Adelaide’s hottest new restaurant has it all: killer food, stunning design and expert drinks, along with switched-on staff who keep the good times coming.
Behind the white frontage of the two-storey Victorian building is a deceptively cavernous venue with three distinct areas: from a moody front lounge, a narrow corridor with an eight-person chef’s table leads to a bright, large dining room and open kitchen, and a charming green-filled courtyard. The lounge, with on-theme blackened walls featuring burnt-orange sconces, is the setting for a line-up of classic cocktails – reworked standards such as the Clover Club and Penicillin, say – and wines selected by esteemed sommelier Bhatia Dheeraj (formerly at Penfold’s Magill Estate and Sydney’s Est). His list is guaranteed to have something for everyone, familiar or unconventional, including a house rosé made with gamay, and chardonnay by Basket Range winemaker Comme Ci, Comme Ça.
As for that kitchen, it stands up to the hype – and then some. The purely fire-powered set-up (that means no electricity and no gas burner, in the vein of Sydney’s Firedoor and Brisbane’s Agnes) sits in full view of diners, especially those seated at the 19 ringside seats wrapped around it, overlooking the action.
Start the night with a Pisco Sour or crowd-favourite Negroni, complete with a smartly stamped ice cube sporting the Arkhé name. Or go for a Clover Club, made with local Ambleside gin and lilly pilly, picked from the courtyard, and topped with raspberries.
The menu features hit after hit, all of which you’ll think about long after you’ve left. Start the procession with a highbrow-lowbrow snack of hash browns ferrying crème fraîche and Sturia oscietra caviar before digging into Jake’s signature – and delicious – ocean jacket cheeks on sourdough toast with aïoli and thinly sliced lardo. Then it’s got to be the much-talked-about parfait tarltet à la Burnt Ends, inspired by the dish that earned Jake second place at the San Pellegrino World Young Chef Award in 2018 – here replacing pigeon liver with duck liver in a burnished mini tart. The crisp pastry casing and torched top shatter on biting to reveal a silky-smooth parfait inside (it’ll be hard to stop at one). Continue the party with bone marrow crowned with parsley and shallots and roasted until soft and gooey enough to scoop up and spread over grilled sourdough.
If you’re sticking around for dessert – and we suggest you do – you’ll have to choose between little Madeleine cakes with smoked salted caramel, an Arkhé-branded s’more made with dark malted rye biscuit, smoked chocolate and rhubarb marshmallow, and a superb smoked tiramisù.
