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+-- Thread: Adelaide? (/showthread.php?tid=74065)
Adelaide? - carolekv - 01-15-2009
Any ideas of the best places to go/eat when in Adelaide, Australia? Any recommendations on visiting wineries? We're going in May/June and are so excited! It's for work for my husband, but we'll have flexibility to do some fun things including weekend trips. We've been to Melbourne before, but mostly stayed in the city and close surroundings that time. What a fun, beautiful and happy place it is!
Re: Adelaide? - cjs - 01-15-2009
What a great trip you'll have Carole - wish I knew more about Austrlia, but do love their wines.
Re: Adelaide? - carolekv - 01-15-2009
Yes, their wines are so good! And if you ever get a chance to go, do so - there are even more great wines there that they don't import. We could've had a box shipped to us from one restaurant that had its winery, but it was so expensive, we didn't. We brought back two bottles and had one when we bought our new house. Next might be for a wedding of one of our kids, I guess..
Also, the people, at least in Melbourne but I'd imagine everywhere in Australia, were SO genuinely friendly, relaxed and happy - we loved just hanging around with them and getting to know them. Melbourne is a big cosmopolitan city too. And the food was amazing - we were staying off Lygon Street which is the Italian section. OMG...
Re: Adelaide? - HomeCulinarian - 01-15-2009
I only wish I could provide some input. What an awesome opportunity!
Re: Adelaide? - Roxanne 21 - 01-15-2009
You will probably run into a ton of South Africans---major migration from here. I have no clue about anything Australian (except I have seen Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman on occasion) but I bet you will have a great experience------remember to take notes and pics and we will be waiting!!! Lucky you!!!
Re: Adelaide? - Gourmet_Mom - 01-15-2009
I sure wish I could help, but alas, I've never been either. I am so jealous! I will look forward to hearing all about it though!
Re: Adelaide? - luvnit - 01-15-2009
I barely get off my block! But a trip to Aussie sounds wonderful. I have always wanted to go there. Have a marvelous trip!
Re: Adelaide? - carolekv - 01-15-2009
Thanks! I am really excited - at first, I was overwhelmed with trying to make plans, but now, thanks to the Web, I'm starting to figure out places to go/things to do. Will definitely give updates after the trip!
Re: Adelaide? - jlp - 01-15-2009
I was in Adelaide in Dec 2006 and we ate at a wonderful winery called D'Arenberg. Here is the website http://www.darenberg.com.au/. I recommend making reservations to eat in the restaurant. It is small, but the food was fantastic! Have a wonderful trip!
Re: Adelaide? - sophia - 01-15-2009
I'm so happy for you, Carole. We lived in Australia for three years years ago and considered staying there. But for family here in the US, we would have. We had great friends from Adelaide and very much enjoyed our time there, but it was mostly spent with friends at home; we did see some wineries in the Barossa Valley; they were so beautiful, and the wine so good. We also were treated to a visit to a stud farm where Arabian racehorses were raised. That, too, was a highlight. I remember also a giant blue whale suspended from the ceiling of a local museum, but that's about it as for my memory.
Some of the best meals we've eaten were in Australian homes and restaurants. I was wonderfully amazed at the ethnic foods there. I've never had Chinese food in the US that could equal what we ate in Canberra.
To pass the "Aussie test", the thing they put you through before you can be friends (not literally), can be a bit of a shock, their sausage rolls which can be very greasy and a drink called a shandy, half beer and half ginger ale, which they call lemonade. I passed, but don't recommend it as a routine
'feed'.
The seafood was great, and if you get a chance to have "Morton Bay Bugs" (which - Morton Bay - is not near Adelaide actually)they are wonderful, more than a shrimp, less than a lobster, very sweet and tasty. My husband's very favorite dish was Beef and Barramundi. Barramundi is a sea perch, in this case, (there's a freshwater fish called barramundi, also)and it was a nice white fish that is quite popular. We had a lot of delicious curry dinners, also, with all the trimmings; I loved those. Carpetbag steaks, stuffed with oysters, are an Aussie creation that many enjoy. And for the finale, pavlova. It became our family favorite dessert, that meringue-like cake with whipping cream. We serve it with strawberries and kiwi fruit, but the Aussies often serve it with passionfruit.
If you love lamb, there's none better than the Aussies serve, but the Kiwi's, New Zealanders, might argue about that statement.
Also they had a lot of 'chokoes'. For the life of me I cannot think what they are called here; they are seldom seen, mostly in the South - Louisiana I'm thinking. They are a squash-like vegetable, kind of pear shaped, almost tasteless but can be dolled up with stuffings and good herbs.
Australian seasons, as you know by now, are opposite to ours, so you should be enjoying winter weather when you go. We had a lot of fun with those seasonal differences; people went to the beach at Christmas, and at Easter I decorated the table with 'fall' leaves and orange pumpkins. Orange pumpkins aren't native to Australia, but I had the seeds and they were accidentally shipped with our stuff, so I planted them. They were a good 'amusement'. Aussie pumpkins are blue-skinned, but the meat is orange/yellow.
I didn't really answer your questions, did I? But I agree with you that the Aussies are terrific. May I suggest that you contact the Aussie Embassy for some good info? They'll be glad to give you some ideas.