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Now that the Wine Underground has reopened, you will be able to check our Press Gallery to see what the media has to say about us. | |
| The Adelaide Review - Restaurant Focus:The Wine Underground | |
| "Every Adelaidean knows the history of the Wine Underground in Pirie Street. Torched. Strange circumstances.
Completely re-built. The new Wine Underground is now below ground and at street level.
Down below offers fine dining.
Above has a simpler menu. Fast, but still flash ....." read review |
| TONY LOVE, Adelaide Advertiser December 12, 2007 FROM the ashes of one of the city's smartest wine bars evolves an elite fine-dining restaurant. There was always going to be an element of nostalgia when returning to the Wine Underground. Having matured into one of Adelaide's smartest wine bars crossed with a retail bottle outlet and a much loved, modern French restaurant under the kitchen direction of Zach and Sam Curnow, the establishment was destroyed in an explosion in May last year, leaving a gaping wound in its Pirie St block that has since been rebuilt. The venue (Mark 2) opened last month with a whole new approach, combining this time a swish and sleek Coopers 1862 bar on street level, with a much more restaurant-focused Wine Underground downstairs. While there are several large wine bottle display cabinets upstairs and down, they seem at first more for show than retail convenience compared with its earlier model. But you can take away here, a bottle or a case, or order online, which makes Wine Underground one of the city's finer bottle shops. The wine list for both bars is your guide to international pleasure, with excellent old-world presence, a fantastic choice by the glass of virtually all boutique labels. To give you an idea of the breadth of the list, there are more than 100 shirazes by the bottle. Although the previous incarnation's dominant U-shaped bar is gone, pre-dinner drinks are offered at a quite stylish new servery, just a few steps away from the main dining area, which sports elite modern-classic wallpaper, a small corner banquette table and two rooms that can be closed for private and business affairs. The lighting is right, dimmed not dark, the overall feel sophisticated. Overseeing the venue is Cindy Halasz, who with a young couple from Melbourne, sommelier Jeremy Shiell overseeing the bar and wine list and Genevieve Prior as restaurant supervisor, give a very professional young-modern vibe to the dining room. The menu is a more Michelin-styled version of the fare at head chef John Gabel's and Halasz's suburban success, Hazelwood Park's The Food Business, which they still operate. Here, the lasting modern-French impression left by the previous WU mob continues, with some dishes tracking back in presentation almost to nouvelle cuisine style and other plates very much rooted in regional authenticity of flavour and design. You can start here with a single pour of Krug champagne ($55/glass) and a taste of caviar (30g for $120 and 50g for $190), then move on to a set of entrees with mostly European DNA, though one with true Japanese pedigree. Those tasted have a maturity and certainty about their conception and design. Above all, they demand attention. A foie gras brulee was most intriguing, more delicately flavoured than expected and all the better for it, with a circle of the thinnest apple slices imaginable, providing a crunch and sweet contrast. More rustic was a bowl of basil-infused cannellini beans in a tomato consomme, with half a scampi on the side to pick out and mix in. This was a textural pleasure to begin, before finishing with a lick of beautifully balanced basil and white pepper. Superb. The only minor disappointment in the meal at this stage and, in fact, for the rest of the event, was a quartet of raw Coffin Bay scallops with celery jelly, which just seemed to lack a little brightness in their flavour. A similar theme in the mains chapter followed the entrees, with most dishes recasting classic proteins with clever earthy treatments, such as a spring lamb rack cut into four pieces, with a garlic-powered pearl barley risotto cut intensely by a dollop of sharp labne drizzled over with good olive oil. In a sense, this is very much a country home recipe, but a touch of lavender aromatics in the lamb, and that killer bite of yoghurt cheese, added respect and excitement. A black angus beef fillet in its meaty jus was a brilliant cut, done exactly, and risen to an elite dish by the offer from a tray of several condiments, the top choice here housemade Cafe de Paris butter redolent of handfuls of fresh garden herbs. Simple and magic. The one main off the European trail was a Thai-like soft-shell crab dish, sourced from Queensland and not Asian waters, with a clear dressing, hot with chilli, and a brightly flavoured salad. The crab was coated lightly and fried to quite a dark golden crisp, with definite fried flavours. Even here, you get a sense this is the kitchen's intent, as the taste of the oil and seafood actually married very cleverly. If you didn't start this meal with a glass of Krug, you could finish it with a Bollinger sorbet topped with filigree toffee. It was pretty lemony and excitingly fresh - the sorbet, that is. More complex and rooted in another French region's cuisine was a caramel sauternes custard, creamy in nature and, more critically, paired with a passionfruit flavour that was so delicate you were left floating in and out of the dish, celebrating its nuance rather than its muscle. From another tradition altogether was a rum baba, the second seen on an elite menu in a fortnight - is this a trend? Both, by the way, were treated so differently; here, a huge doughy pastry over which you pour a shot of heady Havana Anejo rum. It's a bit of fun and quite unusual in this context. It's also quite memorable, and this is the key to the new Wine Underground. It moves forward, a potent history recognised but not doted upon. The restaurant is all new, the kitchen firing on talent and enthusiasm to bring a contemporary style to the table that doesn't shirk on flavour and interest. Nostalgia becomes euphoria. THE RESTAURANT Open: Bar and bistro, 7.30am-late, breakfast, lunch and dinner, Mon-Sat; restaurant, lunch, noon-3pm, and dinner, 6pm-late, Mon-Sat. Cheese, nibbles and drinks from noon all day, Mon-Fri. Seating: 70 (downstairs) including function rooms. Owners: Ken James, Roy O'Neill, John Gabel, Cindy Halasz. Head chef: John Gabel. THE VERDICT THE BILL Entrees: $17-$30. Mains: $28-$42. Desserts: $15-$18. Vegetarian options: One each course, with top-class side dishes as well. Wine list: Fantastic, with great single glass choice and good service. SUMMARY Rebuilt from the ground up with modern classic design touches, elite yet natural service, great interest and achievement in the kitchen and on the plate, and definitely a wonderful dining boost to the city. SCORE 17/20 | |
the Adelaide magazine Dec 2007 Words: rebecca dettman the vibe The newest place for a slick corporate drink in the city, The Wine Underground has been redeveloped and expanded since the devastating upstairs explosion that occurred last year. On street level, bi-folding glass windows and outdoor seating create a tempting al fresco dining environment. Inside, you’ll find one of only three Coopers 1862 bars in the state, with Coopers beer on tap, plus some interesting imports. The décor is striking and sophisticated with white chairs, zebra print carpet and slate floors, and the menu is reasonably priced with ‘a-ha’ moments (think smoked emu). Downstairs, a formal dining room beckons with tablecloths, shaded lamps, a marble-topped bar, dark walls, low lighting and imported British wallpaper. There are two private function rooms (complete with broadband and flat screen TV’s), a premium wine room and retail section. the crowd This is definitely a business crowd haunt, although the young ‘n’ hip set are checking out the premises, and those with refined taste have been lured by Adelaide’s only Krug by-the –glass (at $55 a pop!)
the buzz Executive chef John Gabel and business partner Cindy Halasz, better known as the duo behind The Food Business in Hazelwood Park, have taken on The Wine Underground as their latest project. Here, the emphasis is on special touches, such as a nine-course degustation menu offered with matching wines. There has also been much thought placed on the wine selection; nothing is too mainstream, and all are hand picked boutique wines and rarer finds(guaranteed to provide a liquid journey of discovery for those who think they know it all), with an accent on South Australian wines and some international varieties, as well. The entire premises can be booked out for functions, and catering as available. Monday to Saturday from 7.30am to late for breakfast, lunch and dinner. | |