After Melbourne, the next major city to host us was Adelaide. A relatively small state capital, we were able to explore mostly on foot. Fortunately for us, the Central Market was just a few blocks from where we were staying. I was informed that this was where many of the city's best restaurants came to buy their produce and could see why! Stalls of fruit, veg, mushrooms and cheeses of real quality and freshness abounded; one particularly well stocked vendor selling all sorts of European cheeses, not least Ford Farm's 'Wookey Hole Cave-aged Cheddar', matured in the depths of the Somerset cave network, which I knew well from my youth in Somerset.
We would visit the market for groceries, coffee and snacks and on one solo trip I sat at the bar of an Algerian restaurant, Le Souk, sipping an Americano, writing recipes, reading some Hemingway and eventually tucking into lunch. Next to me sat two earnest young men chatting their way into their fourth coffee each, in the space of an hour. Once I'd devoured my chickpea salad, with it's rich array of flavours: dates, raisins, mint, coriander, red pepper puree and pomegranate dressing, I got chatting to the chef.
An Algerian himself, he clearly knew a thing or two about his country's cuisine. I took inspiration from this man, his passion and his ability to conjure great flavour from his ingredients. He told me about his off-the-menu special, Beef & Kiwi Tagine. A strange concept I thought, but why the hell not! I personally love to use plums in savoury dishes and if life gives you kiwis... I have since found one tagine recipe online using kiwi, published by an United Arab Emirates newspaper, so can't say who was first to the party, but let's not take anything away from this chef, who also enriches his vegan spinach cous cous dish with black truffle. I see that Le Souk went on to be recognised as one of Tripadvisor's top 10% of restaurants in the World, for 2020, the year I was there. I only wish I indulged there more often during my whirlwind spell in Adelaide.
Another noteworthy mention goes to the brunch eatery, Karma & Crow, in Adelaide's Western suburb of Richmond. The first Australian haunt where I found truly inspired food. Established by two entrepreneurs, Janie Kammer and Alanna Crowe, this cafe sat in a converted warehouse and served up dishes such as 'Burnt broccoli, baba ganoush, tumeric sourdough, chilli kale, currants, toasted pepitas, burnt lemon & za'atar' and 'Blue swimmer crab scrambled eggs on toast with gochujang butter, curry leaf, coriander and chilli salad & chilli oil'. We arrived late on a Sunday morning and the place was rammed. I opted for the Sticky Roast Pumpkin, with it's rich caramelised glaze; a large wedge sat atop a hunk of sourdough, over a smear of baba ganoush. Chili inflected kale and caramelised chickpeas festooned the pile. A heafty start to the day.
Further to the sensual food on offer, Karma & Crow are also active in the local community, putting on vegetarian food and wine events in the local park every Tuesday, with a focus on natural/local wines and integrating non-vegetarians into vegetarian food. If you're in the area, be sure to pay this place a visit.