***Let me just start out by saying, I had not planned to write this much, especially while working on my dissertion. I just can’t shut up. It’s a disease, people.*** My friend Matt was the first person to actually visit my partner and I in Australia, so we were heaps excited to show him a good time. Matt is a former chef and current food lover, so of course, I had to show him that South Australia could roll with the big boys. Lets be honest. Matt is from Nebraska. The ?big boys? are a TGIFridays and the Buffalo Wild Wings outside of the Super Walmart. But still, I dig the guy culinarily speaking, so I wanted to show him a good time. We drove up the McLaren Vale wine region, a 45 minute drive from Adelaide. There are at least four wine regions within driving distance of Adelaide (Barossa, Clare Valley, Coonawarra), but the McLaren Vale has my heart because it runs along side of the ocean. Nothing says loving like getting pissed next to the water (pissed=drunk). Our first stop was D?Arenberg winery. The grounds are gorgeous and still look lived in (the family that owns it lives on the property), and even though I have heaps of pictures of this place, I had to get a few more.
D?Arenberg wine is available in the United States, and they have won heaps of awards for their wines, especially their reds. But I?m a dessert wine kinda gal, so my heart lies with their Noble Riesling, a beautiful sticky that is very un-dessert wine like. It has the luscious flavor of passion fruit and pineapple that is so strong, it makes me feel like I am eating them fresh, and while it is sweet, it does not feel thick, like a Sauternes or even their Semllion did. I made sure to grab a few that I wanted to bring home to the U.S.
And of course, we had to get a few shots of us. We make the wine look good, trust me.
We made a quick stop at Pertaringa, one of my favorite wineries in this region, especially for their dessert wine. I wanted to pick up some more moscato and port, again, preparing for my trip home in a few months, but Matt made friends with this guy.
Sadly, this guy was not for sale. We had an early dinner planned, but I was dying to try the Victory Hotel, a pub that is widely proclaimed to have some of the best food in the Vale. In fact, the chef of my favorite South Australian restaurant, The Hundred Eaves, also in the Vale, used to work at the Victory Hotel, so I knew there might be some deliciousness going on up in there. Yeah. I?ve been there enough times that I am actually allowed to called it ?The Vale?. I?ve also been to Mount Gambier or ?The Mount?, but that is another story for another time.
We stopped to have a light lunch. On the outside, aside from the view of the ocean, it looked like some place your Midwestern parents might meet their friends for a brew and a nice, predictable menu.
The looks on the inside do not really change your mind, but the food does. We?re not talking haute cuisine. We are talking good ingredients turned into good food. Nothing fancy here, but that is what makes it good.
You would think two food lovers and one very level headed man would realize ordering two bread dishes for appetizers before our mains does not make for a light lunch. We didn?t. We ordered garlic bread ($4.00 AUD) first, but I couldn?t resist the free range chicken liver pate with port wine jelly and warm buttered brioche ($10.50 AUD), could I?? Hell, I couldn?t even wait for a picture to be taken before I chowed down on it. Sorry bout that.
The pate was beautiful?It was velvety smooth and held up nicely against the richly flavored port glaze. But what do I know–I?m a whore for pate. I went for a light veggie tart with feta and red pepper coulis, which was great. I believe there were some caramelized onions in there, and their sweetness was perfectly balanced by the salty huge hunks of feta.
Adam got the smoked chicken and pancetta salad with avocado, and found it refreshing and tasty with the avocado paste.
Matt?s chilled vegetable terrine with goat cheese and beet root was good too, even though from the name, you would expect it to be boring. These people know how to work with vegetables.
It was a great meal, slightly pricy (roughly $50 for two appetizers and three mains for lunch) but totally worth it. Plus, they have this nice little outdoor area for when it is warm. With a view like this, you really can?t beat it.
We drove down to Sellicks Beach after that, where we saw this:
Then we went to dinner. Yup. Only two hours after lunch. People, I have said this before and I will say it again, so please, try to remember it this time: THAT IS HOW I ROLL. Gangsta food style. Don?t mix up my kool-aid if you don?t want to know the flavor, fool. I had to take Matt to my favorite restaurant in Australia, The Hundred Eaves. You can read about it in this post. In a few short words, it is slow food at its finest, in the most adorable, most relaxed atmosphere you could ever wander into. The style is sort of upscale Aussie comfort food meets Australian native bush food.
We were still a bit full from lunch, so the waitress brought us some drinks (Lovely Valley Smooth Lager, a local Aussie beer made in the nearby town of Myponga), took our orders, and promised not to send out the first appetizer for a while. Now how many restaurants do you know are that compliant? The sun was just setting when the cheese platter with quandong jam and damper ($15 AUD) finally arrived (just around the time we were getting hungry again!).
What is that? You would like to see ANOTHER shot of this pretty little thing? Well, if you insist.
I don?t remember what all was on there, but I can say that the panfried haloumi was amazing. It was melty, stringy and yet crisp and crunchy all at once. I secretly nicknamed it the cheese plate of love?and also, Norbert. I felt it had a nice ring to it. Matt loved Norbert so much, he ordered it?s cousin for his main, the veggie delite, which was a nut crusted haloumi with roast veggie ragout and sweet chili ($27.00 AUD). Yup. A whole plate of the haloumi. And every time he looked away, I was shoving some in my mouth. I am a classy, classy lady.
Adam went for the Bush Pig, which was basically a pork schnitzel with mustang muntrie chutney ($28.00 AUD).
Aussies, especially South Australian Aussies with all their German settlements, love them some schnitzel. Muntries are Australian native bush berries that taste a bit like apples. If you want to know more about them, go here. Adam really liked the dish, but really, what is not to like about deep fried meat with sauce? My favorite was my dish, called Squatters Rights, which was a blackened lamb fillet with eggplant ragout and a drunken spud ($29.00 AUD).
Australia has really turned me on to lamb, and this dish just raised my love of the beast from acquaintances to I wanna take pictures and stalk you phase. The lamb was moist and full of delicious umami-ness, and the sides perfectly complimented the dish. I would like to point out that my spud did not arrive ?drunken?, as promised, but the food was so good, I didn?t even care. Which is huge. I love to complain more than a room full of old people watching the nightly news. We had to finish off with some dessert, no matter how full we were. It is sort of a rule of mine. We ordered the two desserts available that night: there was a quandong summer pudding ($13.50 AUD), which was just okay (I’m not a big pudding fan),
but the wattleseed mud meringue ($13.50 AUD) was great. The chocolate stuff was either a really rich chocolate ice cream OR a super rich chocolate ganache, and as you can see, it was topped with heaps of rehydrated wattle seed, which taste similar to coffee and chocolate. So picture chocolate topped with edible delicious coffee grounds and a fluffy delicious meringue to balance it all out.
I had to be rolled out of there. Thankfully, they rolled me back to the beach, where we walked on the smooth sand, splashing the water?s edge, taking interesting shots. Matt decided to contemplate life as he stared at a boat in the distance. I could see him shaking his head and brushing a few stray tears out of his eyes as he whispered, ?Why, Britney? WHY??
None of us know who bought Britney the ticket to crazytown, Matt. But all of our hearts ache equally. Best buddies.
Damn, who is that hottie in the distance? She looks tan AND skinny!
Thanks! I hope you all enjoyed my chunky guide to the McLaren Vale! ~LTG!
