Hagen Arms
A long drive to Echunga. Let's hope the feed is good. :)
This is the first in my "Hills of Feed" series, where I visit fancy restaurants in and around the Adelaide Hills.
The decor here is basic, but the place has an open fire and a homey feel.
Duck fat roasted Kipfler potatoes & snake beans served on a pea purée with bacon dust & red wine jus.
The meat is juicy and fairly tender, but the outside is grilled a bit too much, and in some places, has a slight burnt taste. This taste is the dominant taste in this piece of meat.
The scallops are tasty, but the ubiquitous bacon dust is really not appropriate on a delicate scallop.
There's also a lot of garlic throughout the meal.
The beans and pea purée are fine, but the potatoes have more of the indelicate bacon dust on them.
The fairy floss is amusing, but the amusement quickly wears off. Because it's just sugar, it just disappears when mixed with anything else here.
The custard is on the runny side, but is sweet, and has a strong flavour. I'm not a fan of cream with custard, but at least the cream here is thick cream, not a squirt of whipped cream.
There's something dark, lurking in the custard. I dredge it up, and find that it's a fig. The taste isn't bad here, but tearing apart a dry fig in a bowl of custard is not easy.