It is my favorite time of the year again- Festival of Food Adelaide! Where top quality restaurants in South Australia have partnered up with Festival of Food, presenting well-planned 3 course meal menu at fraction of the cost. Since this year I had “no junk mail” on my mail box, I did not receive the invitation myself, however York’s parents did, we I tagged along to the first restaurant on the list- Botanic Gardens Restaurant.
Tagging along to lunch on our day off work (the waiter actually stood on the chair to take this photo for us, so we can see the food too!)
Botanic Gardens Restaurant is situated in Adelaide Botanic Garden. Even though I have been in Adelaide for more than 2 years, this was my first time stepping into the premises. I was super excited since the restaurant only open during lunch times and closes on Mondays. Monday was the only common day off for York and I when I had my full time job, now that I am a locum optometrist, my days are a lot more flexible 🙂
The interior of the restaurant and looking outside at the garden.
We started our meal with house-baked sourdough bread with cultured butter and sea salt. York’s dad loved the bread and even requested for a second one. It was warm and very chewy. I can probably be satisfied with just eating this bread too. To our surprise there was a complimentary starter with the items in the picture below. Probably mixture of beetroot mousse and pieces of walnuts. Definitely give 100% rating for the visual in terms of organic meals.
Complimentary vegetable starters before the actual entree.
The next comes the 3 entrees, which were all plated together. They were “Citrus cured salmon, pickled baby cucumbers, anise, radishes, crackling, rye”, “Woodside chevre cigar, heirloom beetroots, radish sprouts, orange, hazelnuts” and “Smoked port hock & Parsley Terrine, gribiche, pork scratching, toasted sourdough”. I particularly liked the texture of the Woodside chevre cigar, it was tasty and smooth in my mouth. My favourite entree out of the whole three.
Selection of 3 entrees
Even though York’s parents were very nice and gave me a piece from their chosen main to sample the taste, but it was still not enough for me to remember the exact flavor of the individual dishes. Plus I was too busy trying to make conversations, I couldn’t even remember what my fish of the day was. The ingredients were definitely very fresh, especially the vegetables since they grow most of their vegetation in their own restaurant garden. Below is picture telling time~
SA Butchers Cut of the Day- Potatoes Boulangere, king brown mushroom, charred onions, beetroot emulsion, whipped bone marrow
Barberry Braised Shoulder of Savannah Lamb with eggplant, ras el hanout, mustard leaves, pickles, kale
Fish of the day
The portions were very generous and the petit four at the end exceeded our expectations. They weren’t 4 small pieces of chocolates, they were actual desserts. Luckily we didn’t order the desserts separately even though we do get the desserts at a discounted cost with Festival of Food voucher. We just had to order tea and coffee as extra to swallow it down.
The not so petite petit four to finish off the meal
There were 2 waiters on that day, the man was fabulous. He was very professional and attentive. As I have mentioned previously, he even stood on the chair and took pictures for us so the food and all of us can be in the picture (unlike some waiters, they always take photos at chest level…). The other girl was slightly clumsy, probably new to hospitality. It was a good lunch and even nicer on a sunny day walking around the gardens after accumulating a food baby.
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