my radelaide adventures part 2 - celsius restaurant

Set on Gouger Street, a well-known culinary strip in the heart of Adelaide, Celsius stands out. A big glass door next to their large sandstone sign, metal letters and that wow factor doesn't stop when you walk in. The room is dark and my eyes are instantly directed to the long communal marble table lit up from the inside out in the middle of the room. 

The striking sign on gouger street

We are seated and instantly served. Champagne? Yes please. Within moments the waiter has brought bread and butter to our table including a vibrant green parsley butter.

Bread with butter and parsley butter

We've decided to order a la carte and not go for the very tempting degustation. The entrees came out looking absolutely beautiful and pretty as a picture.

Jerusalem artichoke, pumpernickel, chicken skin, garlic shoots

This reminded me of a lake with lilypads, the chicken skin was crispy and light and the Jerusalem artichokes were creamy. The broth had a wonderful depth of flavour but it came out warm and not really hot which is what you expect from a broth on a freezing winter night but that may have been intentional.

Raw kingfish, kohlrabi, radish, finger lime

This was such an elegant looking dish, you can tell the chef is ex Noma with a plate like this one. I loved the raw elements especially that fresh kingfish and pink radishes which came together really nicely.

Quail, prosciutto, pumpkin, olive liquorice, lemon, coffee

I love quail and I can't go past it on a menu. It could be because I never quite cook it well at home so when I go out I look forward to a well cooked bit of quail. The skin was very crispy but my favourite part was the aniseed flavour that was present in quite a few elements of the dish, that crumbly olive liquorice and those caramelised bits of fennel complimented the salty prosciutto and tender quail really well.

Slow cooked milk fed Suffolk lamb, black garlic, baby carrots

This was such a generous dish. Two large pieces of perfectly cooked and seasoned lamb and just enough of the black garlic to go around. It had a beautiful sweet, caramelised flavour and was a highlight alongside the lamb, carrots and greens.

Pork belly, calamari, eggplant

Those are three magic words in my vocabulary and put together in a dish this attractive was magic to my ears. Can pork belly ever be bad? Well, probably but this one wasn't, crispy, tender and slightly salty as it should be. We found a few pieces of the calamari to be quite tough which was disappointing as it would have come together quite nicely otherwise.

Venison, forest mushrooms, chestnuts, celeriac

I may not have mentioned that I was dining with two of my wonderful girlfriends who were apalled by my choice of venison. I really like venison, it's another one of those meats that you rarely, if ever will cook at home so I tend to order it when I'm out at establishments like Celsius.

The forest mushrooms were tender and quite juicy, the chestnuts were and creamy and that celeriac was a welcomed addition to my plate. The venison was actually quite large and I found it quite difficult to get through but it was oh so tender and tasty.

We didn't even get to dessert as it was really late in the evening and we were all so full after our hefty main meals. I would definitely go back to try a few things I missed out on and would go for a degustation which is quite a good price at $85.00 for 5 courses and $120.00 for 8 courses.

http://www.celsiusrestaurant.com.au/

So, a quick question for you readers, have any of your friends questioned your food choices?

On another note, I will be contributing to a wonderful new blog called The Foodie Five Files. Check out our first post and video bio! http://foodiefivefiles.blogspot.com/