Black Bird ADL – Charcoal Rotisserie

Hi foodies,

Recently I found out that one of the earliest blogs in Adelaide (since 2008), Dbites.com has quit the blog world. It is kindda sad for me as she was one of the role model that encouraged me to start stepping into the blog world. The current owner of dbites.com is not Dee and turned the site into a cooking tool review website.

However, do you know what the best part of food blogging is? It doesn’t matter how many instagram or facebook followers someone has. To me, it is the people and the produce that matters the most. Since 2011, I have worked with many South Australian local producers and agencies and tasted many local restaurants. All these people that I met taught me something here and there. I’d love to sit down with a producer, a restaurant owner so a food cart operator to listen to their stories and their life in relation to the food they produce. It is the people that makes our state more beautiful and colorful. It is the people who put love in their food and make our food experience in South Australia second to none! It is the people that helps our state to be more creative in food scene! It is the people and their products that matters to a food blog!!!

Anyway, today I discovered another jewel in the suburb of Colonel Light Gardens. Black Bird ADL is an one-week-old small eatery specialising in charcoal rotisserie. Located just off Goodwood Road, I would say this small place is going to be a game changer in the suburbs soon.

The restaurant is headed by chef Palam Manes, the man who was behind British India and Singapore House and focuses on charcoal roasted meat but it was not only the meat the owners are interested in. Instead, they wants to create a place where everyone will be able to afford and enjoy great flavoured food. Here, you would not see pricey meals but instead beautiful presentations and good food with mostly South Australian produce.

This is Chef Palam Manes, a humble man who knows his food well. Prior to come to the restaurant, I had a look at their menu. To be honest, I did not expect too much but the dishes by presentation alone has blown my mind.

The menu had six rotisserie items as well as wraps and vegetarian sides. It is not extensive but had elements of seafood, beef, pork, chicken, salad and vegetables. At the moment, the venue only does the chicken for take away. If you want to taste the dishes listed below, you will need to dine in :).

 PIKES PILSNER LAGER, $9

Before we started our main courses, the chef provided a refreshing and tantalising tomato salad, mixed with cumin, basil and chilli. It was so juicy and all flavours combined just right to be served as an appetiser. It is also good to lift the palate up a bit to be ready for other charcoal deliciousness.

For the mains, we had the Beef Brisket, the Salmon and the Pork Belly alongside with a plant based salad, roti pumpkin. All the dishes are served with a salad to complement the flavours of the meat so there are no need to order extra salad.

Beef Brisket, rubbed with mustard, celery powder, caraway, coriander seeds with radish slaw, smoky BBQ sauce, Parmesan aioli and pineapple relish, $16.9

This is Tina’s favourite dish of the night. The beef was cooked and smoked over the charcoal for a long period of time and the meat was so easy to pull apart, like a pulled beef. Then flavour-wise, it combined very well with the parmesean aioli to give a cheesy and creamy texture while the pineapple relish added freshness to the dish! Great choice.

The dishes at this venue can be enjoyed by one person or shared between fellow diners. Tina and I decided to share the dishes so here is the second dish, Salmon.

Salmon, kashmiri chilli, fenugreek leaves, mustard smoked with cucumber, coconut salad with tempered curry leaf yogurt, $19.9.

This dish was soooooooooo good! If you look at the picture below, you can see the salmon was cooked to perfection, medium rare, like being poached in oil but it was actually off the charcoal rotisserie! The flavour of the side salad and the curry was mild spicy but did not overtake the flavour of the fish. Instead, it promoted the flavour of the fish and improved the texture. Speaking of the texture, the fish flesh was so soft and it was able to be flushed down without any chewing. Absolutely love it!

Now, here comes to my favourite dish, the Pork Belly!

Pork Belly, marinated in soy, garlic, spring onion, pink pepper with pear/daikon salad, $16.9.

While the beef brisket exhibits American style and the salmon shows Indian influence, this pork belly is clearly modern Australian with an East Asian or Japanese twist. It was so good that I finished every single item on the plate. The pork belly was charcoal roasted to the tenderest mode possible while kept moist and the fat was rendered to a texture like jelly. The pear and daikon salad added fruitiness and flavour to the dish and neutralised the oiliness from the pork belly, leaving a pleasant fragrance on the palate. Highly recommended!!!

Tina also had the Roti Pumpkin with buckwheat, parsley tabouli, lemon and smoked eggplant puree ($9.90).

Overall, my experience at Black Bird ADL is top-notch with the food and flavour. The restaurant uses local produce where possible and also do a take away service for charcoal grilled chicken and plant based salads. However, the dishes I showed are for available for dine in only. The restaurant also has a variety of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. Although not extensively huge selection, it fits the purpose of serving local wine and beers. The prices are very affordable and the quality of food is great too. I would highly recommend the restaurant to my readers.  The restaurant opens for dinner from 4pm to 9pm.

 

Black Bird ADL

1/503 Goodwood Rd

Colonel Light Gardens, SA 5041

P 08 8490 0728