There’s a new tasting menu shaking things up in the CBD, and at $45 a head it’s an absolute steal. NOLA Adelaide‘s ‘The Big Easy’ will satisfy all your southern comfort food cravings and have you rolling out down Vardon Ave, a few frothies fuller.
Compared to their earlier tasting menu, ‘Feed Me’, this menu is all about the feast, bringing out multiple dishes at once designed to compliment the feature of the meal, a juicy cut of chuck beef.
Back to the beginning however, we start with some fresh oceanic dishes. An in-house cured kingfish is served with pickled baby beetroot and goats cheese, making for a salty but light experience. The presentation of this dish is spectacular, with vibrant beetroot juice swirling the plate. With the kingfish comes the shucked oysters, served fresh with pickled carrot, fennel and shaved horse radish nestled in the shell. A dash of the house-made ‘Novice’ hot sauce gives these oysters a New Orleans kick.
Shucked Oysters
The main affair comes out all at once, allowing you to indulge in every aspect of the spread rather than separating all the elements.
Sides include roast potatoes with mustard cream, slaw and collard greens. The collard greens are the perfect way to sneak some leaves into the diet of a greens hater, as cooked with onion, bacon and butter, they’re downright delectable and it’ll be hard to stop yourself from nibbling!
From left; Slaw, Kipfler Potatoes, Collard Greens
Cornbread with fiery japalenos through it is served with warm butter, and a bite of freshness is offered through the grilled eggplant with corn, chilli and tomato salsa, a delicious vegetarian dish.
Nothing pairs better with a frosty beer than a huge chunk of tender meat, and the guys in the NOLA kitchen know this well. A knife cuts through the slow roasted chuck beef like butter, and the accompanying purslane is a welcome bit of greenery that eases the heaviness of the meat.
Though all seperate, all these dishes work together and we encourage you to mix and match flavours from each of the plates!
No feast is complete without dessert, and NOLA’s sweet version of cornbread takes the cake. Banana cornbread is complimented by bourbon salted caramel and cream, tasting like a moist, sweet-and-salty banana cake. A staple on the menu for some time now has been the beignets, traditional New Orleans donuts that are fried and dusted in lashings of icing sugar.
Left to right; Banana Cornbread and Beignets
Make sure to try some of the hot sauces located in the caddy on your table. Made from scratch at NOLA, they come in Novice, 3-Month Fermented and Damn Hot, each increasing in spiciness. Our favourite is the tangy 3-Month Fermented, the perfect balance of vinegar and heat to compliment any dish on the menu.
What’s easier than sitting on a table in the sunshine on Vardon Ave, sipping some of Adelaide’s best craft beers while being brought oodles of food? Not much, if you ask us. Wander in any evening from Tuesday to Sunday or lunch Friday to Sunday to indulge in this southern feast.
