LOCATIONA 20-minute drive up the freeway, from Adelaide’s CBD.
PROFILED BY DE GROOTS MEDIAThe dress code is belts that can be loosened. It is also recommended not to eat for 48 hours prior. Of course I’m joking on both counts, but the food here is seriously huge – in both flavour and presentation. The staff are just as big in personality. Peter the maitre d' has the surname Proud and so he should be. He is fabulous in his role and reason alone to dine here. Ultimately there is the food. Austrian-born chef Attila Balla can be heartily congratulated for the likes of giant Bavarian kassler chops with sweet, smoky flesh. Bulging German sausages present stuffings poised to burst free of their casings. Breaking through their skins is a truly satisfying moment. You may be rewarded with the ying and yang of snags; the mild moistness of weisswurst or the garlic, beefy goodness of bratwurst. Kranskies beg to be bit open to reveal veins of cheese running through their inners. Alternately, try the “Jagerbraten hunters’ roast”. Spiced pork and veal mince is wrapped in smoked pork belly, sliced and char-grilled. It comes with a golden German pretzel. More goodness from the char grill can be had in the form of thumping rumps, ribs, t-bones and porterhouses. Plates are filled with mounds of mash, sauerkraut and piquant Hengstenberg mustards.
Burping is almost mandatory after a feed like this. It does not seem out of place, especially if you wish to make room for baked blueberry cheesecake or warm apple strudel with cinnamon and whipped cream. On your way out, remember to collect your kids from the games room and keep an eye out for owner Andrew Holmes behind the bar. Pause for a chocolate port and thank him for one of the most satisfying dining experiences you are likely to have.
Roz Taylor