Category Archives: Restaurants

Australia, Restaurants

El Greco, Port Adelaide

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If you are like me, after a long week at work and Friday comes around you just can’t be bothered cooking. So this week, when Friday rolled around and I suggested that we go out for dinner.

One of the best things about living in Adelaide is that our options to dine are plentiful, so we decided to go somewhere we hadn’t been before. The only other conditions that we set, was that it had to be casual, easy and someplace local. That way we didn’t have to worry about our travel distance. With this in mind we headed to Port Adelaide to try El Greco for some of their wood oven pizza, which I have heard about from some work colleagues.

Wood Oven
Wood Oven

Over the past ten years, historical Port Adelaide has been trying to recapture its commercial glories of the past. This promotion of its historic significance by the Port Adelaide Enfield Council, has encouraged many new businesses to take up residence in the many empty buildings. El Greco, is one of those relatively new businesses that is calling Port Adelaide its home.

El Greco is situated at the lighthouse wharf end of Commercial Rd, near two of Port Adelaide’s more popular pubs the Lighthouse Inn and the First Commercial Inn. When you first walk up to the restaurant, it looks more like a fast food outlet. They have pictures of their popular dishes attached to the windows. A Golden North ice cream fridge is located at the front of store, for those weekend visitors on their way to or from the dolphin cruise berths. From the exterior, you wouldn’t class El Greco as a fine dining restaurant. It is more of a casual dining experience with some indoor and al fresco table placements.

Being a cooler winter evening we decided to sit inside, away from the front doors and the sudden bursts of cold air as other patrons entered. The interior decor of the restaurant is comfortable, but mismatched. They have an unusual interior design as they have divided the interior of the restaurant into two areas. One half, has leather style seats that you would find in many fine dining restaurants and the other side, which we are sitting in, was suited to a more casual dining area with wooden seats. Another feature of El Greco is they also cater for takeaway and home delivery customers. So in my honest opinion, I believe they just don’t know what type of restaurant they want to be. A fine dining restaurant, a casual restaurant or a takeaway delivery store.

Leather seats

Being still fairly early, we decided we wouldn’t have a huge meal, instead opting for some garlic bread with tzatziki, and one of their gourmet 12″ wood oven pizzas, the Zorba. The Zorba is a tomato based pizza with, cheese, lamb yiros meat, onions, fresh tomatoes, oregano, garlic, grilled capsicum and feta, topped with tzatziki sauce.

The garlic bread arrives pretty quickly with three large slices of fresh crusted bread lavished in garlic butter and flakes of parsley leaf. In the middle of the plate is also a bowl of homemade tzatziki, that has a smooth creamy texture full of flavour.

Garlic Bread
Garlic Bread

Quite happy with the garlic bread, it isn’t too long before our wood oven pizza arrives and it is visual treat, it is lavishly topped with fresh tomato slices, large chunks of yiros meat and full dollops of tzatziki sauce. The aroma given off is mouth-watering. The pizza base is well made with that thin crust that crunches with every bite. The El Greco’s Zorba is a wonderful pizza, cooked perfectly in their classic wood oven.

The Zorba
The Zorba

El Greco’s menu is not large, they have a good variety of traditional and gourmet pizzas with prices between AUD$13 and AUD$22, they also have a small selection of pasta dishes and schnitzels also between AUD$15 and AUD$22. Their wine selection is pretty standard with a few red and white choices that are available for you by the glass or the bottle. So overall you get a nice meal at a good price, which is all you can ask for really, when you want a quick meal.

As I have mentioned above, we did go to the restaurant fairly early into their service, so the atmosphere was at its infancy for the night, so my rating might be a bit low. I did notice that on Sunday, they do have live Bouzouki music playing. So I would recommend going on a Sunday to have that traditional Greek experience. The service provided was also good, with the staff being very attentive to our needs. This may have been because we were really the only customers dining in at the time, so it was probably not a stretch to keep us well serviced.

So if you are a visitor to Adelaide and would like to make the trip to Port Adelaide and try El Greco, the best way to get there from the city centre is to catch the public train service to Outer Harbor. Get off about 20 minutes later at Port Adelaide and make your way down commercial road towards the red lighthouse, approximately a 7 minute walk.

 Rating: 1-10 (1=very poor, 10 = excellent)

Decor = 6
Atmosphere = 6
Service = 8
Price = 9
Food = 8

Overall = 7

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Australia, Restaurants

To Bookcrossing with Amoré, Adelaide

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Image Courtesy of Caffe Amoré
Image Courtesy of Caffe Amoré

If you’ve read my earlier post Frequent Flying to Jerusalem you would have read Josie and I have been involved in a couple of internet groups that like to meet up for dinner, conversation and in this case ‘books’. We have been involved in the worldwide activity of Bookcrossing for quite a long time and through Bookcrossing we have met many book lovers from all over the world. Bookcrossing has also given us the opportunity to travel overseas and interstate to attend their annual conventions. For more information about Bookcrossing, please check out their website, www.bookcrossing.com.

Tonight we are meeting up at our usual meeting place Caffe Amoré, located on the corner of Pulteney Street and Pirie St, Adelaide SA 5000. Caffe Amoré is owned and run by Rob and Lori, a couple of lovely people who are always friendly and helpful. Their establishment is open 7 days a week for lunch and dinner and they also have an upstairs function area that can accommodate 130 people. After a conversation with Rob, he advised that in the event of someone wanting to book the function area, they will actually close the cafe for the selected night and allow the booking party access to both levels.

When you first walk into the cafe, you notice that it is clean, with relatively modern furnishings. There is a scattering of plants in selected spots throughout the premises and they also have an ATM in case you decide you want to extend your night and visit a few of Adelaide’s bars and nightclubs.

The atmosphere in the restaurant is friendly, and when we were there, there were a lot of people playing backgammon at various tables. So it shows Rob and Lori don’t worry if their customers stay as long as they like, and they don’t put pressure on you if you decide to just hang around and have a chat over a coffee or two.

The service is also quite quick, but you will need to go up to the central service counter to order, as they don’t have enough staff to provide full table service. They accept most credit cards, with additional fees incurred on Amex purchases.

Caffe Amoré has their standard menu, which has a large variety of Italian influenced cuisines, from pizzas, pastas and main dishes. They also have an extensive drinks list, so you won’t have to worry about choices for good quality wines or imported beers. In addition to their standard menu they also have a seasonal specials menu, which changes a couple times a year. As we have been coming here for a substantial amount of time, we have had the opportunity to sample most of their fare and from a foodies point of view their food is pretty good. The chefs have a good eye for produce, and the flavours and presentation of food they prepare is easy on the eye and palate. I can put my hand over my heart and say, “I have never had a bad meal at Caffe Amoré”.

Tonight we opted for a Margarita Pizza and a side of chips from their main menu, the Surf n Turf from their specials menu, finished with and banana caramel cream tart. I also asked our good friend Pete about his selection, the Chicken Parmigiana-infused, also from the specials menu.

Now you can’t really get a Margarita Pizza wrong, the dough is rolled out nicely with no air bubbles, topped graciously with cheese, fresh tomato, olive oil, garlic and basil. This is the goto pizza for my girls, so I always get no complaints about this simple but flavoursome pizza. The chips are delicious, not over cooked or under cooked, with a sprinkling of salt to taste.

My Surf n Turf consisted of a chargrilled scotch fillet with creamy garlic lemon prawns, with a side serve of chips and garden salad. I ordered my steak medium rare so it could still be identified as steak. When it arrived, I thought, “you know what, they haven’t let me down” my steak was cooked to perfection, it was easy to carve into and the succulent juices emitting from the steak were wonderful. The prawns were of average size, so didn’t overtake the visual spectacle of the dish and the creamy garlic lemon sauce was very good. I did at one stage catch myself trying to soak up the rest of the sauce with my chips, trying to get every droplet and didn’t care if anyone saw me. It was just one of those dishes. I washed it down with a nice glass of Maglieri Cabernet Sauvignon a South Australian wine from McLaren Vale, which went extremely well with my steak…a good choice.

Our good friend Pete, opted to try the Chicken Parmigiana – Infused. I know what your thinking “infused?” The description of the meal is a baked crumbed chicken breast, spread with sweet chilli hollandaise and mozzarella cheese, again served with a side salad and chips. When it arrived at the table, both Pete and I looked at each other and commented about the amount of mozzarella covering every millimetre of the crumbed chicken breast. As Pete took his first bite he was unsure about the mixture of flavours, but shrugged if off and continued to consume his meal. By the end of the meal, his confusion of flavours was gone and he was ready to highly recommended the meal. So I think next time I’m here I’m going to give it a go.

My banana caramel cream tart was creamy with a rich flavour and a smooth texture, which topped off a good meal and a good night.

In regards to value for money, the serving sizes are quite decent so I believe you are getting value for your spend. Pastas have an average price of AUD$20, pizzas come in three sizes, a small for around AUD$15, a medium for around AUD$16 and a large for around AUD$22. Main course average at about AUD$24 and bottles of beer and glasses of wine ranging from AUD$6 – $9.

Overall, I would recommend this lovely cafe restaurant, so if you decide to try Caffe Amoré or book out their function room, say hello to Rob and Lori and tell them Simon from OurWorldinReview sent you!

Rating: 1-10 (1=very poor, 10 = excellent)

Decor = 8
Atmosphere = 7
Service = 7
Price = 7
Food = 8

Overall = 7.5

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Australia, Restaurants

Frequently Flying to Jerusalem, Adelaide

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Josie and I like to network, so over the past few years we have joined a few internet groups to meet some like minded, interesting and sometimes slightly crazy people. Tonight is one of those days, where whoever’s available meet up and have a few drinks, hopefully eat beautiful food and pick each other’s minds about how to get the best deals.

So this evenings catch up is with some of our frequent flyer friends, who either live in Adelaide or have flown in to join us for the night. Most of us have known each other for many years and dine out fairly regularly, but we also have a newcomer to the group joining us. As a group we are always happy to assist anyone who wants to get their frequent flyer journey going.

It’s pretty easy to get a group of us together, someone will post on Australian Frequent Flyers or AFF that they are organising some event, somewhere in the world and whoever can attend will respond and make their way to the meeting place. Tonight’s event was organised in Adelaide at the Jerusalem Sheshkebab House, located at 131B Hindley Street, Adelaide SA 5000, which is one of Adelaide’s main nightclub strips.

The Jerusalem Sheshkebab House has been an Adelaide dining institution since 1972. Unfortunately the decor hasn’t really changed much since then so the moment you walk through those Arabic inspired doors your expectations take a bit of a hit. You immediately have those initial thoughts like, “oh my gosh, what a dive”, but once you get past that first impression, smell the fragrant spices and see the dishes being delivered to the tables you know why it has been around for 44 years.

Arabic inspired doors
Arabic inspired doors

Jerusalem Sheshkebab House entrance
Okay, let’s get the interior decor out of the way, it’s attrocious, old seventies style fibreglass bench seats and bright orange easy to clean long tables. The restaurant is fairly small, and the mirrors on the walls give the impression that you’re in a larger place. The ceiling is quite interesting with silk parachute material billowing down to give that Bedouin tent feeling. For me, it actually provoked images of hot air ballooning over the Göreme valley in Cappadocia, Turkey.

Those orange long tables
Those orange tables and bench seats

Now, people come to the Jerusalem Sheshkebab House for the food, not the interior styling and the one thing we can all agree on is the food is fantastic. From my experiences middle eastern food, is a lot of fire grilled meat and plenty of dips and breads, and the menu plan of the Jerusalem does not let you down. Their selection of entreés and mains is limited but there is enough choices to not confuse the patrons. Probably the two biggest things that stands out is that being a Muslim influenced restaurant there is no wine list, but they do allow you to Bring Your Own (BYO) with a corkage fee of $7.50 AUD per wine bottle or $3.00 AUD per beer bottle. The other more critical problem is they don’t accept eftpos or credit card, they are a pure cash only establishment. So make sure you get cash before trying to make yourself comfortable.

As we had a table of ten we opted for a $25 AUD banquet, one because it gave us a good variety of dishes to sample and two, because with every banquet over $22 AUD there was no corkage charged, therefore with 8 bottles of red wine, no corkage was very appreciated. Being a small restaurant there was only one employee servicing the entire floor, and he was exceptionally busy, but was able to handle the rush in his stride.

The banquet dishes came out all at once and were spread across the long table, the banquet consisted of Babaganouj, battered cauliflower, tabouli, falafel, beef sheshkafta, lamb sheshkebab and lastly chicken kebab. The Babaganouj was smooth, the cauliflower was still firm and full of flavour, the tabouli was unexpectational but good, the falafel was perfect and once the outer coating was pierced a vibrant green colour was exposed. The beef sheshkafta was not over cooked and remained moist, the lamb sheshkebab was succulent and worth going back for seconds and thirds and the chicken kebab was covered in a garlic sauce with a sprinkle of sweet paprika to give that extra texture.

Once the main banquet was over a few of us decided to try their baklava, and again it didn’t disappoint, their baklava was walnut based and the layers of filo pastry was expertly baked. I must admit it wasn’t the best I’ve had, that pleasure occurred in the back streets of Istanbul on a food tour, but it did the trick. Overall the feast provided was fulfilling and delicious and well worth the price.

So in conclusion, if you are in Adelaide, and want an inexpensive meal, that will treat your tastebuds and leave you satisfied as you walk out, then the Jerusalem Sheshkebab House is for you. So remember, if you take my advice and eat at the Jerusalem Sheshkebab House, tell them Simon sent you from Our World in Review.

Ratings: 1-10 (1 = very poor, 10 = excellent)

Decor – 5

Atmosphere – 7

Service – 7

Price – 10

Food – 9

Overall – 8

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