in a moody, cosy way - all dark greys and purple, warm banquette seats and a fireplace. Even though it was a Wednesday night and we only got there around 9pm, it was quite busy, and remained so well into the night.
D'Artagnan serves modern Australian cuisine, with Italian and French influences. We started with some nibblies - bread, olives and dukkah; oysters with seaweed and caviar and some ham and cheese croquettes.
 |
| Warm bread with macadamia dukkah, olive oil and semi dried olives - $7 Coffin bay oysters with seaweed and caviar - $11 Ham and cheese croquette with tomato relish - $8 |
The goat's cheese Bavarian (AKA Bavarois) was an unusual, but welcome choice on the menu. It also looked beautiful - I love the Italianate combo of red, white and green.
 |
| Goat’s cheese Bavarian with vine ripened tomato tart and basil oil - $12 |
 |
| Oven roasted centre-cut of beef fillet with baby spinach, truffle cream, ham and cheese croquettes and shiraz glaze - $34 |
 | ||
| Berkshire pork scotch cooked in D’artagnan’s bouillon, then grilled, served with sauteed morel mushrooms, green beans and confit garlic - $34 |
Had I not ordered the pork, I would have definitely ordered the pappardelle - I'm a sucker for anything with broad beans! A simple combination, well executed.
 |
| Pappardelle with duck, chilli, broad beans and olive oil - $14 |
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| Bitter leaf salad with cabernet dressing - $7 Steamed broccolini with goat’s cheese and garlic chips - $8 |
We then went over to Rundle Park to walk around The Garden of Unearthly Delights, an outdoor festival precinct with rides, drinks, stalls and various shows. The Garden, and the Fringe Festival in general, seems to be really, really popular - almost everyone we met in the Barossa had visited, or were planning on going, irrespective of age or profession. Apparently on the first Saturday night it was open, there was a two-hour queue to get in!
I loved this puppet store!
Sarah and Sandra dined at D'Artagnan as guests of Tourism Barossa, as part of the prize for winning the Barossa's Table competition.
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