Where meat meets meat … and pork
THE Jungle Restaurant, at the Kent Town Hotel, Adelaide, specialises in Brazilain-style barbecued meat.
You couldn’t accuse the owners of being half-hearted about the decor. Pic : Supplied
Here is how the pitch meets reality:
The pitch: A vast, unique, multistorey family-friendly pub, with the 400-seat Jungle Restaurant, Crafty Monkey bistro — with digital-pour beer menu for craft beer enthusiasts — rooftop bar, tree house private dining, kids’ play- station cave and other zones too numerous to mention.
The reality: You couldn’t accuse the owners of being half-hearted about the theme here: the dining room is a towering mass of artificial palms, foliage cascading down walls, rope bridges leading to tree houses and the odd elephant or two. Kitsch or clever? You decide. Your kids will no doubt love it and there’s plenty of room for them to romp around, though I expected the dedicated play area to be larger and offer more games options. And what do you eat in the (Brazilian) jungle? Brazilian churrasco, of course.
The cuisine: The Jungle Restaurant’s schtick is the stick, the skewers of various meats barbecued over charcoal and carved at table in an eat-till-you-drop deal that may give rise to concerns about quantity over quality. But you can negotiate. We settled on a starter platter of churrasco meats and seafood followed by a la carte cuts from the in-house butchery supplanted by a couple of sides, and everyone was happy. No sign of the tableside carvers — maybe you have to do the full-meat monty before they make an appearance.
Highlights: Much of the food was very good. The Hay Valley lamb cutlets alone raised the prospect of a return visit. So too the dry-aged grass-fed Scotch fillet, commonly a flavourless cut elsewhere. And how often do you eat the whole (generous) bowl of separately ordered veggies (the steamed Adelaide Hills carrots were out-standing)? Add an enjoyable starter platter (best bits, pork belly and kingfish) and stylish desserts from two in-house patissiers and the impression is of a place that has not allowed the meat theme to undermine the rest of the menu.
Lowlights: How many times can how many different waitresses pop over to ask if everything is OK? Well, since you ask, the 100-bottle wine list has an odd gap in the $60-$95 range, so we’re struggling to find something we want to drink at the right price. Condiments for meats arrive in little dishes but with no serving spoons. And the pleasant crumbed calamari on the starter platter comes on a pile of fries; it’s just a bit old-school pub.
Will I need a food dictionary? No. Churrasco might be Brazilian, but the language of lotsa meat is universal.
The damage: Disturbingly, there are now parts of the Adelaide eating-out scene that are starting to look like Melbourne and Sydney, pricewise. Luckily, no one’s told the Kent Town yet. It’s good value.
Source : The Australian Necia Wilden January 7th, 2016
