Detlef Jumpertz

I went to Adelaide over Friday and Saturday, ostensibly to go the opening of the Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize for which I was shortlisted. Alas, no cigar for me on that front but still proud as punch for getting shortlisted (the other finalists in my category can be found here). Still the point of this post is really to quickly talk about Adelaide.

Everytime I come here I get a feeling of underwhelment - Adelaide as a city lacks something and I have no idea what it is that it is lacking! To me it just seems to have an ill defined ordinariness about it.

That said I spent the afternoon and early evening walking around the city. The chief highlights were the Central Markets - a really vibrant market of greengrocers, butchers, providors, cheese suppliers, bakers, fishmongers and delis.



I walked through it twice once during the day, and then when it was still open on the Friday evening. On both occasions it was quite full with shoppers. The cheese suppliers in particular tempted me and I ended up buying soft Berthaut cheese matured with chablis, and a baguette, which ended up being an impromptu lunch for me.



The evening walk morphed into finding a restaurant for dinner, I had been recommended to go to Gouger Street, which houses rows of restaurants (mainly Asian cuisine) either side of the street. In amongst this lot I decided I go and have Argentinian cuisine, so strolled into Gaucho's Restaurant. For some reason I wanted to treat myself, in times past I would've thought twice about indulging myself like this - but hey you only live once and may as well enjoy and make something of the occasion. Gaucho's is quite large restaurant, that quickly filled once I got there.



The largeness of the place is well disguised as it has a front and back section, so it doesn't appear cavernous and indeed was full of ambiance and conviviality. I had the most divine entree - local Port Lincoln black mussels in a tomato, white wine, chilli, onion and garlic broth, topped with cockles. This was a huge serving and could have sufficed as a main, scrumptious indeed. For main course I had an aged piece of scotch fillet cooked with chimmichurri sauce - a combination of olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, herbs, spices and fennel. A very professional and succulent piece of meat it was as well, but in light of the sublime nature of the entree, not quite as good as the first course. Needless to say that I was well and truly fed by the time I left, and of course well inculcated with garlic, so was not attacked by any vampires on the stroll back to the hotel.

I sense a huge bike ride coming up on my return to Canberra in order to work off the dining excesses of the past week, particularly if one includes the delights of Melbourne earlier in the week - now that is a great city.

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