PROFILED BY DE GROOTS MEDIAThe Daniel O’Connell Hotel is an Irish pub built in 1850 and a heritage-listed Adelaide establishment. Its courtyard is home to a magnificent peppertree from which it gets its name. The lack of gaming rooms sees all areas devoted to live entertainment, beverages and food. For true Irish grub slide into a front bar booth and tuck into a beef and Guinness pie. Wash it down with the obvious! The Peppertree Restaurant exudes artisanship and warms you with a festive glow. The bar is carved from French polished timber; gilded mirrors and filigreed glass make it visually splendid. Diners are cocooned in an abundance of character; in fact, look up and you’ll see a bicycle in the rafters!
The menu also offers modern Australian cuisine, and the wine list is unashamedly biased toward South Australian beauties. Duck liver pate with toasted ciabatta satisfies while you trawl through the menu. While loved for its 600 gram steaks, the kitchen also pleases with a pork rack rubbed with cumin and salt, served with a beurre bosc pear and blueberry compote. Crispy skinned free-range chicken breast is plumped with sun dried tomatoes and pancetta, balanced on a ratatouille and sweet potato stack, finished with a rosemary glaze and crisp parmesan wafer. Leave room for a side of comforting garlic mash!
Roz Taylor