Beyond India

Feeling like some nice curry we headed to our favourite Indian restaurant, Beyond India on O'Connell St in North Adelaide. Beyond India has always been my benchmark for Indian cuisine since we discovered it in 2000. The staff are always busy but friendly, particularly the maitre'd George who is a very affable and knowledgable gentleman. I love the whole atmosphere of O'Connell St with its decent range of restaurants and its embrace of al fresco dining, it's like a mature version of Rundle St without the wannabes and hoons.

Beyond India is a cosy, charming place with an interesting collection of Indian art. It has more of a lively buzz to it than the Tandoori Oven, although I guess the Tandoori Oven is better suited to more intimate and formal gatherings. On the night we visited we didn't have a booking and the place was pretty packed but George managed to find a table near the entrace.

Feeling rather peckish we decided to go straight to mains. We opted for the Beef Vindaloo and Beef Do Piaz accompanied by the baigan patata for vegetables. Beyond India making some of the best naan bread in town, it was mandatory for us to order some plain and garlic naans.

This was all washed down with a bottle of Nederburg Rose from South Africa. It was a pleasant by-the-book wine although I did notice it had a slight sour note although that could have been the interaction with the food we had with it. For Indian cuisine, and I think most rich and spicy dishes, rose is a perfect match with it's hint of sweetness and refreshing cripness.

Beyond India makes the best vindaloo in town and is responsible for my love of this dish. The whole combination of tender beef pieces, a rich tangy sauce and all that heat just brings your tastebuds alive. No other vindaloo dish I've had can compare to this.

The Beef Do Piaz is another interesting dish, although it can't compare to the Vindaloo for intensity of flavour. The dish combines tender pieces of beef with a rich gravy of tomatoes, onion and all the spices that this place blends so well. It was pleasant enough and would probably delight those with a more tame palate.

It's easy to forget how rich and tasty Indian vegetarian cuisine with all these meat curries. The baigan patata was a lovely reminder of how good vegetarian dishes can be. It combines potatoes, eggplant and capsicum all cooked to a lovely tenderness in a combination of spices that teases your mouth.

All this was accompanied and mopped up by the naan bread. Beyond India's naan is delectably fluffy and moresome. The garlic naan with its lovely colourful bits of garlic and spices is a delight on its own and the regular naan is lovely for mopping up those last bits of gravy. For satisfying Indian cuisine Beyond India still sets the benchmark, the place is like home for Indian food.

Sosta

Having been intrigued by that fairly new Argentinean restaurant, Sosta, on Rundle St. for quite a while now we decided to finally try it out. Judging how busy the place was by the time we arrived I'd have to say bookings are essential. The restaurant's decor was cosy and rustic with lovely dark wood panelling. There were some interesting if a bit abstract paintings around the place with dark crimson tones standing out, probably something to do with it being a steak house and all.

For entrees we had some panna espanol and what was basically a paella/risotto dish with chorizos. The panna espanol was an interesting take on garlic bread, with a rich garlic tomato sauce instead of the usual garlic butter/oil, very delicious. The chorizo dish consisted of chorizo sausages cooked with various flavourings on a bed of rice. It was rich but oh so flavoursome, the delicate spicing of the chorizo combining being highlighted by its companion ingredients.

The wine we brought along from Vintage Cellars was a lovely Italian wine, the 1997 Illuminati Zanna Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Vecchio. This basically means old/aged Montepulciano wine from Illuminati's Zanna vineyard in the Abruzzo region. The Abruzzo region on the Adriatic coast of Italy has been steadily gaining acclaim in Australia and Montepulciano seems to be one of its specialities.

Judging from this fine example of Abruzzo wine it is well deserved acclaim. The wine was basically Italy in a bottle: earthy, smooth and rich. On the nose it was dark sweet things, think raisins, chocolate and dark fruits. There were also lovely overtones of earth and spice on the bouquet with a hint of that vanilla from oak.

In the mouth the wine was just bursting with all the flavours the nose promised and the tannins were delightfully smooth. The silky richness of the wine perfectly complemented the mains. Main courses at Sosta's, as with any Argentinean restaurant, can be summed up as meat and more meat. Whilst I did notice some seafood dishes that caught my fancy, the menu on the whole was focussed on a variety of meats that have been slowly grilled to perfection.

I decided to go for the beef fillet served with a mushroom sauce, a relatively straighforward dish done superbly by the folk at Sosta. The fillet, which I ordered medium rare, was cooked to perfection. It was wonderfully tender, with a melt-in-your-mouth quality, and was not oozing blood like some steaks I've had before. The mushroom sauce had a lovely rich earthy flavour, the trinity of the steak, sauce and wine just marrying perfectly.

I had a try of my dining companion's goat dish, which was what can best described as a casserole of goat meat and vegetables. The meat and vegetables were cooked to perfection, again demonstrating the wonderful ability and judgement of the kitchen. Whilst the dish was nice enough, it lacked a certain richness and depth of flavour although any dish would have been hard pressed to match the rich flavours of the steak I had.

Both dishes were of a very generous size and served with a good selection of vegetables. We were both unable to finish off our mains as delicious as they were which was disappointing as they had a very tempting desserts menu. I guess the lesson to be learnt is to avoid entrees if you want to fit in a grill and dessert. Having said that there was a very interesting entree menu and there were other mains dishes not involving grilled meat that were intriguing.

Sosta's is a lively place to dine, being located on one of Adelaide's main entertainment strips. There was an interesting selection of what I'm guessing is Argentinean inspired music playing. Although the love of Rundle St establishments for concrete floors and the number of diners in a relatively cosy place did make it a bit difficult to carry on a conversation. Overall a lovely place with the best steak I've had so far, definitely one of the top places for grilled meats.

Amalfi

As we were feeling like Italian on Friday night what better place to enjoy it than at Amalfi, one of the best Italian restaurants around and definitely the best for rustic Italian food. There's something homely and inviting about that little shop front on Frome St. just off Rundle. Whilst the dishes are a little bit pricier than all those cafes surrounding it they are so much better than anything you can get in the area.

For entrees we decided to share a small pizza, in this case Amalfi's speciality pizza. Amalfi's pizzas are the best I've ever had, with the toppings the best you can get anywhere in town and the crust oh so perfectly done. The specialty pizza is an exercise in perfection with prawns, basil, pepperoni, assorted vegetables and what I believe is pancetta and anchovies.

Again we brought along a wine from Vintage Cellar's in Central Market, this time it was the Kingston Empiric 2003 Tempranillo. Tempranillo is the main variety in many of Spain's famous Rioja and a lot of people think it has great potential here in Australia. I would wholeheartedly agree with them, it has a delightful fruitiness and depth with gentle tannins. The spicy berry flavours match the fantastic mediterranean cuisine here and should do justice to more robust asian dishes thanks to that tantalising hint of apparent sweetness.

The wine cosied up to the pizza so wonderfully and so I decided to move on to the pasta del giorno (pasta of the day). This was a blend of mussels and clams with basil in a napolitana sauce and spaghetti. The pasta was cooked perfectly, with that elusive al dente character. The ingredients melded perfectly together and were robust enough to embrace the wine even with the seafood.

This was yet another delightful meal at Amalfi, definitely the best place in town for pizza and one of the best for good rustic Italian food. It was unfortunate that we had not booked and landed an al fresco table on a cold autumn night but that's the cost of impulsiveness. The staff were busy but were pleasant, helpful and efficient when they did finally serve us. For a great Italian meal you can't go past Amalfi.