Howard Vineyard Autumn Menu Launch

Hi foodies,

You might have remembered my previous post on Howard Vineyard and the fact that our MasterChef Heather Day heads the restaurant really lightened up the culinary color of the dishes on offer. 🙂

After the first visit, I can’t help myself so as you have guessed – yes, we went for the second time over the Easter break. This time, Heather has done some more dramatic fantasy to get my ‘wow’ for her dishes.

To be honest, I always felt lucky to spend most of my life here in Adelaide. Think about the beautiful environment around us, the sun, the water, the sea and especially the food. Howard Vineyard has added something distinctive to the table of South Aussies – something I call Asian focus cuisine. It is not fusion but not traditional neither so it focused on Asian dishes but some tasted much better than the traditional ones. I will show you the reason why I was so fancy about the food here below.

This is their current Autumn menu. Similar to the summer menu, the price for the mains and the entrees are reasonably priced.

A good lunch should be accompanied with a great wine, isn’t it?! Howard Vineyard is a perfect place for food and wine matching and pairing. Why not try you choice of wine to see how you become a genius in wine-food pairing! 🙂 The Lemon Lime Bitters (LLB) is my usual (most of my long term readers know).

Prawn and Pork Dumplings, $18

I make prawn and pork dumplings at home all the time. However, this dish really amazed me, not because its traditional taste but its very innovative mixture of flavours! The skin of the dumpling was great on the start while the fillings were tender and moist. The prawn pieces can be felt on the palate while the soy sauce and spring onion fully stimulated my tastebuds. Great choice for a first entree!

Sashimi ‘Poke’ Bowl $23

Have you been following the current food trend? It seems Sashimi Poke Bowl has become the new trend. This poke bowl is pretty good on the spot. Fresh fish pieces were presented with all the fresh local produce and a sesame dressing. Once I mixed it up with the lime juices, WOW it was amazing! So tantalising and attracted our full attention to the upcoming main dishes.

We ordered all the mains to taste and now let me show you how great they are!

Cambodian Beef Short Ribs, served with coconut and ginger rice, $25

I’ve never been to Cambodia but my taste buds has gone with Howard Vineyard! The beef short rib was sooooooooooooo tasty and yummy! The beef was cooked just off the bone and literally melt in my mouth. The flavour of the dish was awesome with the moderate level of spiciness and the nutty flavour helped to promote the elegant taste on palate! Well done and indeed a great dish!

Coconut Thai Chicken Salad, $24

Do you like the presentation of the dish? I DO! Isn’t the presentation charming and make the dish like a fine art? Well the taste was even better. The bit which I liked this dish is the chicken pieces. It was so clean on the palate but the minute I added the chilli and the other veges, it literally was turned into something I can eat a whole bowl of rice for! Nice flavour.

I looked around other tables – almost everyone ordered this dish. 😀

House made Pork Belly Gua Bao, $25.

I am sure most of you would appreciate the taste of roasted pork belly. However this dish took it even further! The pork was accompanied with pickled cabbage, peanuts and rooster hot sauce. The flavour is not easily described – the cracking and moist pork, the nutty flavour, the source crunch of the pickled cabbage, the sweet chilli hot sauce and the soft bao made a great oil painting of the day. All flavours complemented each other and promoted other taste well. This complementary flavour is not easily obtained and I can definitely see Heather’s effort behind the scene. This is my favourite dish of the day AND you must try it!

Just as everyone thought we would not have anything for dessert (and we thought the same), the cheese platter arrived. Surprisingly, WE FINISHED THE LOT. Yes everything!

Local and House Made Cheese, $35

Howard Vineyard is a big supporter for SA local produce. Two of the cheeses were both sourced locally. What has surprised me this time was the Alexandrina Red Wax Cheddar. It was so classic! The hard cheddar mouthfeel combined with a great texture was something exactly what I wanted after a heavy meal. What was even more amazing was the house-made barks! Where are they in the picture? To the very back. Here you go. The bark was done to perfection. Crispy, crunchy, a hint of salt and it DID NOT TASTE LIKE ANYTHING we were familiar with! Well done. I heard other customers asked to buy these barks. To be 100% honest, I wanted to do the same! 😀

After this round of dishes, I certainly fall in love with the Clover’s Restaurant at Howard Vineyard. Serving SA local produce to the freshest possible while maintaining house made items and Asian focused cuisine, Heather Day has done a brilliant job to bring this restaurant to the frontier of SA dinning map. You got to try it yourself!