Lunch review: Mother Vine

Sep 12, 2014

Light and flavoursome: duck confit and salad at Mother Vine. Photo: Nat Rogers/InDaily

A mother vine is an ancient vine, twisted and gnarled with age, but valued for its desirable traits and for the propagation opportunities it offers wine grape breeders. Photographers also like to take photos of them.

Mother Vine, in Adelaide’s East End, passes on the results of those opportunities to the consumers with its extensive by-the-glass world wine list and a simple but decadent menu with which to enjoy it.

First and foremost, this is a wine bar, but as a lunch place, it is a sophisticated proposition. Open for lunch on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays only, with a sober and super-cool fit-out and its location in Vardon Avenue, Mother Vine is a place to be seen.

The kitchen is small, so most of the food is created off premises by Adelaide chef Ali Seedsman and then finished by on-site chef Julian Damon, but that doesn’t diminish it as a dining destination.

A short, French-influenced menu changes monthly and, combined with an extensive list of 21 wines (offered as tastings, by the glass and by the bottle), it creates a luxurious lunch experience, particularly when taken outdoors on a sunny spring afternoon.

We started with a glass each of the 2012 Bernhard Ott Fass 4 Gruner Veltliner ($15) from Kamptal, Austria, and the 2012 Muros Antigos Loureiro ($10), from Vinho Verde, Portugal , to sip with a few snack plates ($6 each).

The warm, orange-infused marinated olives ($6) were excellent, while the spiced nuts ($6) were roasted with turmeric and fennel, bringing some more interesting flavours to an otherwise simple offering. The white anchovies served with toasted bread spread with horseradish cream were a sublime combination and a culinary tip that will be remembered for future home entertaining.

Small plate offerings ($15 each) include pate, terrine, rillettes, meatballs and soup. The chicken liver pate was very fine, rich, and parfait-like. Lovely.

Large plates ($25) offer hearty dishes such as braised lamb pie, beef tagine and duck confit, but Damon also offers vegetarian and vegan options and fresh salads daily, such as rocket and fennel salad, a broken-down Caprese with fresh salted tomato steaks, braised Thai leek salad, and caramelised onion and bok choy. For us, Damon re-dressed the duck confit as a salad, which was light, flavoursome and perfect with the 2013 Christophe et Fils Chablis Vieilles Vignes ($15) from Chablis, France.

Mother Vine was created by the team behind The Tasting Room (located opposite in Vardon Avenue) and plugs into its vast wine resource.

Favourite dish: Chicken Liver Pate.

Other dishes: If you just want to graze, Mother Vine has a great selection of international cheeses served in 50g portions ($27 for three) individually or as a platter with fig jam and crackers.

Something sweet/to drink: Desserts ($12) included two offerings: buttermilk and rosewater pannacotta with pistachios and Persian fairy floss, and chocolate and whisky mousse with double cream and butterscotch. Other than wine, there are a couple of beers on tap, a small selection of bottled beer and cider.

Mother Vine is also open for dinner from Tuesday to Saturday.

Mother Vine
22-26 Vardon Avenue, Adelaide
Ph 8227 2273