The Wine Underground
Restaurant & Wine Bar
121 Pirie Street,
Adelaide South Australia 5000
e info@wineunderground.com.au
w www.wineunderground.com.au
t +61 8 8232 1222
f +61 8 8232 1466
open from noon till late Monday to Friday, Saturday 6pm till late, special free pour French Champagne Sunday lunches held in ground level Bistro same chef
FOOD With the exception of the Jasmin Indian Restaurant most subterranean restaurants suffer from lack of atmosphere and many patrons are reluctant to go below stairs. It is rather unfortunate that the tatty and confusing entrance to The Wine Underground is not an indication of the excellence of their dining room below. The Wine Underground (not to be confused with their ground level One 21 bar bistro, which we are not reviewing at this point) is an immaculately maintained space. Modern with wonderfully crafted chairs that are as comfortable to sit on, as they are wonderful to look at. The swish dining room is well lit without being garish (wine enthusiasts prefer that) in fact we don’t like dark restaurants where it is impossible to enjoy the colour characteristics (or bead) of the wines we are drinking. Quality glassware gleams without a single tiny fleck of lint……bravo! There are flowers on the tables and the simple empty bottle decoration (some impressive bottles that are sadly empty) gleam. Get the picture? At both ends of the room are well appointed private dining rooms that would comfortably seat 10–20. Slide away glass doors allow for soundproofing from the main restaurant without giving the rooms a claustrophobic closed off feeling.
At first glance of the menu it was possible to have a sense of dread that it might read like every other Adelaide menu with nibbles and tapas to share. The tapas to share were, thankfully, plated entrées with a very modest price range from $15 to $17, but perfect for sharing if you are there for a glass of wine and a snack. My dining companion is studying for the 2010 Australian Vin de Champagne Award and our intention to drink Champagne throughout the meal placed some simple restrictions on what we ordered. Kaaren chose the Vodka cured trout cauliflower panacotta, avruga caviar $16 and I chose Foie gras mousse, sauternes jelly, fig marmalade, snow pea tendrils $18. For main at a loss for a match and determined not to in anyway diminished the stunning Champagne we had risked credit card meltdown for we both ordered ’Shank’ of Atlantic salmon, baby fennel, confit kipflers, butter poached crayfish, beurre rouge $31.
Chef Tom Ried is a pretty plater and overall this was one of the better meals we have had recently in Adelaide. The vodka cured trout was wonderfully delicate without any one ingredients taking predominance and the cauliflower panacotta had a perfect texture. This was a very good dish and went beautifully with the length of the Champagne that did not falter with a small amount of dairy. The foie gras mousse lacked the normally unpleasant saltpetre flavour of imported foie gras and was light and silky, the fig jam delicious and nicely proportioned against the foie gras mousse. I hate it when there isn’t enough of a component to enjoy the components of a dish as a whole. The raw snow pea tendrils, not a favourite, were tossed aside without in anyway diminishing the dish, but the dish was let down by croutons that were old and stale and sauternes jelly set to the consistency of an eraser, presumably with agar agar. Agar agar needs a restrained hand as it seems to leech the flavour from many ingredients. A silly molecular influence that could so easily be avoided with sauternes set with a little gelatine that does not leech the flavour from ingredients. Regardless of casting aside three components, the rest plastered on some lovely fine fairy bread the dish was still luscious.
Our main was incredibly generous for the small plate price and the highlight of the meal. We loved the fact that the tail end of the fish, often difficult to sell had been turned into an excellent dish. The salmon had been sugar and salt cured, the skin was crispy and delicious and the flesh cooked perfectly medium rare. The granddaughter of a fisherman and coming from a family that always hunted and fished (and still does) it is very unusual for me to order fish in a restaurant where I don’t know how the chef runs their kitchen. Cooked on the bone it was the best restaurant fish in quite a while. The lobster lacked the ’just killed and cooked’ taste but for $31 one doesn’t have the right to expect a lot, and there were three small rather floury pieces of lobster on the plate. The beurre rouge was a perfect consistency, still mobile, buttery rich with just the right depth of red wine flavour powering through the sauce. It was a wonderful combination with the fish. The dreaded raw snow pea tendrils made another unnecessary appearance but regardless this dish was excellent.
To finish we ordered two cheeses a modest $19 and a dessert. We chose two English cheeses cave aged cloth bound cheddar and the Colston Basset Stilton. Both were in good condition and a generous portion that was not fridge cold, but anyone who has eaten these cheeses in country of origin must lament that our quarantine rules (properly in place) are not the friend of the cheese lover. The dessert Strawberry soufflé, triple cream, strawberry and basil salad $16 looked pretty enough, but the soufflé was basically baked meringue and lacked strawberry flavour and the strawberries in the strawberry salad where, green, cold, hard and completely without flavour. A soufflé is a tricky thing on a menu, but without the proper flavour the initial excitement ends in disappointment and such awful strawberries when at the nearby market there were plenty of quality ripe strawberries seemed out of context against the quality of the rest of the meal.
Small criticisms that did not in any way diminish our appreciation of the meal, because in the main it was a good meal. These criticisms once addressed there will be little not to enjoy at the Wine Underground. Our waitress Kate Billing did an excellent job and it was noted, not even once, did she rest the bottle on the glass. The Wine Underground has some terrific promotions best of all their free pour French Champagne Sunday lunch $89 food and wine per person — reservations recommended and check out their web site for details and other offers and great wine dinners. The Wine Underground was a very pleasant surprise.
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WINE any restaurant that lists 1996 Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin Champagne Brut La Grande Dame is into serious wine. Wine, wine service and price are all seductive and The Wine Underground also has a civilized attitude to BYO that is encouragement for anyone with a cellar to eat there on a regular basis. A great list for the wine devotee with very manageable markups on their more expensive wines that are encouragement for credit card melt down.
Restaurant Manager — Naomi Winn
Chef — Tom Ried
Wine — Michael Fullgrabe
fab value!!!
stuff Sunday breakfast in Adelaidethat always seems to finish at the inconvenient time of 11.30am and go for Sunday lunch at The Wine Underground (held in their ground level bistro, same chef as downstairs)!
If you love French Champagne you’re going to love this. The Wine Underground is doing free pour French Champagne Sunday lunches at just $89 AUD per person food and wine…what a treat!
The Wine Underground hasn’t been in our guide for a long time but after a recent lunch, it clearly deserves to be again and will be our restaurant review next week. For details about their Sunday lunches and other really good wine promotions click here
In April they are pouring Mumm, Henriot throughout May, Tsarine in June and Billecart–Salmon in July
RESERVATIONS RECOMMENDED
for more about the 2010 Australian Vin de Champagne Awards click here
a great way to stay in touch with Frenchy Champagne things to do
visit our main info page which is updated with quality events on a daily basis click here
