A SMART little bistro adds a Mediterranean flavour to the Central Market precinct.
You might be forgiven for thinking that the blocks surrounding the Adelaide Central Market and Gouger St are one giant pan-Asian food court, with all its Chinese, Indian, Malay, Japanese and Korean offerings.
Almost hidden within this exotic melange are a couple of decent Mediterranean eateries, and tucked away even more - off Broadway in a sense, meaning not even on Gouger St - is a cute little bistro that offers a real alternative to the rest of the precinct.
Set on the corner of Field and Wright streets, within close cooee of the spread-eagled Angelakis Bros facilities, is a bright little shopfront that looks like a simple cafe at first glance, but at closer inspection has put together a very smart little menu of part-Italian, part-Greek, cross-hatched and intricately threaded dishes that for want of a signpost probably would head toward being called contemporary Mediterranean.
Jam the Bistro opens early for locals, nearby CBD residents, legal eagles, market and seafood industry workers alike, with traditional eggs and similar, up to blue swimmer crab omelet, with decent coffees on the go by 7am. This transforms slightly into brunch and morning offerings 'til 1pm and a fuller menu for lunch, which stretches from lighter bruschetta, mezze and salad meals with a few seafood plates into more substantial fuller-bodied dishes with a few little tarts and supplied treats from a sweets cabinet.
By day the dining space is pure casual lunch interior with polished concrete floor, containing a glass window down into an old cellar, bare blond-timber tables lifted into a good comfort zone with linen napkins, large windows looking out to the street, benches under them for spreading out the paper, work gear and plates, of course. On the open nights, a bit more atmosphere is brought out with tablecloths and tea lights.
Other ambients are in place, too, with several large connected art works, laid back and softly-volumed music, a comfortable lounge and table corner, yet with a focus of energy centred on a genuine open kitchen hole in the back wall where owner John Pana and chef Peter Adams, via McLaren Vale, Canberra and London postings, work away at their craft.
Pana, short for Panagiotakopoulos, is a chef - formerly at Majeros in Hyde Park and Delish in Gilbert St - who brings his own kitchen sensibilities into play in his new digs, adds a couple of keen staffers on the floor and a sharp-sighted head chef at his stoves to complete quite a simple and effective vision for a modern Med-bistro.
Yes, there's a saganaki cheese with preserved lemon entree and, yes, there's a panzanella salad - they happily complement each other on such a menu as this.
There are anchovies and tapenade and vincotto and radicchio across several plates, although they sit mostly in modern circumstances, with a great emphasis on freshness, colour and spikes of earthy, salty, sweet and bitter flavours whenever they turn up.
The same free-wheeling and confident sense with produce appears on the wine list, a single page that showcases mostly independent drops with highlights including the fiano and aglianico varieties and three dessert tipples from Spain and Portugal.
The crew is quite enthusiastic and helpful, though one weekend brekkie session was marred by a darker mood around the tables. This doesn't return on several following visits, and the teamwork is an encouraging sign of a happy place to dine.
Just behind the venue, a small business opens oysters, and they appear here in glorious condition, their oceanic juices still in the shell enhanced by a fresh lime and vincotto salsa as well as a self-served devilish shot of bloody mary.
At night (Thursday to Saturday), specials appear both in entree and main forms, a gnocchi silky smooth with well-managed mushroom ragout dressing it.
The regular menu's veal meatballs on widish tagliatelle are worked through with a puttanesca sauce - a heartfelt homely dish with royal additions such as caperberries, sharp little anchovies and a brightly flavoured tomato sugo.
They talked a lot on MasterChef Australia about cooks putting themselves into their dishes; this pasta is a prime example, a personal take on a mother's favourite. It makes you feel very much at home.
More worked dishes show the kitchen can capture this passion and advance with it into finer dining territory. A snapper fillet is well cooked, topped with a couple of good prawns, a splash of little greens and dressed with a deftly truffled-cream sauce, although a sprinkle of pink peppercorns is a bit heavy and overly aromatic.
A duck leg confit is crisp-skinned, and while the menu description sounds somewhat of a sweet treatment with added caramelised muscatels, roasted baby carrots, and a coffee bean jus, the delivery is properly savoury and maturely achieved.
The joy here is that the main produce on each plate is celebrated and respected with its bit parts suitably in support roles.
The same goes with kitchen-made, evening desserts such as a pear mille-feuille, which actually is the fruit cut into thick sections carrying the cream and pastry layers as minor textural foils. A honey and yoghurt panna cotta has a creamy wobble with spikes of lavender petal aromatics through it. Other daytime desserts, like citrus and portuguese tarts, are good-quality brought-ins. Coffees are well considered.
Jam the Bistro is worth the walk a block south of Gouger, not just for its alternative location off the main drag. It's a genuinely smart, modern kitchen that is able to capture a fresh and energetic way with many Mediterranean favourites.
JAM THE BISTRO
112-114 Wright St, city
(cnr Field St)
Phone 8231 7411
Breakfast: 7am-11.30am, Mon-Sat
Lunch: 12pm -3pm, Mon-Fri
Dinner: 6pm-close, Thur-Sat
Seating: 60 including outside
Wheelchair access and facilities
Owner: John Pana
Chefs: John Pana and Peter Adams
THE VERDICT
THE BILL
Entrees: $12.90-$19
Mains: $20-$30
Desserts: $10.90
Corkage: $10
SUMMARY
Modern Mediterranean in a simple and slick little corner store setting a block away from Gouger St offering friendly and well considered takes on familiar Italian and Greek dishes, retaining a strong focus on good produce, respected and cooked well. A genuine pleasure.
SCORE 14/20
Score guide:
Below 10: Awful. 11-12: Fair. 13-14: Good. 15-16: Special. 17-18: Outstanding. 19: Brilliant. 20: Perfect.
