Autumn in Adelaide (Part 3): Adelaide City, Port Adelaide and the Farmer’s Markets

Adelaide is blessed with a gentle climate, and surrounded by fertile farmlands and lush vineyards. It’s a fact that I’m reminded of whenever we step into a restaurant or a farmer’s market. From the city centre to the small town of Mannum, we hadn’t had a single bad meal. And at the end of every night, as we returned to our Airbnb, there was always plenty of fruits and cheese to be shared. What more can a guy ask for?

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Cotton Candy, regular and Muscat grapes

As a side note, we drank a lot of milk over our trip. Like, A LOT. We bought cartons in every brand. Some of them seem to be only available regionally, which I had not came across before when I was in Melbourne. Some brands were more rustic than others: in Mannum, we found Tweedvale ‘traditional milk’, which was a non-homogenised version of milk. The first time I poured out the milk after a half-hearted shake, globes of cream plodded out along thin transparent milk. Read the label and shake well!

We weren't trying to be fancy here - the wine glass was just what we were using before. We ceebs to wash more glassware.

My favourite was from Paris Creek Farm, which was deeply flavourful despite having a lower fat percentage than the other. My friends also enjoyed Fleurieu Milk Company’s Jersey Premium Full Cream, which was almost buttery in its richness. It’s a nearby dairy farm from around the Fleurieu Peninsula.

On our last day, we also tried a bottle of raw milk. Instead of the regular heat-pasteurisation process, it uses high pressure via cold-pressing to treat the milk. It …tasted similar to usual heat-pasteurised milk. I don’t think we would be able to pick it out of a line-up, to tell the truth.

We went to Adelaide Central Market the morning after we landed, and experienced the warmest-ever welcome at Angelakis Bros Ocean Catch. As we bought a dozen oysters, we got to talking with one of the fellas behind the counter, and I shared that we had just arrived for our holiday. He later came out with not just our oysters, but also with salmon sashimi and smoked salmon to welcome us to Adelaide.

Amidst everybody else there buying fruits and vegetables and coffee, we found ourselves in the hot food section by the back, tucking into fresh seafood ,servings of paella and porchetta, fried falafels and hummus with pita bread. It was a breakfast-turned-lunch situation.

We’ve all seen beer on tap, but milk on tap? We were delighted with this Milk Bar from Fleurieu.

Someone brought their pet parrots out on a groceries run! 

Haigh’s Chocolates also has a store here, and we stopped by on our last day to purchase gifts. They were bean-to-bar since 1915, before it was cool, and also runs tours in their nearby chocolate factory.

 

We dropped by Adelaide Showroom Farmer Market on Sunday as they opened. It was a showcase of the region’s freshest - and most colourful - produce.

I didn’t even know mushrooms came in these colours

Our best find was a cheese called Monet, which was made by Woodside Cheese Wrights. It’s a mild goat cheese seasoned with herbs and decorated with edible flowers, and went fabulously with a loaf of fig sourdough.

We didn’t spend too long at the farmer’s market, just long enough to have a look around and pick up what we wanted before making our way to wine country. We did spot Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong queueing for her coffee as we left!

Port Adelaide

On another day, we spent a wonderful morning kayaking around the Dolphin Sanctuary in Port Adelaide. There’s a chance of meeting some of the residential dolphins, though we didn’t manage to. Clearly, like lavender plants, dolphins prefer the summer too. The waters were probably getting a bit too chilly for them when we came. Still, it was a pleasant morning spent rowing through the mangroves and visiting the shipwrecks of the area.

Our clothes dried off in no time at all, and we had a lovely platter of oysters afterwards at The Lighthouse Wharf Hotel (in the open air, of course.)

Next to the hotel was Low and Slow American BBQ, and we came by for lunch. This was one of our best meals in Adelaide. We ordered some of everything, and what a feast it was. Conversation stilled as the trays of food arrived, then stopped completely as we started eating. The BBQ was that stunning.

Beef brisket, pulled pork, sausage links and corn bread

We headed to Pirate Life Brewery afterwards for a spot of beer. The streets of Port Adelaide were pretty empty, and it turned out that everybody must’ve all been here. We weren’t the only ones trying to take advantage of the great weather.

I earned a bit of a ribbing when I asked for a beer that wasn’t too hoppy, but my flight of beers and stout turned out pretty good. The bartender also gave our designated driver a complimentary glass of almost-alcohol-free beer, just so he’s not missing out on the fun. I stole a sip: that beer was refreshing and delicious in its own right. And despite having no alcohol tax on them, alcohol-free beverages are not cheaper: the process of creating alcoholic-free versions is scientifically challenging. 

Peel St Cafe was another excellent find, which was a solid recommendation from our Jurlique tour salesperson. The waitress warned that each portion was meant for sharing, and we were thankful for the warning: the portions were truly huge. Our table for four can only accommodate two dishes at most, and an order of the Banana Blossom Salad, listed as small plate, was uncommonly large. It was also one of the tastiest thins that I’d eaten in Adelaide, filled with creamy shredded chicken and fresh herbs. The Crispy Fried Barramundi was a platter of an entire barramundi, fried to perfection and served with a spicy side of som tum salad. The Braised Lamb Shoulder was tender and done well.

Crispy Fried Barramundi

On those lazy nights when you want to relax in your apartment after a long day out, we recommend Bakery on O'Connell. Their absolutely delightful pies (a Quiche Lorraine and a Steak and Cheese Pie) were our take-home dinner one night. And also for breakfast. They’re open 24/7. Legends.

If you’re back in the city from the wineries all sort of drunk and looking for a hot broth meal, Ông Vietnamese got us - and you - covered with their beef phở. We chowed down on the shatteringly crisp Vietnamese Spring Rolls, and drained our phở bowls clean.

We also had a terrific dinner at Sosta Argentinian Kitchen: the grilled meats and seafood were faultless and generously portioned.

Some of our off-wine days were spent in search of good coffee beans. We visited Monastery Coffee Roaster, and met the manager Lee who introduced us to the coffees that he roasted. We probably definitely took up too much of his time as he worked. If you’re a fan of Nordic-style light roast coffee, this roaster is for you.

He’s genuinely passionate about coffee, and we learnt so much about coffee and cupping from him. He was infinitely patient with us and our questions, and also because we stayed past the closing time (I would have kicked myself out had I known it was after-hours). But Lee’s the biggest sweetheart of Adelaide, and that’s saying something given all the swell people we met over the course of our trip.

He held an impromptu cupping session for the five of us after we selected several beans that we were interested in, and even brewed us a cup of espresso and a long black because I was looking for beans for my espresso set-up. Again, because I’m not sure we can emphasise this enough, it was already past the roaster’s closing time.

We finally left, happily clutching bags of coffee beans that were just roasted a day before, and counting down to the day when we can start brewing with it (2 weeks from the roast date is its peak, so people start brewing from a week off roast to catch the peak - thanks Lee for the tip.) As we left the roaster waaaayy past the closing time, it prompted a soul-searching conversation amongst us if we would have done the same when we were at work.

Lee, serving up coffee beans with a side of existential crisis. jk you’re inspiring.

It wasn’t even the first time we came by and took up his time: we actually stopped by a couple of days before, but unfortunately that happened to be a day when the electricity for the entire street was out. We couldn’t buy anything from him at the time (the vacuum sealer for the coffee bags was down as well), though he gave us bags of Nespresso-compatible capsules.

Adelaide has a bit of a sleepy reputation which seemed undeserved. For travellers coming by for a week or two, there’s plenty of activities to do and places to see. We had a grand time here. As we sat in the airport waiting to board our flight back, we were already planning for a return visit.

It’s for people who want to experience a Safari experience and drink plenty of wine from sun-kissed grapevines. A bit like South Africa, actually, but without the safety concerns of being in Africa. (You wouldn’t need a Yellow Fever vaccine for one, and petty crime is low in Australia. It is pretty safe to walk and drive around). You get to meet wild animals, drink plenty of wine, and be back in the city by dinnertime to dine in amazing restaurants.

We were also frequently surprised by how proactively helpful everybody had been. We’d met so many people who had so generous with their time, and frequently went out of their way for us to have a good time in Adelaide. On the bus ride from the airport to our accomodations, a lady saw that we were alighting and alerted everybody on board to clear the aisle for us. On another occasion, as we stood on the sidewalk deliberating if we should go into Eros, a Greek restaurant, a group of passersby reassured us it was great (which it was). We took recommendations from everybody we met (winery recommendations from other wineries’ servers and restaurant suggestions from store assistances), and they all pointed us in the right direction. Everybody had been wonderfully, impossibly warm.

Til next time, Adelaide. Don’t be a stranger.