In 2015, Annie and Tuoi Tran opened Gondola Gondola – on the nook of Peel Avenue and Hindley Avenue – with a menu that drew primarily from Tuoi’s Vietnamese heritage in addition to wider Southeast Asian influences. For its new sibling restaurant, Blue Rose, the pair are leaning extra on Annie’s Chinese language background (and neighbouring cuisines).
“It’s been six and a half years operating Gondola and we’re able to showcase new concepts with a brand new venue,” Annie tells Broadsheet. The beachside restaurant opened final week within the former 50SixOne web site on Seaview Street.
“We all know Henley is a good looking and standard spot [but] there’s not many Asian choices right here. Thai Orchid has been right here for greater than 20 years which has given me confidence that if folks can keep right here for that lengthy, if we hold doing what we do, we may very well be right here for a very long time too.”
The menu – by head chef Tuoi – largely includes a beneficiant line-up of smaller dishes designed to share, backed by produce from Tuoi’s household’s farm in Virginia. The household connection is writ giant in dishes resembling “A moms love” – a cucumber salad made utilizing Annie’s mom’s chilli oil recipe, Tuoi’s personal French dressing sauce, and his mom’s Lebanese cucumbers.
Different small plates embrace a Vietnamese beef tartare with chives, recent herbs and prawn crackers; and a pho pot pie with tender beef chunks, bone marrow, tripe, beef meatballs and pho gravy, served in hand-rolled puff pastry.
Among the many bigger dishes are the soy-base Taiwanese braised pork with peanut and dried-shrimp crumb, pickled white cabbage and sambal belacan; and a Chinese language spiced slow-braised lamb shank with grasp inventory jus, Asian hummus and chilli oil, served with roti.
There’s additionally a cuisine-crossing Sichuan-Cajun seafood boil with native mussels, pipis, clams and crab legs, in addition to corn ribs, a cheese kranski, confit potatoes, Cajun spice and Sichuan mala butter.
“Cajun spice is a typical spice utilized in seafood boils, however we’re including our components to it just like the mala butter,” Annie says. The flavour is spicy and pungent, it’s like a seafood stir-fry with loads of sauce and spice.”
The beachside location naturally calls for a large seafood providing, and Blue Rose delivers with its personal fish and chips – basa (Southeast Asian catfish) fillet in a Tiger beer and vodka batter with spring onion salt, spicy tartare sauce and hand-cut chips. Additionally, kingfish sashimi with yuzu ponzu dressing.
Pair it with a suitably beachy, tropical cocktail – such because the signature Blue Rose, a candy, florally mixture of white rum, butterfly pea flower tea, Licor 43, elderflower, yuzu and aquafaba.
The drinks record additionally contains white, orange, pink and crimson wines from from locals resembling Delinquente, La Prova, Brash Higgins and Vinteloper alongside a pair premium Italian imports. Among the many handful of Asian beers is Blue Rose’s home lager on faucet, made by Barossa Valley Brewing.
Overlooking Henley Sq., the open, lofty fit-out – designed by Sans-Arc Studio and constructed by M Samaras Construct – is all cool color tones with accents of crimson and options an uncovered kitchen, entrance bar and a eating turntable at floor stage, plus extra seating on the mezzanine.
Blue Rose
330 Seaview Road, Henley Beach
Hours:
Tue to Fri 12pm–2.30pm, 5.30pm–9.30pm
Sat and Solar 10.30am–2.30pm, 5.30pm–9.30pm
