Jacqui Lim has dined at more than 350 ever-changing Top 100 restaurants around the country over the years, plus a number of the World’s 50 Best and Michelin Star restaurants. She has a Master of Arts in Gastronomy, is a judge for the national Eat Easy restaurant, chef and produce awards and is co-owner of award-winning Thai restaurant Soi 38 in Adelaide.
Jacqui is a passionate, active advocate of the food and wine industry. Besides eating and drinking a lot, she sees her role to be connecting people with, and through, good food whether it be organising food and wine events, sharing her experiences on Instagram @jacquisfoodfetish, recommending restaurants or simply bringing friends together to enjoy a meal.
Restaurant Botanic
Degustation $245 – $315
The Garden Trail menu by Executive Chef Justin James is as exciting as it is faultless, taking you on a unique garden-to-plate Australiana experience. Kangaroo, emu, marron, pearl meat, native thyme, bunya-bunya, karkalla, paperbark and so much more – each dish a work of art and having its own narrative. You can’t help but feel ever-so fortunate. Currently ranked number one in the country by Gourmet Traveller and it’s right here in Adelaide.
Adelaide Botanic Gardens, Plane Tree Drive, Adelaide
Hentley Farm
Degustation $225
Executive Chef Clare Falzon is inspired by nature, often out picking edible flowers and foraging for plants and mushrooms. Combine this with produce sourced from nearby farmers and the local community and you get the Discovery Menu. Think broad bean rye tarts with ricotta, dill and cumin, chicken with wild garlic, hazelnut and oyster mushroom, and shown here, swordfish with togarashi, chickpea, ponzu and spring onion.
Cnr Gerald Roberts Road and Jenke Roads, Seppeltsfield
Umaii
Snacks $10 – $21 Mains $28 – $60
The name means ‘skilful’ or ‘delicious’ which is fitting for this new restaurant in Currie Street that’s serving quality Japanese food, wines, cocktails and sake. There’s a good selection of snacks and mains, plus you can make up your own nigiri plate from a range of local and international seafoods including SA Bluefin tuna belly, NZ Ora King Salmon, and Hokkaido scallops or Anago sea eel from Japan.
27 Currie Street, Adelaide
The Brompton Hotel
Starters $16 – $23, Mains $22 – $36
Chef Andrew Wandless has worked in Michelin-starred restaurants and now he’s at The Brompton serving mainly European dishes like the delicious spherical garlic butter Chicken Kyiv with slaw and Lyonnaise potatoes, spanner crab omelette with mornay glaze, and pictured here, smoked potato and hen egg ravioli in a prosciutto broth. There’s also a separate bar snack menu. Not your average pub grub. Definitely worth a visit.
5 First Street, Brompton
@bromptonhotel
Bar Riot
Snacks and share plates $5 – $37
New neighbourhood wine bar Bar Riot opened in December with tap wines by Riot Wine Co., international bottles and cocktails. The food is by Trent Lymn (formerly 2KW) and Cecilia Lymn – small, simple Argentinian and Spanish-style plates like pig’s head croquettes, sardine skewers and octopus escabeche, as well as a good number of vegetarian options like these summer greens tartlets. Make sure you order the Molotov cake to finish!
57 Gilbert Street, Adelaide
@riot_bar
Follow @jacquisfoodfetish for more insights into the dining plates of Australia’s best restaurant.
