118 Hindley Street, ADELAIDE 5000.
p: (08) 8212 9099
w: theapothecary1878.com.au
Vegetarian Adelaide Rating 85/100
Atmosphere: 21/25
Service: 23/25
Food: 23/25
Vego / Sustainable rating: 18/25
Well of all the establishments on Hindley Street The Apothecary 1878 is a hidden treasure. And of the treasure, it certainly is the jewel in the crown. This suave, European styled wine bar and restaurant almost feels as if it’s on the wrong side of rundle mall. Dining late on a Saturday night we certainly got some pre and post dinner entertainment on Hindley Street.
Stepping into The Apothecary 1878 you’re immediately transported to a bygone era with décor composed of beautiful antique furniture, including the old pharmacy cabinets, the namesake of the venue. We were escorted through the wine bar into the depths of the building and shown to a table in a dark, brick-walled enclave of rooms that lie below street level.
An informed and helpful waiter assisted with the wine list, summoning the Maître d’/ Sommelier for more detailed information on a particular Pinto Grigio. The bottle of wine helped us to make some menu decisions – the hardest task of the night. The Apothecary 1878 menu can work both as a share plate styled menu, or as an entrée / main structured meal. They offer a degustation styled option where the Chef prepares a series of dishes from the menu to be shared by the table. Disappointingly you’re disqualified from this option if you’re vegetarian.
The à la carte menu did have a reasonable selection of vegetarian dishes. Most of the small dishes were vegetarian mainly because there was a wide variety of olives available. For the medium dishes three of eight were vegetarian. While for the mains only one of six were vegetarian. Despite this the options available were very impressive. Each dish featured bold combinations of flavours and ingredients which came together in perfect harmony. The cuisine channelled Spanish, French and Middle Eastern themes – an odd combination with pleasing results.
Being a huge fan of chevre (goats cheese)I have to admit it featured twice on our dining repertoire. (I work on the premise that cheese is the other – high cholesterol and unhealthy – vegetarian meat after mushrooms and tofu). Anyway the first dish we tried on our cheese fest was the Goat’s curd, pink peppercorn & honey toasts. A perfect appetiser. We then had the Baked Woodside chevre with grapes & dukkah, which in hindsight was an extremely boring succession to the first dish but I must have been blinded by the goats cheese. It was absolutely delicious – the dukkah added a wonderful texture and spice to the dish. To follow I had the Ricotta filled zucchini flower with potato gnocchi, tomato, basil & pinenut with Sauteed broccollini & green beans with lemon and olive oil. The beautiful homemade gnocchi was perfectly complemented with the other components of the dish. I LOVED the zucchini flowers! Decorative AND delicious.
We whiled away a good few hours in this beautiful setting having dishes in succession while enjoying a gorgeous bottle of wine. The service was professional and efficient and we weren’t left wanting at any stage in the evening. To finish off our already sensational meal we indulged in individual chocolates made by Adelaide’s Steven ter Horst, which you could select from the menu. A very sweet end to a lovely dinner. The stark transition coming into The Apothecary 1878 was equally as striking on the way out and we bid farewell to the seductive setting of this wine bar into the real world of Hindley Street.
Definitely worth a vegetarian visit!