Chianti Classico (Adelaide)

December 12, 2010 No Comments by Coz

I went back home to Adelaide recently and on a rather chilly, rainy night we ventured into the city for a family gathering at Chianti Classico. I love the East End – the terrace houses, the leafy streets – My Pies Rock hadn’t been in the area before and was a bit surprised. The most he’d seen of Adelaide CBD is out the front of HQ and down Hindley St at 6 am. Oh and the Central Markets of course.

Chianti is an old school favourite of my family. I’m glad it’s still such a strong restaurant on the Adelaide scene. The vibe inside is very cosy and classy – however unfortunately for us, on this occasion we were near the French doors and the strong unseasonal wind was getting through the cracks so the ultra helpful waiter taped the cracks up for us. All night the wait staff impressed with effortless help and attentiveness plus genuine smiles – they make Chianti a very pleasant experience.

For entree I had the Carne Crude all’ Albese which is Tartare and thin slices of raw Black Angus Beef with truffle dressing ($19.50). The beef was magnificent – I have only recently started to try raw beef and this was by far my best experience – Lisa the vegetarian may have even had a bite!

My Pies Rock had the Cima alla Genovese ($19.50) which is Ligurian style stuffed breast of veal with peas, pistachio and minced veal inside with horseradish, salsa verde and mustard fruits. This was a little dry and a bit overkill on the veal – however the horse radish definitely spruced the dish up.

Being a cold night and feeling a little worse for wear after a epic wedding at Long View Winery (good work Kate and Marty!) I needed some comfort food so I picked the Tagliatelle al Ragu ($27.50) – handmade tagliatelle with a veal, tomato and white wine sauce. The serving was very generous and the veal was tender, rich and just what I needed. It was a very pleasing pasta dish -with a rich, robust sauce – this pasta was of superior quality – well worth it and made me think how it’s been too long since I’ve had an authentic, quality pasta meal.

My Pies Rock had the Petto di Pollo al Forno ($29.50)- free range chicken breast filled with black truffle butter with a side of Jerusalem artichoke puree. Very simple, well cooked and a massive serving .

My dad had the Coniglio al Forno ($36.90) which is the Adelaide Plains farmed Rabbit, slow cooked with pancetta, onions, port and sage. He gets this most times he goes there – you just can’t get past it – it really is epic.

Lisa had the Cacciucco alla Livornese ($35.50) which is a famous fish stew. It involves local flathead, calamari, king prawns, mussels and scallops poached in a rich tomato and fish broth. Lisa found the broth to be very flavoursome however it didn’t come with any bread to soak up the sauce (which is a bit of a necessity with broths) – we eventually got some from the waiter, however the meal was still a bit of a letdown as the mussels were on the smaller size and there could have been more seafood in the broth to live up to the description on the menu.

Ruthless (who is a coeliac) had the veal with red wine jus which was very rich and tasty however a bit on the smaller size when you compared it to the size of the chicken dish. Chianti cater well for people with coeliac disease and the majority of the menu can be made gluten free.

For dessert we had the lemon curd tart served with frutti di bosco and black currant sorbetto as well as the Affagato al Frangelico (house made vanilla bean gelato with Frangelico and espresso coffee), crème brulee and also Baba cake with strawberry sorbet.

Chianti is definitely worth the venture over to the East End of the city. It still exudes casual class and combined with the friendly wait staff and superior traditional Italian meals makes it one of my favourite Italian cafes in Adelaide.

Food