Sparrow, Adelaide

I am awfully blessed to have friends who love eating as much as I do and are willing to join me in having a nice meal occasionally. Eating good food makes me happy. :)

On the numerous occasions we've passed by this place, it always seems to be packed and I've read some pretty good reviews about it so it's about time we gave it a try. The food did take a while to arrive but because it was a weekend and the place was packed, it is understandable.

Ocean Trout with Mandarin Jelly and Sliced Carrots

The trout was really fresh and when paired with the mandarin jelly, it felt like everything was melting in the mouth. The flower petal is actually dehydrated sliced carrot. A delicate touch to the dish and it turned out beautiful.

BBQ Rabbit Pizza

The house made barbecue sauce paired wonderfully with the smoked rabbit and with dollops of fontina cheese. The pizza crust was wonderfully crisp (just the way I like it). We wished that they would have been more generous with the portion of rabbit meat though because we kept wanting more.

Braised Duck Breast, Confit Duck Leg with Speck and Lentils

The meat from the duck leg fell off the bone beautifully and the duck breast was perfectly cooked to medium rare. The duck was so juicy and tender. In my opinion, although the lentils were nice, it didn't really complement the taste of the duck. However, I'll be glad to polish more of the duck!

Gnocchi with Gorgonzola Cheese and Celery Leaf

This dish was very rich and cheesy. Probably something I couldn't take if I had the whole dish to myself. The sauce was delightfully thick and creamy and the gnocchi was so fluffy and soft that it felt like a piece of cloud in the mouth. Slightly more celery leaves could have helped with the slight saltiness of the sauce.

Ginger Macaroon with Ginger Sorbet and Lemon Curd

I loved the macaroon! It was slight crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside. The ginger sorbet was particularly refreshing and the lemon curd went really well with the other two elements.

Roasted Loquats with Orange and Thyme Ice Cream and Madeleines

Loquats were something new to me and the lady mentioned that it belongs to the same family to the apricots. I liked the way the loquats were roasted and how it provided some acidity and zesty, tangy taste to the tongue. All three elements provided different textures and flavours.

Service was not too bad seeing the overwhelming number of customers and waitress did help out with our selection of food which we're pretty happy about. Will I be back? You betcha. ;)

Sparrow Kitchen and Bar

10 O'Connell Street
North Adelaide 5006 SA
Phone: (08) 8267 2444
Website: http://www.sparrowkitchenandbar.com.au

Fellini, Adelaide

Upon listening to others telling me that not only does Fellini serve wood oven pizzas, they also make dessert pizzas! Of course, me being the adventurous one when it comes to food, we went there. :P

Mars Bars Pizza

Looks good? But.

The wait for the pizza was extremely long. It took 40 minutes after putting in the order before it actually arrived. The pizza itself was nothing to shout about. Obviously store bought chocolate, strawberry and vanilla ice cream was used. The best bit was the Mars bars and condensed milk which I easily could have gotten myself.

Doubt I'll be back anytime soon.

Fellini Cafe
102 O'Connell St
North Adelaide 5006 SA
Phone: (08) 8239 2235

Entree: $9.90-$17.90
Mains: $9.90-$32.90
Dessert: $15.90-$16.90

ETC, Adelaide

The first and most frequent comment I hear about ETC cafe otherwise known as East Terrace Continental cafe is that they have "The Best Banana Pancakes Ever!" and mentioned by Delicious Magazine 2007 as "The Best Breakfast in SA". If people dare to dub it the best, I suppose you would agree with me that it's definitely worth a try?

Breakfast, here we come! :)



ETC works

A friend ordered this which is bacon, eggs of your choice, sausage, mushrooms, hash browns and roasted tomatoes served on sliced foccacia bread. Definitely very heavy for breakfast but the eggs were poached to perfection and every element on this dish is tender, succulent and definitely packed with flavour.

Of course, then there's the legendary banana pancakes. Their pancakes are moist and fluffy served with chunks of fresh bananas in between. I must admit that the secret lies within their banana syrup! I flooded every bite of pancake with the syrup and was compelled to lick it off the plate. From what I can tell, it tastes like a very good butterscotch cream with a hint of banana. Yum!

East Terrace Continental
6 East Tce
Adelaide 5000 SA
Phone: (08) 8359 2255
Website: www.etccafe.com.au

Entree: $7.50-$13.50
Mains: $8-$22.90
Dessert: $2.50-$5.50

Mapo, Adelaide

I've heard many good reviews of Mapo Korean Restaurant from peers and when I hear something is good, I've got to try it. So after much bugging and pleading for a friend to bring me there, I finally found myself sitting at their tables and having my senses in delight!

Entree platter (L-R): Chilli Mushroom Wontons, Mapo Money Bags and Yook Hwe.

The wontons were nothing to shout about but the money bags were filled with juicy, succulent prawns and the yook hwe is amazing! The yook hwe is the Korean version of steak tartare and it's basically seasoned julienne raw beef on a bed of fresh apple, with a raw egg yolk. I bet you're just as skeptical as my friend and I after reading that but trust me, it's oh so good!

Post-mixing 'Tender Duck Fillets'

My friend and I were too excited that we eagerly sliced it up and mixed everything before realizing I forgot to snap pictures! This dish is marinated duck breast, oven baked then chargrilled served on a nest of tempura vegetables with creamy basil sauce. The sauce is heavenly and it goes too well with the tempura vegetables. My friend and I were scraping every last bit of the sauce.

Coconut Tempura Prawns

Prawns coated in shredded coconut and cooked tempura style served with homemade Korean tartare sauce. When I first had a bite, the fusion of flavours delighted my tastebuds. It's definitely something out of the ordinary yet the flavours matched and blended well. However, the consecutive bites that follow weren't as exciting. It's good but it's not something I would scrape every last bit off.

Definitely a place worth going again! :D

Mapo Korean Restaurant
113 Gouger St
Adelaide 5000 SA
Phone: (08) 8211 6042
Website: www.mapo.com.au

Entree: $6.90-$19.90
Mains: $10.90-$19.90
Dessert: $5.50-$9.90

Ding Hao, Adelaide

This is the favourite Chinese restaurant for my friend and her family to dine and they're sure to visit the place whenever her family is here for a visit. Since her bf came all the way, she thought it would seem appropriate for her to ask us along for dinner.

Spicy eggplant with minced chicken. Wasn't quite what I expected. Was a bit too sour for my liking.

Salted egg with minced chicken and tofu. One of my preferred dished for the night. Would have been better if there was more salted fish.

Stir fry chili garlic long bean. This dish was the hit of the night. Crunchy and packed with garlicky goodness.

Pork belly with preserved vegetables. Flavour was alright but was too stingy on the preserved vegetables.

Smoked tea duck. Your average roasted duck served with hoisin sauce.

Ding Hao
26 Gouger St
Adelaide 5000 SA
Phone: (08) 8211 7036

Entree: $4-$6
Mains: $11-$19
Dessert: $6