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AQUACAF
94 Barrage Road
Goolwa South Australia 5214
W www.aquacaf.com.au
E not available
T 8555 1235
OPEN 8.00 am to 5.00 pm, closed Tuesday and Wednesday, school holidays 7 days, Friday and Saturday dinners — best to book weekends
FOOD You have to admire a chef who has the world at his feet who chooses to leave the glitz and follow his passion for simple fresh produce driven food. The journey from the Melting Pot to a consult position with his partner Stephanie Vasileff in Raghistan to the tiny ragtag Aquacaf perched at the water’s edge at Goolwa has been a slow and considered journey for Jordan Theodoros. After a month of taking a close look at the operation in its old mode (apparently fairly scary stuff despite its popularity), owner Ben McLeod convinced Jordan Theodoros to become his partner and take responsibility for the food. A revamp of the kitchen a complete menu change and word has spread rapidly and we know why. KIS bliss! Keep it simple; simple fresh delicious generous food, wonderful efficient and friendly service from terrific enthusiastic wait staff with a wide range of ages. Our waitress Hayley Schiller, looked about 18, was a breath of fresh air, a beautiful smile from the second we stood in their doorway, so young, so professional and so unphased by the customer chaos around her. They were pumping!
Despite fab fish and chips (real ones) no nasty fryer smells, a counter stacked
with ’real’ house-made small cakes and pastries made by Stephanie
Vasileff, who is a bit of a star herself when it comes to the dessert kitchen.
Tables are tight. We made friends with our neighbours and felt guilty (for
about a second) when they told us the last four fish pasties had been reserved
for us. Small long, high and low tables and there’s plenty of outside
seating with dozens of odd umbrellas. The environment is perfectly unpolished
pitched just right for a casual beach location. You might even hazard coming
to breakfast in your jim jams if you’re staying at any of the dozens
of nearby accommodations options; they’d love it. Certainly bathers and
thongs will be cool in summer and you’ll probably rub shoulders with
a city slicker (or twenty) in Gucci and Armarni. Aquacaf is just that sort
of place.
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From left the kitchen team,
Rocky Oliviera, Jordan Thedoros and Martin Corcoran – that beautiful smile,
Hayley Schiller, co–owner Ben McLeod and then the food as described in
the review.
We like small menus and we
don’t
mind if they run out of items, because we know it means they don’t have
a freezer full of suspect squid and fish that can be rapidly thawed and served
to some poor unsuspecting punters like us. Three salads, decent entrée size
$12-$13 our Smoked tomato, rocket and feta salad was stunning. Individual clean
ingredients, real rocket, mint and spring onion flowers, delicately and cleverly
complicated with strips of caramelised burnt orange rind, little soaked sultanas
and a few tiny drops of good balsamic. Served with bread it was a succession
of fresh individual flavours that were combined with the magic of an alchemist’s
hand. Chowder – fresh black mussels, smokey fish, potato and speck $16.50
was another brilliant combination of textures and tastes. The fish delicately
smoked, those lovely little sweet mussels in a wonderful vegetable embellished
saffron infused fish broth. Fish pasty – mulloway, leeks, cheddar, fresh
herbs in flaky pastry $17. Why can’t more chefs think of something as
clever, and delicious, as Theodoros’ fish pasty to use up their fish trim?
A silken, leek-laden sauce, brightened with chopped herbs loads of fish pieces
in a wonderful light flaky short crust pastry…amazing! This is not the
type of dish that can be made days in advance; served with a really good house–made
tartare sauce we were in seventh heaven.
Dessert a gift from the kitchen, their Yoghurt cake with strawberries and pistachio bread was huge and superb. Made like lebeneh the strained yoghurt it was mixed with a little cream and drained to a firm but soft centered consistency with a texture not unlike Coeur a la créme but without the sweetness. It was drenched in orange syrup with big chunks of bittersweet rind, loaded with fabulous strawberries and embellished with paper–thin crispy pistachio bread dusted with icing sugar. Just when you think you can’t eat another thing, well guess what, we all had a serve and one of our number Princess Kim (renamed Princess Piggy) a very difficult restaurant customer had a second serve.
Aquacaf is a small piece of beachside bliss!
WINE Affordable, good tiny list.
OWNERS — Ben McLeod and Jordon Theodoros
CHEF — Jordon Theodoros, assisted by Rocky Oliviera and Martin Corcoran, pastry Stephanie Vasileff
FRONT OF HOUSE MANAGER — Ben McLeod |
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