A day in Adelaide: Big Table, Lady Burra, Shobosho, Pink Moon

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A day in Adelaide: Big Table, Lady Burra, Shobosho, Pink Moon

adelaide

It’s nice to be back in Adelaide. I spent a few days here last July, and it’s a very liveable place, a little scruffy around the edges, but a great place to eat, drink and wander around.

adelaide

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I had a day in the city yesterday. I began by wandering through the Central Market, where there are quite a few coffee and breakfast options. I had a lovely green egg and ham on sourdough at Big Table, and the coffee was superb here too. There’s also a decent wine shop here: Vintage Cellars, which has a good selection of Australian and semi-good selection of international wines.

Then I wandered. I headed up to the east end where there are lots of food, drink and shopping options, including the main shopping drag of Rundle Street. This is where Mother Vine wine bar and East End Cellars are found, both essential destinations for wine lovers.

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In the afternoon I lunched at Lady Burra Brewhouse. This is the only brewery in the Adelaide Central Business District, and I did a tour and tasting with brewer James Collison, who moved here from Little Creatures’ main brewery in Geelong. Here he makes a really good range of beers, including a bright pilsner, and seriously good Pale Ale, a rich but balanced IPA and an Irish Red Ale, which is distinctive and quite British/Irish in style. Seasonals include a monster-sized Stout, which stays in balance, and a really convincing Berliner Weisse (not yet released).

James Collison, Lady Burra Brewhouse
James Collison, Lady Burra Brewhouse

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As well as beer, Lady Burra is also a restaurant. This brewpub idea is a really good one, and the combination of good quality but informal food (I had a fab prosciutto and artichoke pizza washed down with a pale ale) is a really good one.

Martini, Pink Moon Saloon
Martini, Pink Moon Saloon

In the evening I met up with my fellow travellers, Ronny Lau and Cathy Huyghe, and our babysitter from South Australia Tourism, Minnie McCreanor, and we headed off for a drink at Pink Moon Saloon. This is a really nice place in the middle of lots of food and drink options in the west end, just of small bar central Peel Street. The licensing laws were relaxed a few years ago making it much easier for small bars to open, and the result is a thriving scene with lots of very cool looking options. I had a lovely Vesper Martini, and my colleagues’ drink options all looked pretty smart, apart from Ronny’s (he had an Australian Prosecco).

Open kitchen, Shobosho
Open kitchen, Shobosho

Then we went to dinner at Shobosho. This is an informal, bright, but beautifully done yakitori joint. The food was superb – we worked our way through the chef’s menu – with lots of variety and richness of flavour. The wine list was also amazing, and they let me order. So we ended up with a couple of new releases from Taras and Amber Ochota – the Weird Berries in the Woods Gewurztraminer, and the Green Room Grenache, both 2017. They worked perfectly: elegant, fresh, well defined flavours that matched the style of food very well. Shoboso is just the sort of confident, stylish restaurant that typifies the new Australia. The service was also excellent, with each dish explained properly (there were lots of them) and the pace of the kitchen perfectly judged.

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2 Comments on A day in Adelaide: Big Table, Lady Burra, Shobosho, Pink MoonTagged ,
wine journalist and flavour obsessive

2 thoughts on “A day in Adelaide: Big Table, Lady Burra, Shobosho, Pink Moon

  1. Can you describe “scruffy”? I actually lived there for 2 years and it was awesome. Lots of cultural and sports activities, places to wine and dine like you mention, and so many wine making regions around, it was great!

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