Perryman's Artisan Bakery

Making pies for generations Perryman's Artisan Bakery is a North Adelaide institution. More recently, the Pie Buyer's Guide rated Perryman's pies as one of the top pies in South Australia.

North Adelaide is long, although not impossible, hike for most CBD office workers. Lucky for city-slickers like you and me Perryman's have recently opened a new outlet on Grote street. I took one for the team and compared it to the Tynte St outlet so you don't have to. Thank me later.

A perfect South Australian lunch is a Perryman's pie washed down with a Farmers Union Iced Coffee. Perryman's make a pie that gets better with each and every bite. The more you eat the more perfect you realise it is - thick, buttery pastry; lightly but perfectly seasoned gravy; quality minced meat with not a hint of gristle in sight; and warmed to the perfect pie-smashing temperature. It sits at the very peak of pie-man-ship.



The pasty, though less rave-worthy than the pie, is still well executed - buttery pastry; a nice mix of diced veggies; a smattering of meat; and lightly seasoned.



On the verge of greatness but not quite there yet is the Thai chicken sausage roll. The light, delicate mince of obviously good quality chicken is in my opinion under-seasoned and under-flavoured. There were hints of chilli and citrus with some herbal notes (kaffir lime or coriander perhaps) but increasing the flavouring-to-chicken ratio and a good dash of salt would work wonders.



Perryman's also make a selection of sweet pastries based on old German recipes. The danish I ordered had stewed apple right to the edges (a rarity in this pastry-penny-pinching times); a sweet glaze; and light, chewy pastry. Tasty indeed.



Perryman's vanilla slice is a good 'un - pastry creme sandwiched between short but flakey pastry. It's the perfect sweet pastry for office workers - because the filling is so firm you don't have to worry about it exploding all over your tie (exploding-slice mishaps are more common than you might first think... I've seen men lose eyes and still occasionally have flashbacks...). I did, however, find the icing to be tooth achingly sweet.



Perryman's CBD outlet lives up to the reputation of it's iconic North Adelaide store and is a must add to the lunch list of any white collar pie aficionado.

YiroStyle, Northpark Shopping Centre

YiroStyle is my go-to for lunch whenever I'm at Northpark Shopping Centre. I'll invariable order a Turkish pide with a side of salad and garlic sauce.



Although the pide have usually been sitting under heat lamps for a while YiroStyle pop their pide in a sandwich press for a couple of moments to make sure its still crispy. And the crunchy, herby salad cuts through the salty fattiness of the rest of the meal.

Delish!

Yum Cha Bar, Northpark Shopping Centre

A shopping centre seems like a curious place to go for yum cha but Yum Cha Bar in the Northpark Shopping Centre seems to think its a good idea. I'm not as convinced.

The yum cha here is pretty decent - plump, juicy dim sims; tofu skin rolls stuffed with roast pork; and sticky lotus leaf rice flecked with generous amounts of chicken, shiitake mushroom and Chinese sausage.



As a veteran of many yum cha meals I had two problems when I ate here - 1) many of their items had sold out despite my being there early in the day and 2) the staff were really REALLY pushy and kept trying to sell me meals I didn't want.

If you work near Northpark Yum Cha Bar will make a nice treat for lunch but the limited menu, pushy service and sterile dining room means its probably not worth making a special trip if you don't.

Bing Boy, Southern Cross Arcade

Sounding more like street slang for a lady-boy hooker than a salad filled pancake Bing Boy is a relative newcomer to Adelaide's food courts. A year-or-so ago I had my first Bing Boy experience - I found it gritty and overly sauced and I've avoided it ever since. To be clear - I'm talking about the pancake, not lady-boys.

Requiring a certain amount of convincing and arm-twisting, I returned to Bing Boy with a good mate recently (again - for pancakes not lady-boys).

I ordered a 'pretty n' peking'. This is a pancake with peking duck, cucumber, carrot, lettuce, wonton pieces and hoisin sauce; not a lady-boy in Pekinese costume. 



I'm pleased to say Bing Boy is much improved (pancake not lady-boy). The wanton pieces were crunchy rather than gritty; the sauce was apply with skill and deftness; the salad was fresh and crisp; and the duck tasted somewhat like duck.

Singma Noodle Bar, Southern Cross Arcade

Feeling a little under the weather I headed straight to Singma Noodle Bar for some warm, comforting soup. Not feeling like chicken I ordered the pork wonton noodle soup.



Some of the elements of this bowl'o'broth are little underwhelming but the whole is certainly greater than the sums of its parts. The BBQ pork is almost certainly dyed pink around the edges and are more like shards of pork rather than juicy chunks. And I think Singma is being a little over generous by calling the things floating in the soup 'dumplings'. More like wonton wrappers with the merest hint of pork mince.



See - scandalous. Tiny 'dumplings' with just atoms of flavourless pork.



Those criticisms aside - the broth was good - light, spicy and slightly oily; the greens perfectly wilted; and the noodles were plentiful.

This is obviously a flawed soup but I keep returning the Singma because despite the shortcomings they make tasty food.

From Scratch, Leigh St Pop Up

Today was the first day of the Leigh Street closure. It might sound odd to trumpet the closing of a street but banning motor vehicles means more space for pedestrians, cafe frequenters, diners and generally hipsters like you and I. It's all part of the State Government and City Council's push to bring the vibe back to the Adelaide CBD. I reckon it's a great idea - the wooden furniture and alfresco dining look great. Sure, it looks a little quite now but this was first thing on a cold winter's morning. Come back at lunchtime during summer and I guarantee Leigh St will be jumping.




My sources (well, twitter really) told me that From Scratch had arranged a celebratory pop-up pastry stall with Coffee Branch providing the java - an extremely attractive proposition. I picked up a rum and raisin scroll and then waited in line for a flat white with the other cool kids in Coffee Branch.



I wouldn't call myself a coffee connoisseur but I know what like and Coffee Branch do a good cup'o'java - warm, rich and creamy.

And the rum and raisin scroll was amazing - sugary glazed slight chewy pastry dotted with plump, juicy, slightly rummy raisins.



There is a weeks worth of closed Leigh St celebrations coming up. I'm planning to eat as much as I can!