Queen’s Head Hotel
117 Kermode Street,
North Adelaide South Australia 5006
w www.queenshead.com.au
e email@queenshead.com.au
t +61 8 8267 1139
f +61 8 8267 5153
open bar menu 7 days lunch and dinner, dining room lunch Monday to Friday, dinner only Saturday and Sunday from 6.00 pm
FOOD My garden has just been flattened by hail and I am cursing having to go out in the freezing cold and take a second look at the Queen’s Head Hotel so I can finish my review for the week. Heritage listed, the Queen’s Head Hotel is thought to be one of South Australia’s oldest and it has been nicely renovated within the confines of a heritage building. Unlike a lot of heritage buildings there is plenty of natural light and the small, interconnected rooms give the pub an intimate and cosy feel perfect for such vile weather. Fake fires aren’t exactly my thing but there is a comfortable feel about the rooms and staff are instantly friendly and welcoming. The pub is split into three distinct areas with unclothed low and high tables in the bar areas, the vaulted ceiling dining room has linen tablecloths and serviettes and there is a small outside area that, whilst comfortably warm with overhead gas heaters was understandably empty. This is a pokie pub but they are not invasive, in fact I did not realise they were there until my second visit.
My first visit mid June was as a guest of the Drogemuller family of Paracombe Wines fame, a luncheon party for Kath Drogemuller’s birthday. What most impressed me was the staff, great product knowledge and nothing was too much trouble. This is the result of good management because bad habits start at the top and filter down. The manager John Lewis, clearly adored and respected Kath (like all who know here) and was determined her day would be perfect. And it was! Even in social circumstance it is very hard for me to switch off from chef/critic/restaurant consultant. I couldn’t help noticing that the bread was ordinary but came with plenty of butter and, with the exception of the arancini, the same garnish of rocket and onion with a couple of slices of sweet potato appeared on every entrée dish and the unfortunates who had ordered the vegetarian main got a second serve. Naughty! Absolutely no excuse! My steak was well done, although I suspect that the person sitting next to me got mine. It happens, as I unfortunately know all too well from the personal experience, but at least they asked how we wanted our steaks cooked. Most functions take the slack approach and cook everything medium, a good reason to never order a steak at a function. Whilst I am not a convert of well done, to my astonishment my steak was still tender and delicious and I couldn’t help thinking that cooked the way I prefer scotch, medium rare/more rare, it would have been pretty damned good. A couple of things really impressed me. The quality of the prawns, those gorgeous big ones that you rarely see on menus because they hemorrhage the food costs if they are your best selling dish and the quality of the meat was really exceptional.
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On my second visit, different front of house, but the same instant warm welcome. Despite the vile weather there were a few people having lunch in the bar rooms and a lone couple having lunch in the dining room. They were into their second bottle of Shaw and Smith (Sav Blanc……oh God why when they make such a divine Chardonnay?) and having a fine old time. Scanning the menu, oh joy, a 220g fillet steak only rejected because on this occasion I really wanted to put them through their paces. Small steaks and fillet have sadly all but vanished from menus. Not everyone enjoys a 400g steak! We have refrained from proving a point (knowing just how annoying it would be), of ordering a 400g steak and sharing it between two. Two entrees were ordered, the South Australian king prawns with chilli garlic butter, paprika crumbs and baby herb salad $16.90, $29.90 and Pappadella (their spelling not mine) with confit ham hock, roast onion, green peas, house dried tomatoes and citrus butter $14.90 entrée and $23.90 main. Food service was a bit slow and there was a rather noisy, but not unpleasant, cheffie banter coming from the kitchen.
A finger bowl arrived without request. Three massive prawns and the baby herb salad, which was, guess what, more of the damned rocket and onion (minus the sweet potato). The prawns were fantastic just the right amount of chilli not to kill the flavour. It was about then while sucking out the very succulent heads that I noticed the paper did not cover the table and in my enthusiasm I had splattered the tablecloth that now needed replacing. Embarrassing, but isn’t the idea of the paper that you don’t need to change the tablecloths all the time, so their fault not mine! Despite the fact that I truly detest that weird rocket it was at least properly seasoned and dressed. The truth is the prawns were so good they needed nothing more than the missing lemon wedge for embellishment. The “Pappadella”, well, when your benchmark is hand made, rolled to the finest notch this pasta just didn’t rate. Thick packet pasta and frozen peas I looked on with envy as the other table received a perfectly cooked scrummy little fillet steak with the right amount (yes not mingy) of pistachio butter. The point is that if you make pasta at home there are only two restaurants in Adelaide that deliver the same quality and ordering it anywhere else is dumb. The house–dried tomatoes were in fact un–ripe cherry tomatoes that as far as I could see has been stuck on the grill for a couple of minutes and that was that! The pasta was very, very ordinary. The “Pappadella” was too thick and over cooked and the cooking water had been missing sufficient salt. My advice is that, in Adelaide, if you make your own pasta, with the exception of Enoteca and River Cafè don’t order it because you will just be disappointed. And those chefs who pride they make their own and still fail to deliver, try getting a decent recipe and rolling it to the last notch, then don’t drown it in sauce or kill it with frozen peas and we might be talking!
Desserts sorry no news yet! And, owners we know it’s a heritage pub but the rust run in the ladies toilet hand basin needs attention!
So synopsis! After this review we are sure the chefs will lift their game and find some more appropriate/interesting and individual garnishes so that if you order two dishes you don’t get two serves of the same salad garnish. Don’t order pasta unless you are a really crappy cook yourself and stick to meat and seafood. Bar food is inexpensive and generous and this is a cosy little local well worth our support. Staff are an example of very good training they’ll make you welcome and even more welcome when you return a second and third time. Prices are really value for money. My local, just five minutes from home is River Cafè and the Queen’s head is just five minutes further so I’ve added it to my list. Very good value for money if you follow our VERY SPECIFIC directions!
WINE This is a very nice small wine list with a fab 31 wines by the glass and excellent diversity of price. Add to that my glass of wine was poured at the table…hurray! What is surprising is that given the quality of the choice and value for money throughout, vintages are not listed……tsk! Tsk! Glassware needs attention. Reidel would not be appropriate for the price but something a little less ’jam jar’ would be appreciated.
owners — Vicki and Tony Franzon
manager — John Lewis ( a brilliant example of good management)
chef — Josh Behaaf
