Celsius, the Best New Restaurant in Adelaide, Australia

© Celsius Restaurant, Adelaide

Many people traveling to Australia’s delightful Barossa Valley wine region or to spectacular Southern Ocean Lodge on Kangaroo Island will probably spend a night in Adelaide. I like this attractive, polite and vibrant city enough to believe it warrants more than just a quick stopover, but if you’re only in town for a night, book dinner at Celsius, the most talked-about new restaurant in the city. Located on lively Gouger Street, it’s a stylish but relaxed place with a sleek, contemporary décor and exceptionally friendly service.

Young chef-owner Ayhan Erkoc is a rapidly rising local talent who does some of the best contemporary Australian cooking we ate anywhere outside of Sydney during our recent trip Down Under. We also appreciated the charming ministrations of Pauline, a delightful young Frenchwoman who has lived in the city for several years and who really knows her wines. The list here offers some exceptionally good bottles from the Adelaide Hills and the Barossa Valley, as well as a small selection of French wines.

The menu debuts with a selection of “snacks” and “tapas,” which are ideal for nibbling with a drink before dinner. With a nice glass of Stefano Lubiana sparkling wine from Tasmania, we enjoyed a delicious rabbit terrine with almonds, apples and parsley emulsion, and kingfish tartare with wasabi “snow” and cucumber salad, both dishes offering an appealing cameo of the chef’s culinary imagination and technical skills. Erkoc is an avid fan of market cooking with the finest South Australian produce, and most of the vegetables and herbs he uses come from a family farm outside of the city, harvested daily by his brother.

First courses were also excellent, including pan-roasted quail with foie gras, prosciutto, parsley root and liquorice (an unusual-sounding assortment of ingredients that worked quite well together), and a light, fresh and very flavorful composition of blue swimmer crab, almonds and cucumbers, garnished with nasturtium flowers.

By now, we’d also understood that Erkoc is a remarkably visual chef, since each plate came to the table as a strikingly artful edible miniature. If I sometimes find that contemporary cooking doesn’t give you enough to sink your teeth into, I certainly wasn’t disappointed by my main course of juicy venison with celery root, chocolate and hazelnuts — it would never have occurred to me to pair chocolate with game, but this was delicious. Mrs. Harper was very happy with her succulent Barossa Valley chicken garnished with boudin noir, “milk skin,” egg yolk and walnuts.

Desserts were outstanding, including chocolate mousse with honeycomb, peanut praline and bananas, and toasted rice pudding with coconut, mango, basil seeds and passion fruit. All told, we experienced an exceptionally good meal and a perfect example of the remarkable creativity of the modern Australian kitchen.

Celsius, 95-97 Gouger Street, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. Tel. (61) 8-8231-6023.