In this week’s column: the end of the Adelaide Food and Wine Festival – but not the East End Wine Down; alpaca on the menu; a new cellar door for McLaren Vale, and Norwood’s Pavé Café goes green.

Adelaide Food and Wine Festival grew too big

The Adelaide Food and Wine Festival, which ran in 2013 and 2014 in the city’s laneways and park spaces, is definitely not happening in 2015.

Festival creator Amanda Jane Pritchard says she is unable to continue its management and is encouraging producers to take the festival into their own hands.

“When Tasting Australia was a biennial event, there was an opportunity for a pop-up vintage festival to celebrate some of the lesser-known South Australian producers,” says Pritchard.

“I had no idea it would get so big so quickly – in its first year I anticipated that it might include 12 to 15 events, but I attended to all requests from producers wanting to participate and it blew out to 31 events that were pulled together in five months.

“In its second year we did 50 events and ran a crowd-funding campaign, but a model didn’t come out of those first two years that would make it financially viable.”

Being a not-for-profit event and looking towards a third year of operation, Pritchard was hoping for some government support for the festival.

“The reality is that the festival grew too big to be run by one person and an army of volunteers,” she explains.

“It needs a team structure, new governance and significant financial support from commercial sponsors and government and these things take time to put in place.

“I don’t think the government saw a place for my event and Tasting Australia in the same space.”

East End Wine Down

Vardon Avenue during last year’s East End Wine Down. Photo supplied

However, all is not lost. Ownership of the Adelaide Food and Wine Festival’s flagship event – the East End Wine Down – has been taken on by East End Cellars and is going ahead as an independent end-of-vintage celebration on March 29 from 12pm to 5pm.

East End Wine Down, which attracts a crowd of around 2000 to Vardon Avenue in the Rundle Street precinct, will see 50 South Australian wineries joined by a group of East End wine and food businesses, including Mother Vine, Africola, Amalfi, Street and Golden Boy, for an afternoon of tastings, street food and entertainment.

Tickets are $30 per person and can be purchased here.

A new white meat

Alpaca producer Chris Williams and cook Bree May at the 2015 Cellar Door Wine Festival at the Adelaide Convention Centre. Photo: Dougal McFuzzlebutt

Alpaca meat was met first with trepidation and then delight when 2014 My Kitchen Rules winner and food blogger Bree May and local producer Fleurieu Prime Alpaca‘s Chris Williams took it to the stoves at the Cellar Door Wine Festival on the weekend.

“It made a huge impact on visitors,” says Williams. “At first they are a bit horrified at the thought of eating alpaca, but once they taste it they go, ‘Oh wow’.”

May cooked Argentinian alpaca tacos and alpaca rump with French lentils with anchovy butter in four separate demonstrations at the festival.

Alpaca tacos. Photo: Food According to Bree

“I, too, was a bit apprehensive when I tasted alpaca for the first time,” says May. “I expected it to be super-gamey and [that it] would need to be cooked with strong flavours, but all those ideas went out the window as soon as I tasted it.

“First I tasted it raw and, to me, the texture and flavour was so mild, like sashimi tuna without the fishiness.

“Then after it was seared, it tasted like milk-fed veal, with a melt-in-the-mouth quality.”

Williams has been breeding alpacas with his wife Adrienne at Mount Compass for the past 22 years for their high-quality fleece. They also own The Alpaca Shop at Hahndorf, which sells luxury alpaca wool products.

“We first looked at alpaca meat production five years ago, but consumers weren’t warming to it,” says Williams.

“Then along came My Kitchen Rules and people’s attitudes changed – we’ve started to have a lot more fun with food; eating has become more about experience than necessity.”

Williams says alpaca meat is very lean – low in fat, but also high in protein – and he recommends really quick or very slow cooking.

“If you want to blow people’s minds, turn a striploin into a carpaccio or a sashimi plate,” says May. “Or slow cook alpaca neck rosettes into a beautiful curry.”

Look out for May’s Argentinian alpaca tacos recipe on InDaily Food & Wine on Monday.

Fleurieu Prime Alpaca is available from Something Wild, the Willunga Farmers’ Market and the Adelaide Showground Farmers’ Market.

New Fleurieu cellar door

Waywood Wines cellar door and kitchen. Photo supplied

Waywood Wines has opened a new cellar door and kitchen in McLaren Vale, offering visitors the opportunity to taste food and wine inspired by the makers’ years of international travel.

Winemaker Andrew Wood produces alternative wine varietals and blends, while partner Lisa Robertson creates shared plates using regional and seasonal produce.

“We want to match the food with the wine varieties,” says Lisa. “A lot of alternative European varieties are heavy on tannins, particularly Montepulciano and Tempranillo, and food just makes them sing.

“A few weeks ago, for example, Andrew opened three vintages of Tempranillo, so the food I offered had a Spanish theme. The following week we had an Italian theme.

“We also offer wine flights – three wines that aren’t normally on tasting, such as back vintages and pre-release wines, with three small morsels of food to complement them.”

Waywood Wines is well placed next door to Kay Brothers Amery to offer visitors two different experiences of the region.

“Kay Brothers is very established, with lots of tradition, whereas Waywood is very new,” says Lisa. “We do a lot more alternative varieties, whereas Kay Brothers do the more traditional blends.”

Waywood Wines cellar door and kitchen is open from Friday to Monday, 11am to 5pm. Group bookings are appreciated.

New step for Broadfoot

He might be quietly baking bread, pizzas and pastries now at Woodbake in the main street of Stirling, but Chris Broadfoot trained under the famous French chef Paul Bocuse, so you can expect his pizzas to taste just that little bit better than most.

Broadfoot’s partner, Nancy, told InDaily they have just extended their gourmet pizza nights to Wednesdays and Fridays for both eat-in and takeaway, and that they have plans to serve simple dinners in the tiny 20-seat restaurant.

“Customers can expect things like gnocchi and veal scallopini – simple dishes the way he would cook for himself,” says Nancy.

Woodbake and Chris Broadfoot Fine Foods can be found at 73 Mount Barker Road, Stirling (ph 8339 6757).

Going green

Pavé Cafe owner Andrew Ivas and Productive Garden Co’s Nick Thwaites. Photo: Nat Rogers/InDaily

Originally a parking space between two buildings on Norwood Parade, Pavé Café has just undergone further transformation into a more sustainable and greener space.

Owners Andrew and Abbier Ivas, in collaboration with Productive Garden Co’s Nick Thwaites, have fitted out the café with specially designed furniture and edible plants to complement the ethos of the health-conscious clientele.

“Originally Pavé was opened by Track Cycles next door, so naturally the clientele were cyclists, but the mums and dog walkers also enjoy the open space and modern, sustainable breakfast and brunch menu,” says Ivas.

“My wife and I took over the running of Pavé 16 months ago. We use all local and free-range produce, such as Rio 64 Blend coffee, B.-d. Farm Paris Creek milk and Paesano bread.”

And now, with the café having planted its own rosemary, peppermint, spearmint, chives, parsley, basil, sage, thyme, olives and lemons, the Ivas are rotating whatever is in season through the menu.

“Right now we have a juice special using the basil we’re growing in the café.”

Eating clean

Lime and Kiwi Cashew Cheesecake. Photo supplied

Caffe Paparazzi at the Malvern Shopping Centre has joined forces with osteopath and wellness coach Dr Andrea Robertson to develop a menu free of preservatives, gluten, processed sugar and cow dairy products.

The new menu features dishes such as a No Bun Burger, “I Can’t Believe it’s Not Butter Chicken”, Chia Pudding, and Lime and Kiwi Cashew Cheesecake.

Owner Mirella Morizzi-Tambakis said while the new menu would meet customer demand for healthier, “cleaner” choices, the café will still offer the classic Italian dishes for which it is known.