Taken to a higher level

Make that the outlook and the occasion, for Belair's Windy Point restaurant occupies a special place both physically and also in the hearts and minds of many Adelaideans.

First, the view, in a nutshell, is mesmerising, especially during daylight-saving as sunset and dinner times coincide. The location has been key in marking generations of SA births, deaths, marriages and plenty in between, such as engagements, anniversaries and all the stepping stones in the human journey.

The venue where this all happens is actually two separate floors, upper and lower, offering different levels of eats and seats. The cafe offers a range of small snack plates from dips up to medium entree plates and then a selection of contemporary char grill, slow braise and roast mains.

Upstairs the higher-end dining venue takes a finer and fuller approach, occupies a sweeping room with a couple of stepped floor levels within, and amps up the comfort levels with plush seating, vertigo-inducing window seats - well almost - and more formal table settings designed to fit the multiple roles this celebration dining room has to fulfil.

Both rooms are evening venues specifically, though during the festive season up to Christmas the cafe does open on Fridays for lunch.

On a recent Monday night, the restaurant was surprisingly full of locals, business folk, and family groups with children all seemingly celebrating their separate occasions. With such a diverse bunch of diners and the long arm of history and memory connected to Windy Point, there is the potential for it to cater for grandma with yorkshire puds and similar old-school meals.

But that would be doing head chef Justin Miles a serious disservice.

Adelaide born, he's headed kitchens in Thredbo and Noosa resorts, worked in London including time at the original Terence Conran Bibendum restaurant and has returned home with a mission from Windy Point owner Bill Sparr to lift the hillside venue to higher recognition.

With that in mind he oversees quite a surprising menu that works around Middle Eastern, North African and modern Mediterranean influences, as well as an occasional nod to an Asian sauce here and there. There are traditional dishes as well, often given a fresh charge. So, something for everyone you might say.

While he and his crew are hard at it out of sight, a handy front-of-house bunch does a very smart job on the floor with the right balance of friendliness and formality, dress sense, plenty of smiles and just enough chat to be welcoming without being cloying. In the end, their job is to create a happy place and they succeed admirably.

That includes administering the drinks card, which is quite a full affair with vast number of cocktails, spirits and sherries to fit special-occasion needs. It also includes a very good list of wines from many regions, boutiques to medium size included, a good spread of styles, and a healthy cellared selection.

The menu has quite a bit to live up to considering the surroundings. There are a few dishes that seem unusual in their combinations - slow-cooked lamb breast that's served cool under a piled salad of mint, dark table grapes, strips of squid and thin slices of choko with a weird mix of North African spices over the lamb and a more Thai/Viet style dressing on the salad.

It teeters between working and weird, the lamb gamey, the squid's role uncertain, while a humble choko in a high-end menu is a quirk that demands further investigation. The verdict: It works, weirdly so.

Just in case you get the impression from this one dish that the cooking is a little out there, a seasonal beauty of white asparagus with a 63-degree sous-vide egg over a white buttery sauce shows a whole other seasonal and simply focused side; the egg is just set and the dish is spot on with its well tested blend of spring flavours.

Mains offer more of Miles' individual expression. A snapper fillet, deftly cooked for just crunchy skin and delicately flaked flesh, sits on whipped hollandaise surrounded by bouncy semolina gnocchi. But a strangely contrary, chilli-powered shredded carrot ``relish'' adds a wild raunch to the dish.

Similarly, duck medallion rolled in speck with a traditional jus is sweetened on the plate with a strawberry ginger relish.

But this dish doesn't end here, as a whole other sub-plot in one corner of the plate occurs with a shredded North African spiced duck-meat filled, cigar-shaped pastry beside a parallel line of turmeric-tinged yoghurt. They seem like quite separate storylines yet together they create quite a unique and complete dish.

A chocolate melange for two ($32) with half a dozen elements offers complete decadence, but is absolutely worth it for what arguably is Adelaide's most seductive chocolate dessert plate.

The room with a view fits the finishing flourish in such an institution. The full experience is enhanced by it and many of the restaurant's service and cooking elements.

If you imagined Windy Point was disappearing off the radar, then you're mistaken. It's time for a new generation to make the trek up the Belair hill.

THE RESTAURANT

(Windy Point)
Windy Point Lookout, Belair Rd, Belair
Phone 8278 8255
www.windypoint.com.au

Lunch: Cafe level only, Fridays before Christmas.
Dinner: From 6pm, Mon-Sat (both levels)

Seating: 115 (upstairs); 90 inside and 50 in pavilion (downstairs)
Wheelchair access and facilities

Owners: Bill Sparr Group
Head chef: Justin Miles

THE VERDICT

THE BILL (restaurant level)
Entrees: $14.90 - $24.50
Mains: $28 - $45
Desserts: $14.50 - $32 (for two)
Corkage: $25 (premium bottles only)

Summary
A traditional venue for family and work celebrations that now adds further excitement to its menu with inventive eastern and North African/Mediterranean dishes from a smart young chef. Service levels are high. Value is excellent.

Score: 16.5/20

Score guide: Below 10: Awful. 11-12: Fair. 13-14: Good. 15-16: Special. 17-18: Outstanding. 19: Brilliant. 20: Perfect.