Bracegirdles House of Fine Chocolate - 31 Jetty Road, Glenelg

Adelaide's best Coffee and Chocolate?

...absolutely!

At least so claimed the advertising on the windows. Enticed by the 'champion team of Barista’s including this years State Barista Champion Fiefy and runner up in the Latte Art Competition Mark', I walked into this dim lit chocolate house.

We settled for the lemon meringue, accompanied by a mug of hot chocolate, and a skim latte - to test out the talent of Bracegirdle's 'award winning' baristas.


The meringue tasted artificial, like something from a chain retail coffee place (not a good thing). The hot chocolate was rated highly, and the coffee again, average. Must be the SA beans/milk?

Feeling a little peckish after picking at the meringue, we went ahead and ordered the Chocolate Fondue for 2.


Wasn't too sure about the orange slices (with rind) and still a long way away from KoKo Black or Max Brenner, but this proved to be a popular choice, as banana and strawberry pieces were dipped and re-dipped before being rapidly consumed.Then again, chocolate is one of those things that takes great talent to wrong (even though lately I've been convinced about Adelaide chefs possessing such a rare talent).

Food: 5/10

Coffee: 5/10

Service: 5/10

Value: 5/10
Ambiance: 5/10

Overall: 25/50
Encore: Quite average across the board really...

Novotel Resort Barossa Valley - Golflinks Rd, Rowland Flats, Barossa Valley

I can't say I've had my share of Hotel Buffet breakfasts, but as far as my standards go - this one's going to the top of the list. Fantastic view, great selection, the scrambled eggs weren't half bad, and they even had a great selection of fresh fruits!

Food: 7/10

Beverages: 7/10

Service: N/A

Value: 8/10
Ambiance: 8/10

Overall: 30/40 - 37.5/50
Encore: Definitely.

Mings Steamboat - 301 Morphett St, Adelaide

So begins our first venture into the dismal one page mentioner of top Adelaide restaurants in the Good Food Guide (2009). After many a disappointment, we thought it might be safer to 'stick the the books', as they say.


The restaurant, we were told, is right beside China Town. Upon entering, I realised that the restuarant was China Town. The pseudo local hang out for Asian Students, everyone greeted their friends on one/multiple tables as they walked through the door.

The waiter threw our menus onto the table after we asked if we could be seated at a different table he had originally indicated us to, and then looking perfectly righteous as he ignored us for the next 30 minutes as we tried to get someone's attention to take our order.


When we've finally managed to place our orders, and everything did arrive - which it did relatively quickly - we were too busy cooking and eating to recall the prior disservice. Plus, the girls were pretty helpful later on when we requested to have more condiments.

The soup base was authentic, and the ingredients fresh. First reasonable feed since our landing in Adelaide.

Food: 7/10

Coffee: N/A

Service: 3/10

Value: 6/10
Ambiance: 5/10

Overall: 21/40 - 26.25/50
Encore: If all else fails...

Maggie Beer Pheasant Farm Shop - Pheasant Farm Rd, Nuriootpa

Every once in a while luck will allow one to discover a rare hidden gem, one that will allow you to forget its exact location, even if in an alien state, and proclaim it as your own prerogative to visit every fortnight. Spying Maggie Beer Farm Shop in one of those Tourist brochures and captivated by the serenity of its lakeside existence, we've visited, and confirmed that the Pheasant Farm Cafe do belong to one of those places.


Every once in a while luck will allow one to discover a rare hidden gem, one that will allow you to forget its exact location, even if in an alien state, and proclaim it as your own prerogative to visit every fortnight. Spying Maggie Beer Farm Shop in one of those Tourist brochures and captivated by the serenity of its lakeside existence, we've visited, and confirmed that the Pheasant Farm Cafe do belong to one of those places.


A shop in its own right, you can browse the the vast range of quinces, sauces, dips and jams on display is enough to whet your appetite, both visual and of course, taste wise. We were greeted warmly by an older lady asking us if we have been here before. Upon hearing negative she briefly explained we're free to browse and try everything we like, alternatively if we do wish to dine there are picnic baskets available.


The plates brought back nostalgia from kindergarten, and the recycled wooden spoons were gorgeous. The view outside was all splendorous and looked exactly like, if not more breath-taking, than the photo (rare occurrence!). It's one of those places where one can easily spend their better part of the day reading, dining, wining, whilst getting up close and personal with mother nature.


We went for the Homemade Pheasant Terrine ($16) - Pheasant and porcini mushroom terrine wrapped in sour cream pastry with salad greens, Vino Cotto vinaigrette and Maggie's Cabernet Sauce, and the Seasonal Cheese Picnic Basket ($13.50) - Maggie's seasonal cheese choice with quince paste, fresh fruit and walnut bread roll.

Everything was delicious, the terrine was beautiful, and the grapes crispy fresh. This alone is worth the trip to Adelaide!

Food: 8.5/10

Coffee: 6/10

Service: 8/10

Value: 7/10
Ambiance: 9/10

Overall: 38.5/50
Encore: Coffee was the only downfall; then again, it might just be an Adelaide thing...

Biga - 200 Hutt St, Adelaide

This is one of those places that has so much potential it makes you cringe when they under-deliver and you're pained with the realisation that it's all just seductive packaging with no substance whatsoever.

Actually. That describes most Adelaide Cafes and Restaurants.

Having just landed in Adelaide less than hour ago after a very early morning flight, we were on a mission to locate a venue for a good, hearty breakfast. Out of the four cafes on the corner of Hutt and Halifax St, Biga seemed to be the most unpretentious candidate. With laid-back seating outside under massive white umbrellas, the light-filled cafe was clean, warm, and homely. The waitress was friendly enough, even though she was cool and rather occupied to grant us much of her attention.


With a neat one sided seating space and a clean, transparent counter display cabinet displaying all the pastry, muffins, slices and many others on offer, I was quite delighted with, and had high expectations of, what we decided on from the menu - Brioche dolce: brioche roll served with condiments and fresh cream, and the Big Breakfast: 2 poached eggs, layered stack of grilled chipolata sausage, field mushrooms, rosti potato and roast tomato on Biga toast.


Our coffee and food arrived relatively promptly. I immediately regretted trusting the breakfast chefs in a foreign state, particularly this one, with the holy task of poaching eggs. As I witnessed my egg yolks rolling back and forth under my very eyes, my stomach lurching with every shake and wobble, half expecting the undercooked egg whites to give way to the liquid yokes that's yearning to burst free from it's delicate confinements.

The sausages were far from being qualified as chipolata, and overcooked to a disturbing state. The mushrooms were totally tasteless, not to mention the potato rosti looked like it was freshly unpacked from a frozen homebrand packet and absolutely wrong. The much fussed about Biga toast (apparently sour-dough and freshly baked) turned out to be two slices of cold, over-toasted slices of bread, with no recollection of its former aristocratic status after its abuse in the oven. To give credit where credit is due - the bacon rashes were quite edible. To my utter shock and surprise.

I was less than impressed with the rock-hard, stone-like brioche (served with cream!), and the coffee - although palatable - failed to make an impression as actual coffee. Having offloaded most of my breakfast, I thought I'd suppress my hunger by ordering a hot-crossed bun.

Besides the few charcoals of burnt sultanas I picked off the bun, it wasn't too bad. Although for $3 I'd rather have a choc-chip hot-crossed bun from Baker's Delight.

Food: 4/10

Coffee: 5/10

Service: 7/10

Value: For the quality of the food - 5/10
Ambiance: Chilled, relaxed, laid-back - 8.5/10

Overall: 29.5/50

Encore: not for all the runny egg yolks in the world

Immerse - 17-19 Olinda-Monbulk Rd, Olinda

On the way back from Miss Marples we decided to drop into Immerse and grab a coffee. The reception was cool as always; we waited at the 'Please Wait to be Seated' sign for almost 10mins without anyone even acknowledging our existence, before finally managing to grab the fleeting attention of a passing waitress and were given the nod to join the rest of the dining community. After we seated ourselves on the bar stools next to the window (despite numerous encouragements from the waitress that we could sit at the tables too if we really wanted to), we ordered a skim and a chai latte.

In between ordering the coffee and it arriving, we also decided that we should get something to nibble on. The waitress, hearing this as she dispatched our coffees, asked if we would also like to see the menu, in which we responded very much favourably to. After briefly scanning the 2 page menu, we agreed that the only thing worth our attentions was the 'Zucchini & corn fritter topped with a salad of rocket, avocado & smoked salmon dressed with horseradish mayonnaise, beetroot relish and drizzled with lemon oil'. As we weren't having much success in the service category the order was placed via a trip to the counters.

When our order arrived, we had to literally plough through the salad leaves and salmon pieces to locate the poor excuse of a fritter sitting sorrily beneath. It looked more like a pancake of the more lifeless variety than any fritters I've encountered, it was less than 5mms thick and probably equated to the size of my fist (and I have really small hands).

Maybe it was the nice blend of rocket, lemon oil and mayonnaise, maybe it was the fresh smoked salmon, maybe it was the fact that expectations were so low upon witnessing what was presented to us as the dish we had a totally different image of, the taste wasn't all that bad. Sure, the texture was probably a little dense for a fritter and it was difficult to locate any corn kernals; sure, there were even no detectable traces of zucchini; but the overal taste was actually not that bad.

As we were lining up to pay, the waitress who served us even stopped and took a second to ask us how the meal went. Perhaps next time they could pay more attention to the customers waiting than the customers who've finished waiting?

Food: despite its measely existence, our order actually tasted quite good - 6.5/10

Coffee: Average, lacking density, lacking aroma, lacking taste, but at least it wasn't the brown muddle of liquid at Mart 130 - a drinkable 4.5/10

Service: it's actually not too bad when you have the attention of your waitress, but getting that attention is an achievement in itself - 4/10

Value: my 5mm fist-sized fritter came to $16.95, not exactly value for money - 4/10
Ambiance: relaxed and laid-back - 7/10

Overall: 26/50

Encore: this is our third time back, it's quite a nice little place to just sit and nibble for the afternoon (the waitresses leave you alone)

Miss Marples Tea Room - 382 Mt. Dandenong Tourist Rd, Sassafras

Today saw my much anticipated return to Mt. Dandenong, and Agatha Christie's character inspired Tea Room: Miss Marples Tea Room. The day was planned so that we were to wake early (before 10am) and head out for a breakfast of scones, cream, jam, and sorts.

Miss Marples was packed as usual, if not more so. We were told that it would be a 30min wait for a table of 2, which wasn't unusual for a Saturday. Or any day for that matter.

After a leisurely stroll to the tea shop next door, we returned to find our table ready for us. A young friendly waitress greeted us as we self-escorted ourselves to "the table under the big oval painting", that Soup of the Day was Pumpkin Soup with a french Crusty Roll, and that Special of the Day was Waffles with jam, cream, and ice-cream.

After much careful consideration weighing up the pros and cons, I decided to forego the ice-cream for the pumpkin soup. The fact that 2/3 of tables had ordered and it was a much missed rainy cold Autumn day , and of course with the promise to return in a fortnight and have my dessert fare swayed my final decision. So the final order consisted of: Pumpkin Soup, Welsh Rarebit Fingers (Mature English Cheddar, eggs, Guinness, mustard & spices), one of each scones (Plain & Fruit), and a Teapot of Taylors - apparently voted 'best cup of tea in England' by the British Tea Council.

Now as I mentioned before, Miss Marples on any given day is understandably busy. Hence I'm usually quite lenient with the service. However. Having said the above, there is this one blond waitress who continuously looks as if someone's substituted every dairy intake of hers with sour cream. We were unfortunate enough to score her as the waitress who took our orders - she walked off mid-order! And when we called her back to finish off our request her impatience was all too willingly displayed across her frowned forehead with the same amount of clarity as suggestions for a prompt personality transplant.

Nevertheless, Miss Marples's 'world renowned' Devonshire Scones were definitely, as always, worth the 30min wait on top of the hour plus drive, and even the sour-faced waitress. The mouth-watering ensemble, served together with 'Miss Marple's Own' delicious home-made jam and generous amount of freshly whipped cream is a true 'melter' in the mouth. The Rarebit fingers were surprisingly nice, and the pumpkin soup was well received also.

Food: Scones - 9.5/10; Fingers - 7.5/10; Pumpkin Soup, 8/10; Overall: 8.5/10

Coffee: N/A - although the Devonshire tea was superb - 8/10

Service: It would have originally been an 8, minus 1.5 from the rude waitress - 6.5/10

Value: The quality and experience is definitely worth the 2 scones (1 of each) with whipped cream and jam for under $8 - 8.5/10
Ambiance: English, romantic, unique - 8.5/10

Overall: 40/50

Encore: an all time favourite, craving-worthy!