ETC

If there was one place that can claim to have started my love of breakfast, it is this one. ETC (East Terrace Continental, for non-Adelaideans) is one of the first places I went to for breakfast back in 2008, when a friend of mine and I started going on ‘breakfast adventures’ in the city. Since then it hasn’t changed a bit – they’re still serving breakfast all day and doing it superbly well. ETC has a cozy feel to it – wooden floors, tables and chairs make it inviting in both summer when the doors are opened and winter when it’s windy outside. They offer both breakfast and lunch, as well as a specials board which often includes the best bits. Whilst their eggs benedict is my usual staple, this time I decided to try their ‘chill bar’, a traditional Turkish breakfast with poached eggs, garlic yoghurt, paprika butter, mushrooms and toast. As always, the eggs were perfectly poached and oozed into the yoghurt/butter bowl. The mushrooms had a little bit of bite to them; the toast had just the right amount of crisp and tasted of sesame (yum). ETC is a go-to for reliably good food and atmosphere, any time of year.

ETC, 6 East Terrace, Adelaide SA                                              http://etccafe.com.au/

Kutchi Deli Parwana

A friend of mine introduced me to Parwana many years ago and I fell in love with their home-style Afghani food, so when I heard that they’d opened a deli outpost in the city I had to try it! I love that it has remained a family-run business with the expansion, and they’ve upped their decor anti with incredibly vibrant blues and teals at the Ebenezer Place location. There are no reservations, so we planned to arrive as they opened for lunch on a Sunday. The strategy worked – we were the first to arrive behind a couple of locals who clearly know the staff (always a good sign). I’d already decided to order the mantu, Afghani dumplings served with lamb mince and yoghurt, and we added a lamb mince bolani to our order to be adventurous. Both dishes were mind-blowingly good. And I mean, lick-the-bowl, write-home-about good. The mantu were soft and beautifully balanced – stuffed full of onion and carrot, coated in a tomato-based sauce with mince and lentils. The bolani, an Afghani flat-bread, was filled with mince and veggies, and came with a divine mint dipping sauce that brought the whole thing to life. Let me repeat: incredibly, incredibly good. Please eat there.

Kutchi Deli Parwana, No. 7 Ebenezer Place, Adelaide SA http://www.parwana.com.au/html/kutchi_deli.html

Golden Boy

I was reluctant to eat to Golden Boy. Botanic Bar was one of my favourite places to have cheap pizza and good sangria, and I have many fond memories of hanging out in the right-wing of the bar. When I heard it had been converted into, of all things, a Thai restaurant, my soul died a bit inside. But on my last trip to Adelaide, my friends had already planned dinner there and it was the easiest way to see them all at once. So I relented. Reluctantly, I entered the once-hallowed corridor, to discover that it had been covered in quite a nice palm-leaf wallpaper. So far so good. I was greeted warmly by staff, and shown into the renovated space, which has hand-written scrawl artistically scattered on the walls (somehow it works). We went for the Tuk Tuk banquet, and they just brought courses and courses of fresh, spicy and delicious Thai food. Particular highlights were the satay skewers with the best peanut sauce I’ve ever had, hulled-out cucumber shells full of some kind of melt-in-your-mouth beef and a papaya salad. Only disappointment was the elderflower cocktail, which was watery and tasted like detergent. So I’m pretty much a convert. Anywhere else in town upgrading?

Golden Boy, 309 North Terrace, Adelaide           http://goldenboyrestaurant.com/#