THE POT (formerly Melting Pot)
160 King William Street
Hyde Park South Australia 5061
W www.thepotfoodandwine.com.au
E eat@ thepotfoodandwine.com.au
T +61 8 8373 2044
F +61 8 8373 2564
OPEN Tuesday to Saturday noon until late food all day, Sunday noon until 6.00 pm, closed Monday

FOOD If you’ve been wishing that Adelaide had a tapas bar in the vein of Melbourne’s Movida or Bar Lourinhã your prayers have been answered. The Melting Pot has had a seamless transition from fine dining to tapas bar The Pot. In just under three months they are Adelaide’s best tapas bar by a very long way. The food is rustic, generous, delicious and given the standard inexpensive. The new fit out gives the room a much greater feeling of space, it is dark and sexy, plenty of wood and rich autumn golden colours in the fabrics, community seating, banquette and bar. It’s cool without being one of those obsequious copycat fit outs and there are no silly plates that your cutlery falls off of, or into, and most importantly food and wine are treated with equal respect.
Premixed tartare is a pet hate, yet we keep trying because it is a favourite dish. We would still prefer it came with a raw quails egg yolk, a condiment tray and the mixings but the Pot’s Wagyu beef tartare, potato chips (actually house–made crisps) $5.50 per was excellent. No oxidation, no oozing egg yolk, properly seasoned, a restrained hint of Tabasco, the right amount of cornichons and capers it was good. This three between two Adelaide tradition is rubbish and we like the fact that everything is listed as a single portion on the menu, so you can order one (or10) of your own. Mushroom, truffle & raclette croquettes $4.00 each looked like little crumbed sausages and were positively scrumptious.
The Pork, lambs brain & date terrine, pickled walnuts, cornichons and capers $15 was rather firm for the lack of pork fat (and/or more brain) and the dark rye Melba toast just didn’t gel. Salads of asparagus, zucchini, manchego mint & lemon oil $15 and roasted baby beetroot, orange, fennel & fresh goats curd $14; nicely seasoned, clean fresh individual tastes and only improved by not using the tasteless (but pretty) micro herbs and using some soil grown dill, parsley and chervil instead. Poached skate wing, truffled polenta, soft poached egg, parmesan $15 was plain in appearance and a dazzler in taste and texture. Slow roasted suckling pig, apple and saffron sauce, baby herb salad (there they are again) $16 sets a new benchmark for pork belly with gorgeous crackling. These tasteless micro herbs are a fashion, which it has to be hoped, doesn’t last for long, but at The Pot dishes have sufficient guts to trample them without noticing. A gift from the kitchen their 6 hour braised sticky lamb macaroni & cheese $17 was luscious rich sweet–sour heaven with perfectly cooked macaroni in a very light cheesy cream sauce, that gently coated the pasta without making it gluggy. Desserts $11 passionfruit semi-–redo, crushed amoretti and mint and chocolate bavarois, candied orange, pistachio praline – terrific! Had we the space, we would have ordered the mulberry trifle $10 it looked fantastic. Ah well, next time! Coffee is excellent.

WINE The strength of the The Pot’s list is diversity and interest. Not just the occasional wine from elsewhere, but a good sampling from many countries and excellent representation of Australia’s great and interesting wines. The NV Larmandier - Bernier Cotes des Blancs $20/$120 was a real French thoroughbred. Finely beaded, with perfect and persistent balanced acidity and that lovely subdued tobacco smoky savoury taste it was bliss. A glass of 07 Altos Las Hormigas Colonia Las Liebres Bonarda $7.50 from the Mendoza region in Argentina was an opportunity to try a new grape variety from a region new to us. This wine is a bit of tart with enough front to go with just about anything and made a brilliant coupling with their sticky lamb. For $2 more than a really bad domestic the 04 Pichot Sparkling Vouvray $9.50 was outstanding value. Made from 20-50 year old Chenin Blanc vines, fine beaded with a nose that was more Beurre Bosch pear and Poire William and spring blossom sweetness it ended (slowly) in a luscious limey citrus finish. Our only wish is they become so successful they can afford to glass in and refrigerate their posh new wine storage.
Sommelier Carlos Alvarez left last Saturday for Buenos Aries for five weeks holiday to visit his family and explore the wines of South America. His presence will be missed at The Pot as his passion for wine and the food of his heritage are integral part of the good experience. However, it must be said that with The Pot’s transformation owner Simon Kardachi has rediscovered a joy in his role of patron/co-sommelier, a joy, that will make the absence of Alvarez a little less obvious.

OWNER — Simon Kardachi
CHEF — Ashley Brandon
FRONT OF HOUSE MANAGER AND SOMMELIER — Carlos Alvarez

images — second from top image The Pot’s front of house manager and sommelier, Carlos Alavrez