The Elephant British Pub

Okay, pub is probably not the most romantic place to dine out. I don’t go to pubs often because I don’t have friends I don’t like drinking much either. However, I think one must agree that pubs have unique attractiveness as a dining place. You can’t experience that bustling, fun, and care-free atmosphere from any other sort of places.

Located near Palace Nova Eastend cinema, the Elephant is a quite well known -just like all the pubs on Rundle street- pub. This is where Hien and I will be popping our cherries as food bloggers.

If you are tunnel-visioned like me, you could have been oblivious of the existence of the Elephant. Its location is not as obvious as Austral or Exeter Hotel pub, you need to go into the side street (That’s a big thing for people with no sense of direction like me :<)! I wouldn’t be surprised if people remember this pub as something like ‘that drinking place near the cinema’…..well, because I did. For directionless souls like me, this is the sign you have to look for.

 

It’s not as obvious from the photo, but it was really really busy when we went in. The atmosphere was as expected. Quite loud, busy, and crowded. But it’s quite a pleasant atmosphere to be in. It’s Friday evening and people were having fun. It felt like I was being showered with the radiating happiness from people. As for ‘British Pub’ atmosphere, I guess I can’t comment since I’ve never been to the UK, but I don’t think it is a big uniqueness of the Elephant. Most Australian pubs share that atmosphere.

It took us about 20 minutes to find a table, and even then we had to share it with another group. I think they thought we were some tourists with all the photos we were taking and all the notes we were writing Hien wore funny shirts too. Our order number was 44, double death (in many Asian languages 4 is pronounced the same as death, 死). Maybe it was foreshadowing imminent misfortune…. But luckily I didn’t suffer from any as of yet.

 

Now enough talk with inedibles, let’s get onto glorious food! We ordered;

• 2*Tooheys 5 Seeds Apple Cider ($7 ea)
• Fish and Chips ($16.90)
• King Henry Pork Cutlet ($18.90)

We ordered cider because.. well I’m a very non-manly man with strong fondness for sweetness. Fish and Chips and King Henry Pork Cutlet were chosen because they represent two popular method of pub meal preparation, deep-frying and grilling.

It took us quite a bit, about half an hour, to get our meals. I think that was understandable seeing as the bar was extremely busy. The staff there were quite friendly and nice too so I didn’t find it unpleasant.

In one word, I would summarise the taste of 5 Seeds Cider as ‘balanced.’ Moderate fruity taste of apple, slight bitterness, weak sweetness (obviously it’s not as sweet as I thought), and slightly woody aroma were defining its taste. It has quite a light characteristic and goes soft on palate. It is quite a refreshing drink. However, for people like me with strong fondness for full bodied sweetness of cider, it could taste quite bland.

As you can see from the photo below, 5 Seeds Cider has a lighter colour compared to other ciders. I found it quite appetising.

The Fish and Chips dish consisted of Hake fillets, tartare sauce, lemon, chips, and fresh garden salad with a vinegarette dressing. The first impression I got when I tried the fish and chips was that it was very well fried. As you can see from the colour of the batter, it was cooked in a fresh clean oil (I can’t say it’d be like that everytime though, we visited the pub quite early in the evening and they might have just changed their oil).

Both the fillet and chips were very crispy on the outside with juiciness in the core. I know it is quite common for deep fried meals to be either too soggy or overcooked, but as you can see from the photo below, the fillet retained juiciness while still being crispy on the outside. They were both seasoned mildly and consistently. We didn’t need lemon to cover excessive fish aroma either, an indicator that the fillet was likely to be fresh.

As for the accompaniments, tartare sauce showed a pleasant blend of sweetness and sourness. However, we didn’t find a need for tartare because we are true blue british… I mean, because the fillet was nice enough without it.

The salad was also a nice blend of fresh garden vegetables and mild vinegarette. Vinegarette was not too excessive and and enhanced the flavour of vegetables. One thing Hien found disappointing was the fact that there was just a small piece of tomato.

King Henry Pork Cutlet. Grilled pork cutlet, mashed potato, steamed vegetable, and apple sauce. Can’t get more British than that can it?

As soon as I tried a bite of pork cutlet, I could taste strong saltiness. It was quite strong, and for me it was beyond the boundary of pleasant saltiness. It had nice roast aroma, but the taste from its charred bits was very strong and bitter. Strong saltiness and bitterness were forming the backbone of its flavour. However, the inside of cutlet was cooked quite nicely, well-done and juicy. It provided a nice texture to the meat.

The apple sauce was very sweet and condensed. It complimented the saltiness and bitterness -which I felt was quite excessive- of the pork cutlet. However, I didn’t feel keen on it because I think sauces should be used to enhance the taste, not to hide it. I think if something is unpleasantly cooked, even if you find a way to hide it, it’s not a good meal. 

Mashed potato was quite rough in its texture, and I could feel some chunkiness every now and then. However, I think it is really up to personal taste. I prefer soft creamy mashed potato but I find that rough mashed potato can be quite pleasant too.

Steamed vegetables were well cooked and seasoned lightly with salt. I’m not a fan of steamed vegetables because I always find them too soggy for my liking. However, this one had moist texture without being soggy. Mild seasoning of salt also enhanced the flavour of vegetables very well.

As I’m not an avid pub goer, I don’t think I will be making a fair judgement about the Elephant if I were to make one. However, I can confidently say that it was a quite nice and happy place to dine in. As you would have seen from the photos, the portion is decent (probably not the best though), considering the price. It can get a bit busy, but I guess that’s part of fun. You get to talk with your friends and enjoy the atmosphere. Personally, I’ll go there again when I’m feeling like something nicely deep fried. If I’m feeling like something grilled… I’ll find somewhere else though :< 

Hien’s Notes
Not much to say. I liked The Elephant British Pub. The prices are reasonable. I was very happy with the Fish and Chips. I did not enjoy the King Henry Pork Cutlet and found it to be overly salty.
Apologies for the lack of photos and quality of the photos. I should probably bring two lenses next week!


Food: 4/5 (fish and chips) 2.25/5 (King Henry Pork Cutlet) 2.75/5 (5 Seeds Cider)

One of the best fish and chips in Adelaide CBD. Fresh salad with refreshing dressing.
Pork cutlet was unpleasantly salty and had excessively burnt bits. However, steamed vegetable was okay.
5 Seeds Cider was light and refreshing, but too weak.

Value: 4/5 (fish and chips) 2.5/5 (rest)

Prices similar to other pubs in Rundle Street. 

Quality of fish and chips was definitely better than its price. 

For the price we paid, we would not buy King Henry pork cutlet or 5 seeds cider again

Service: 2.75/5

Took long to receive our meal. Staff seemed a bit confused.

Ambience: 3/5
Merry pub atmosphere. Interior consistent with food and drinks being sold. However, there was nothing extraordinarily British about its ambience.

The Elephant - British Pub
1 Cinema Place
East End
Adelaide
South Australia, 5000
Ph: (08) 8227 1633Fax: (08) 8227 1644