Culshaw’s Restaurant

Nice buffet breakfast for weekday at a small hotel restaurant. Probably not a destination for anyone other than hotel guests on a weekday morning. 3.5 of 5 stars.

It’s been a long time since I dine at a fine dine restaurant, so when my friend recommended that I’d try this restaurant, she describe it as «love at first sight» and she was right.
This Culshaw’s restaurant is a small but lovely restaurant that serves Australian food. Its unique lighting design and soft colour wall gave it a romantic atmosphere. Last night, I order the «Hop, Snap, Swim tasting platter» which is divided into three parts: The pepper squid and crocodile tail, the baked barramundi with basil, pear, rocket and sunrise lime salad, and to finish it off a char grilled kangaroo fillet with goat cheese soufflé.
When the dish was place on the table I thought it was a work of art. Everything about this dish is perfect and delicious. I particularly liked the char grilled kangaroo fillet with the soufflé. My friend decided to order the baked barramundi on its own. Although delicious, the serving size of that dish was too small; it is a bit like quality vs quantity.
Overall, I really enjoyed this dish and it was love at first sight. This would be a perfect place for a romantic dinner, so I will definitely be dining at this restaurant again.

In short — my recent experience here was awful from start to finish. Will never go back.
We were seated by a female waiter, then a male waiter took our order and the two swapped around all night so neither seemed to know what was going on.
Shortly after ordering a table of 2 were seated next to us (table of 4).
After 25 mins we still had not received our drinks, but the table next to us were having their starters cleared.
At around the 30min mark we received our starters, then minutes later they bought 2 of the 4 entrée s, so there was no room on the table and we had to awkwardly move drinks and candles out of the way.
A full 5 mins after 2 diners received their entrées, the third was bought out, but no one cleared the starter plates. At 10mins after the first diners got their entrées, the 4^th diner still had not been served. When we asked the waiter about it she said «yeah, I thought that was weird» and scuttled off to find out what happened, then a couple of mins later she came back and said that «the kitchen will get that on ASAP — lucky you ordered prawns so it won’t take long» — no apology.
While waiting, the other 3 diners started their now cold meals. The roasted mushrooms were great but the warm beef salad was confused — it sported whole, unroasted, macadamia’s, a Mexican salsa type Arrangement of mango, onion and tomato and then cucumber and iceberg? It then had a chilli jous, which was also on the 4^th entrée and ¾ of the mains!
The prawns on the 4^th entrée were bland and definitely bought frozen, did not taste fresh at all.
During this escapade, the table beside us had received both entrée and main and had left before our mains arrived.
Mains took 23 minutes to arrive. 0% were good.
We had 2 x «Hop, Snap and Jump» plates — one persons kangaroo was rare, the other was medium-​well (we did not specify either temp.) And it was served with tomato sauce on an Asian spoon (wtf?) — NOT a relish as indicated. And the kangaroo was room temperature.
The macadamia crusted chicken — the most overcooked, dry hunk of chicken breast imaginable. From working in the industry — I know that chicken should be served at 75 °C,
The chicken would have been 45 °C at best.
But the worst was the lamb rack special — it was set in front of me a couple of mins before anyone else’s (again), and as it was sitting there, the smell started wafting around the table — even the diner with an awful sense of smell picked up on it — old meat. It was rancid, I sliced off a slither and spat it out. The other diners did the same when they tried it.
When I complained the said «it can’t be off, it only came in yesterday, but you can order something else if you don’t like it» — WHAT?! Apparently inedible is how lamb is meant to be.
So I ended up ordering something else of the menu (barramundi), which when if arrived 10mins later was great :). However, when I received my replacement the waiter asked how everything else was going and we told him of the above mentioned problems — to which he replied «that’s so weird, because I watched the chef serve them and I bought them straight out…» — again, no apology, just implied that we do not know what temperature food should be.
All in all, a painfully dissatisfying meal — and the same price as somewhere like the Red Ocre which gave me the best dining experience of my life and is

AH-​MAZING! Such a lovely meal and top notch service.
The modern Australian menu has some beautiful ingredients (and a glossary at the back!). The wattle damper was a great starter and we both chose the Hop Snap Swim for main as we loved the idea of getting a taste of everything. The panacotta was a great end to the meal. Big points to the staff for adding a ‘Happy Birthday’ on the plate– a lovely surprise as I hadn’t even asked!
We came here with an entertainment card, but will definitely be coming back here and would be happy to pay full price.

I’m always a little dubious of restaurants attached to hotels. You can’t help but suspect that they are just riding on the coat-​tails of the hotel name. And sometimes it’s not just the hotel’s name, sometimes it’s also an absent semi-​famous chef who lends their name to help promotion. However I am pleased to say that Culshaw’s, on the ground floor of the Majestic Rooftop Garden Hotel, holds it’s own as a restaurant.
On arrival, I was suprised to see the dining room empty at 7pm. And although it did fill slowly over the next 90 minutes, aside from two walk-​ins it was predominantly hotel guests dining. Such a shame, as the meal was one of the best I’ve had in some time. I would like to think that the menu would be pulling people in from all over — but perhaps it was just an ‘offnight’.
Wearing black jeans and a pair of Gallaz shoes, I felt a little underdressed. With the arrival of tourists wearing shorts and sandals though, I felt the status of my attire rise considerably.
The staff were incredibly attentive, and there was no need to flag anyone down. While Culshaw’s wouldn’t sit at the top of the silver-​service ladder, I get the feeling it’s not trying to be that kind of place. It’s contemporary dining with a streak of that silvery service. The wait staff are knowledgable but not stiff, and you can be sure your water and wine glasses will be kept filled without prompting. They have definitely perfected the art of hovering, without being in your face.
As explained by our waiter, the Head Chef looks to utilise bush foods throughout the dishes. There is a comprehensive glossary at the back of the menu which is handy for those not as au fait with ‘bush tucker’. (Don’t worry, no witchety grubs here!)
For entrée I actually ordered a starter, their beer damper which was a tasty morsel. Crusty exterior with soft bread within. For mains I elected to go with the aged scotch fillet (medium-​rare), served on a smokey bed of butternut and paprika mash, lightly fried red onion rings (so, so sweet!) and rosemary port glaze. Of course, steak isn’t complete without a side of the seasoned potato chips. These were lightly cooked all cripsy, no grease with a dusting of seasoning.
And of course what is a night out without a sweetie or two? As I’m a panna cotta fiend, I just couldn’t go past the vanilla bean, yoghurt and rosella flower panna cotta. It’s serve with a piece of candied orange and a piece of rosewater jelly (read: turkish delight) drizzled in white chocolate. The sweetest touch of this dessert, was that an extra piece of rosewater jelly and an extra spoon to cater for my partner who had elected (possibly wisely, considering how wonderfully stuffed full ‘o food I felt at this stage!) to partake in only a post-​dining long black coffee. Just a small gesture, but helps to imprint this place on my foodie heart.
We did return to Culshaws for breakfast the next morning as well (since we were staying at the hotel). Buffet breakfasts get some pretty bad rap, and is often a harbinger of disappointment:
1. disappointment when you expect a hot buffet, and instead you find miniature boxes of Kellogs Special K, a jug of tepid milk and a pile of dried bread next to the converyer-​belt toaster. This is often flanked by a pot of dishwater masking as coffee, and if you’re REALLY lucky a few limp rubber croissants.
2. disappointment when you DO get a hot buffet, and you find that the rubber croissants have been joined by some rubber eggs. Sometimes with the inclusion of a pile of anaemic bacon.
Culshaws offered neither of these disappointments. Instead there was a small, but solid buffet breakfast. On the hot side they stuck to only scrambled eggs (which were surprisingly light, and non-​watery), thick slices of bacon that were well cooked but not to the point of elastication (is this even a word!?), chipolatas, mushrooms and tomatoes. There was the continental option as well, with cereal, bread, spreads and the wee-​est, sweetest pastries. Coffee is still by the pot, but if you pay a few dollars more you can have a fresh made latte.
This is what modern Australian cuisine should be. It is neither pretentious, nor filled with TV chef endorsement. It’s food is unfussy, yet sophisticated with the inclusion of fresh bush flavours. The wine list (which I just realised I have neglected to mention previously!) is a decent size, and offers local as well as interstate wines. An intimate option for when you don’t want to venture too far afield from the hotel, and also worthy of an independent visit.

Wow, we will definitely be visiting Culshaw’s again in the near future!
Lovely interior design (pretty much black/​charcoal with cream accents), and very friendly staff.
The menu was extensive, and effort has been made to include native Australian flavours to the menu — they’ve even included a glossary at the back of the menu in case diners are wondering what some of the ingredients are. Lemon Myrtle is a big player ;)
My Lemon Myrtle & Chilli Calamari for starter was beautifully presented, and served with a fantastically sharp lime aioli. Very tender and delicious!
For main I ordered the very juicy Roasted Chicken Breast, which was a very large serve! It was «filled with Barossa bacon, spring onion & parmesan atop spiced capsicum cous cous & roasted Davidson plum», and was every bit as good as it sounded on the menu.
Although I couldn’t fit in dessert (the servings are pretty large!), the menu is extensive.
We ordered the full buffet breakfast the next morning, and that was also delicious. A wide variety from hot cooked items (very good bacon and scrambled eggs!), right through the fruit, yoghurt, cereal and danishes.

Located in the bottom of the Majestic Rooftop Garden Hotel in the East End of Adelaide, Culshaw’s Grill specialises in Modern European food of a high class.
Their specialty is the grill, so I recommend a steak or some seafood, although I eat neither. But all their other menu items are delicious and presented beautifully.
My partner and I went here while staying upstairs for his birthday last year, and the experience was lovely and romantic. It wasn’t too busy or loud, and we were treated properly by staff and waiters.
The food isn’t cheap, so don’t expect a budget night out, but really is quality and quite fancy. For dessert I recommend the chocolate fantasy plate. It has a brownie, chocolate cones, fudge, dark chocolate, hazelnut tart and so much more! Chocolate is my weakness after all.
The next morning we went for a seedy breakfast in Culshaw’s and it also lived up to the night before. Admittedly we didn’t feel too good, but I always love a big English breakfast!