The Adelaide Fringe is an explosion of atmosphere and excitement that takes over the city in ‘Mad March’. There is street dining and shows in various locations. Exciting temporary entertainment spaces with food, drink, and live shows transform the East Parklands. We love the change in mood, where crowds of people go out to the East End.
We like to just walk the busy East End streets and laneways and soak up the atmosphere. During the weekend evenings, Rundle Street is closed to traffic. The whole street comes alive with crowds of people and street performers. Many shops stay open until late. Almost all restaurants expand into the street, and most offer quick meal options for those attending fringe shows at Gluttony or the Garden of Unearthly Delights.
We tried a restaurant that we had not been to before – Room 19. It is relatively small, with only about 10 tables. The menu was not huge, but had enough variation to give everyone something to choose from. This is a good sign – in our experience, large menus mean reduced quality. We originally thought that the restaurant was called “noomia”, the funky sign was to blame! Room 19 is Asian Fusion, but with a heavy leaning towards Japanese cuisines, and the food was delicious.
Christian’s son Daniel and mother Eleanor were with us, which often poses a challenge! Daniel can be very picky, and Eleanor only eats small amounts. Daniel will often choose a dish and then stop eating it when he finds something he does not like. Later, he will then decide he is still hungry!
This time, Daniel chose wagyu beef rib noodles, which we thought was a safe option for him. An interesting addition was that there was a 65° egg with his noodles – a new experience for all of us. Daniel turned his nose up at it – he said it reminded him of snot. So Christian scraped the snot off of Daniel’s plate on to his own chicken noodles. Not the worst experience, but then again not something he would be in a hurry to choose again. The noodles and meat were great though.
Christian’s mother had some small bites from the entree selection, which was enough for her. The duck pancakes were an intense flavour, and quite delicious. Eleanor’s favourite was the prawn toast. The chefs prepared it in a way that we had not experienced before – rather than a single slice of white bread topped with mashed prawns, crumbed and fried, it was a more elegant sandwich. It was a more refined way of doing the dish and we all loved it. We forgot to take a photo and we had to ask Eleanor to put hers back on the plate so that we could show you what it looked like!
The edamame beans were also prepared in a way that we had not experienced before. Instead of steaming and salting them, they fried them with miso salt. This gave a great toasty flavour to the bean pods, and the miso gave them a umami meatiness. We squeezed open the pods to get the peas inside, and they were so moreish.
We liked the fresh and airy feel of the restaurant and how the kitchen was open to the dining area, allowing us to hear and smell the food being prepared.
The service was rapid and friendly, but like many other places they have the terrible habit of holding the menus at the counter where you need to order, so you have to fight past the person ordering to get to the menu! Unfortunately there was only one unisex toilet available (with a sliding door that made us all worry someone might try and come in!).
Overall a really good experience and we would be happy to eat at Room 19 again.
The Adelaide Fringe is always a delight. We try to see several different shows each year, choosing things we have not experienced before. This year it was great to find a new restaurant that we can return to when the crowds disappear.
