Il Toro Pasta & Espresso Bar - Adelaide, South Australia

There's a new place open at 1/321 North East Road, Hampstead Gardens and it's Il Toro Pasta & Espresso Bar. They're open for breakfast, lunch and dinner 6 days a week (closed Tuesdays).



The owner, chef, barista, waiter, cashier and all around nice guy inside is Jim. So far, he's running the place on his own. This is good news for customers because Jim makes great coffee and food and he's the one making it for you each and every time. As his clientele grows, I think he'll need some additional staff but so far so good.



The coffee is a strong Italian style coffee and comes in a speccy double walled glass.



The food is made with care and it's great value too. Just Eggs $6.90 (free range eggs cooked to your liking on ciabatta toast) and Bacon $1.50 adds up to $8.40 for a delicious bargain breakfast. And a generous serve as well.



There are other breakfast options too such as Calabrese Eggs, Asiago Omelette, Colazione Completa or Eggs Benedict. All are made with good quality, tasty free range eggs which should keep most people happy. But if you're not in the mood or time of day for breakfast, that's ok too. Make sure you start with the Garlic Bread (3 slices wood oven bread with organic butter, garlic, parsley), another steal at $2.50.



The pasta doesn't disappoint either. It's all handmade traditional artisan Studio Panagrazio pasta, which is Jim and his wife's other business. Our favourite dish so far is the Fettucine Al Pollo $11.90 (Studio Panagrazio laminated fettucine with pan fried free range chicken breast, smoked bacon, field mushrooms and rose sauce).   Balanced, full flavoured and an awesome dish.



Before you pay your bill, make sure you check out the glass cabinet (left of shot below) for some Italian treats. The cakes change regularly and there's always something tempting.



I can recommend the Sfogliatelle $3, a shell shaped Italian pastry. This was my first sfogliatelle (still practicing my pronunciation), and it certainly won't be my last.



Adelaide's new hidden Italian gem is Il Toro Pasta & Espresso Bar. We need more places like this in Adelaide.

Update 1 June 2012: Il Toro seems to have closed. I don't have any other information at this stage.

Update 20 Oct 2012: Il Toro has reopened. There was a fire in May, forcing some renovations which have now been completed. Jim is back in business!

BBQ City - Adelaide, South Australia

BBQ City is a consistently good choice in Adelaide's Chinatown. When you're trying to choose between Gouger Street's many offerings it's nice to have a place that you can count on.



There's nothing special about the service or the decor at BBQ City. It's pretty standard for a casual Chinese restaurant. Value however is excellent. If you eat here on a weekday for lunch (Mon-Fri 11am-4pm, excluding public holidays), the lunch specials menu has about 20 different choices for an absolute bargain price of $7.50 each. That's cheaper than most food court prices and definitely a step up in quality.


BBQ Pork lunch special ($7.50)

When you come to a place named BBQ City, you can't really go past the BBQ. This is traditional Chinese BBQ at its best. The BBQ pork is my favourite as its so sweet and full of flavour. One BBQ choice and rice costs $8.50, two choices is $9.50 or three choices is $10.50.


BBQ Pork, Roast Duck & Soya Chicken ($10.50)

If you're not in the mood for BBQ, there are still plenty of other good options available. The menu is huge and has a mix of both traditional and westernised Chinese offerings. The Beef Brisket with Noodles came with extremely tender and juicy slow cooked beef and some healthy and delicious bok choy.


Beef Brisket with Noodles ($8.50)

If you're a fan of seafood and noodles, you'll probably like this dish almost as much as I do. The sauce is quite plain but the dish has plenty of great flavour. I love how the noodles get a bit of browning from the wok.


Combination Seafood with Handmade Noodles ($11.50)

The BBQ is also available for takeaway so you may be tempted to grab some to go as well. The food at BBQ City is always delicious and very reasonably priced so I recommend you give them a try. I even read on Twitter that John Cleese ate here last time he was in Adelaide. #bonuspoints #bbqcityftw

Pancakes at the Port - Port Adelaide, South Australia

Ahoy me hearties...drop ye anchors at these here lonely (plate) docks and I'll tell ye a merry yarn o' some pancake treasures.



I wasn't expecting much from Pancakes at the Port because the experience generally starts with a 10-15 minute wait in line. The eftpos machine is very slow and the folks taking the orders aren't in any hurry either. The place gets pretty busy too so don't be fooled by these photos, taken just after opening at 8am. It may be wise to book a table. But be assured, you will be rewarded for your efforts when the food arrives.



There's a good amount of seating inside, a few more tables next door, and several tables outside. Here's the view from the outside tables towards Lipson Street (we usually park on Lipson Street on weekends). The outside tables are definitely a great place to sit on a nice day. You get an excellent view of the dolphin boats, the water and the lighthouse.



Believe it or not, they serve a decent coffee here. It's no trendy microbrew, but it's got plenty of flavour and it's easy to drink. Grab a complimentary paper from the front counter and have yourself a nice start to the day before you even get started on the food.


Cafe Latte (Mug $3.80)

The classic pick of the menu would have to be the Short Stack Pancakes ($7). They come with some beautiful whipped butter and a little pitcher of maple syrup. You can also get extra pancakes at $1.50 each if you prefer a slightly taller stack. I wouldn't blame you as these are by far the best pancakes I've had in Adelaide. Perfectly fluffy and full of buttermilk flavour.



If you want some extras with your cakes, there are plenty of options both sweet (such as strawberries, apples, apricots, blueberries, chocolate) and savoury. So far we've tried the German Feast ($14), which comes with a short stack, kranski sausage, bacon, egg and tomato...



...The Canadian Feast ($13.50) - short stack, bacon, egg and tomato....



...and the Farmers Breakfast ($12) - short stack, eggs, and hash browns.



All rank among the tastiest breakfasts around. Good quality ingredients, cooked well. We love the short cut bacon without all the extra fat, the eggs are eggceptional, and the hash browns aren't oily, but have a beautiful crunch on the outside.

To make it well worth your trip, go on a Mon-Sat morning before 11:30am and you can get the Big Breakfast (3 pancakes, bacon, egg, tomato, a hash brown and a free tea or coffee) for just $13. Shiver me timbers, what a bargain!


Big Breakfast ($13 with free tea or coffee)