5. The Rising Sun Hotel (Clare Valley, SA)
by Mattje.
Set in the “historic” town of Auburn in the Clare Valley, this pub is a major benefactor of the fact “historic”, in tourist guides, is no more than a euphemism for run down, brick, desolate and drained of any modern pleasures. When the federal government had the National Broadband Network in its policy sights, I dare say a stop here may cause them to have second thoughts as the only thing connect to electricity are the pokies.
Nonetheless, being the only place to dine, I tried my luck and felt immediately welcomed in the Rising Sun Hotel by all the trappings you would expect in a country pub: a stale smell permeating from either the red carpets or the locals, a small dining room with a log fire, pleasant though guarded service towards city-folk, the familiar chime of a feature turning over from the pokies lounge, and a simple pub-style menu featuring schnitzel.
While the menu had two options for meat (chicken or beef), and four options for sauce (peppercorn, Diane, mushroom or mustards), I played it safe and went chicken with peppercorn in this unfamiliar setting. A suspiciously short wait later, my meal arrived. Served on a giant plate comes a generous schniity with an amount of chips and vege that is aimed at not distracting you from the main event. The first thing that strikes me is the colour. The crumb is not the usual golden sunset [insert other fake tan colours here] I have come to enjoy, but looks darker bordering on overcooked. The sauce too is an intense brown I have only come to associate with the Ganges in India. Looks aside, on tucking into this schnitty, I was not disappointed. The crumb, while slightly burnt around the edges owing to the inconsistent width of meat throughout, was superb. Crisp and flavoursome, there was an beautiful fragrance to it that I couldn’t identify.
The sauce too hit the mark: perfect consistency, meets the perfect amount. I love a place that is so confident of its own product, they are not shy to just ladle it on there for you, rather than serving it up in a side dish (either that or it is just less washing up). The meat was tender throughout with only the smallest pockets of fat to distract your attention, leading me to believe it was a mixture of breast, thigh and other. The sides felt more like something that was added to the dish to make it look complete (at the main-sized price tag of $17.50) rather than enhancing the dish. True the chips were fantastic and were the right size and texture to really soak up the sauce, but the vege/salad option was a little underwhelming by size and freshness.
13/20
