Everyone travels differently! Some people take their time and explore the cities they are in. Others want to try and fit as much as they can into the time they have. Some relax around pools and some shop until they drop. Yet one thing everyone has to do, is eat.
On our holidays, we try to see as much of a city as we can without wasting valuable time. Therefore, if we want to learn about a city fast we try to take a city tour. One of the best ways to do that is to take a food tour. We’ve taken tours in many cities, but I have never taken a tour in my own city. The people at foodi.com.au offer various food tours in the five major cities of Australia. We decided to experience our home town and try out the Night Food Safari in Adelaide for AUD$59pp.
The Night Food Safari’s are held every Saturday and bookings can be made at the website. The food tours commence at 4:15pm from Haigh’s Chocolates on the corner of King William Road and Rundle Mall. As a side note, make sure you try Haigh’s Chocolates before the tour. The chocolate has a smooth texture that melts in your mouth with a deliciously sweet flavour.
We meet our guide for the night, Anita, and discover the other participants in the tour all happen to be from Adelaide with the same idea of exploring our home city. Anita gives us a brief introduction and explanation about the night and advises that drink purchases are not included in the tour price.
Our first food stop is a small Vietnamese street food store called Sit Lo. Sit Lo is located at 30 Bank Street Adelaide, just off of Hindley street and the interior is nicely decorated with a couple of long tables in the middle of the store and small tables along the wall.
Sit Lo serve classic Vietnamese street food at a reasonable price, evident by the popularity from the local university students sitting at the tables. We sample some of the delicious fresh Bao buns, which are sweet steamed buns filled with either chicken, pork, or shrimp. We are also given some lotus flower chips that are richly flavoured and consumed pretty quickly by the group. Anita explains a bit about the restaurant and the owners, then guides us on to the next stop.
It isn’t to long until we reach our next destination, Spanish inspired La Rambla Tapas Bar situated at 28 Peel St Adelaide. Once again Anita gave us a brief explanation of the areas history before we enter. La Rambla’s dimly lit room exudes a warmth with some light mood music playing in the background. The nice selection of wines, encourages us to indulge in a glass of red, sit down at a long table and start to enjoy the company of people we are with.
Our three dishes at La Rambla consists of their Jamón Serrano a 15 month aged ham that is a lot like Italian prosciutto with a cured salt flavour and slightly chewy texture.
The second dish brought the table was their Patatas Bravas, golden fried potatoes with spicy tomato sauce and aioli. The potatoes are nicely cooked and spicy tomato sauce and aioli gives it that additional flavour combination that makes it more than plain roasted potatoes.
The third dish delivered out was their Albondigas de Cordero. This dish is La Rambla’s Spanish spiced lamb meatballs in a tomato sauce base. The meatballs were quite large but not plain, proving that the right balance of spices were incorporated into the meatball mixture. The tomato sauce was a nice accompaniment to the dish to give it that extra moisture to stop the meatballs drying out.
Soon after we complete the dishes we are off again to our next food stop of Indian cuisine. Naya is owned by renowned Australian celebrity chef Ragimi Dey, who is there to greet us and talk about her new restaurant. Naya, at 2/24 Waymouth Street Adelaide, is a small thin L shaped store, with limited seating. The menu features infused Indian dishes. On this occasion Ragini Dey produces a Chicken Tikka Pakora and chard salad, which although quite small was extremely tasty and well worth coming back for.
After our fly by stay at Naya we are off again to our next stop, this time it’s French cuisine. Not to far down the street from Naya we stop at Delicatessen Kitchen and Bar at 12 Waymouth Street, Adelaide. Upon entry we are greeted by a charming room full of character. The group settle around some small tables and the bar ready to try some fresh French cuisine. More wine is ordered and the offering tonight is Escargot au gratin. Surprisingly of the 14 people attending the tour only a handful of us try the beautifully presented Escargot. The circular dish presented has large meat portions and the cheese gratin on top combines well to make it superb. Delicatessen Kitchen and Bar is definitely another restaurant to add to our list of places to come back to.
After we complete our wines, its time to head to our final stop for tonight and everyone’s favourite, a dessert bar. So Anita takes us on a little journey towards the east end of the city to French inspired Le Carpe Diem. Le Carpe Diem is a French creperie cafe located at 230-232 Grenfell Street Adelaide which serves sweet or savoury crepes. Here we are spoilt with various sweet and savoury crepes which we devour quickly. Once completed our three and a half hour Night Food Safari is finished.
The Verdict
The Night Food Safari was an excellent way of getting to know a bit about the city of Adelaide. All of the places we visited were new to us and opened our eyes to cuisine options on offer. Overall for AUD$59pp the food tour provided everyone with enough food to be satisfied. So there was no running off to a fast food outlet for a late snack. It could get costly if you decide to keep buying glasses of wine at every stop. If you are on a travelling budget, then take it easy and consume water or soft drinks. If you’re not then the option is yours, but drink wisely.
Overall I recommend doing a food tour if you have limited time in a city. Before you come to one of Australia’s major cities look up foodi.com.au and see what tours they have on offer. If you decide on booking a tour, tell them Simon from Ourworldinreview sent you!
