Foreign Correspondents: Simojoe
Review time: Lunch
"Burger Bun Blunda at Tanunda"
During a covert trip down to Adelaide, Sydney Pub List reviewers Robot Simone & Joe Blogs (aka Simojoe) dropped in on Barossa regional Tunanda Hotel for a pre-wedding lunch session. Here's what they found...
Travelling through Tanunda on the main street, it's fairly hard to miss the Tanunda Hotel; a big stone building with a balcony that runs the entire front of the sizey establishment. Tanunda, for those playing at home, is one of the popular towns of South Australia's Barrossa Wine Region and is home to many of the area's wineries and cellar doors. For spandex bike nerds, you'll probably know it for the Tour Down Under. The township's beginnings date back to the 1840's, only a handful of years after Adelaide was founded.
On a slightly rainy arvo, Simojoe popped in for a look and feed and found a fairly laid-back pub full of activity, with locals and tourists enjoying the surrounds. Thankfully the inside of the hotel hadn't been renovated too much in the contemporary blah and retains some of its older stylings, without feeling drab and tired. Not much stone wall on the inside though, as far as the reviewers can remember.
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| Deno, Keno! |
In the salmony-peach-painted, high-ceilinged dining room, Simojoe pulled up some chairs, ordered drinks and food and killed waiting-time by admiring the Keno and sports tv screens mounted on more than one wall, slightly spoiling ye old feel of the room. While the salmon paint job kind of knocks you about a bit when you first lay eyes on it, it kind of felt right and went well with the old pressed tin ceiling. Out beyond the side window, a courtyard area is noted, still reasonably full regardless of the weather and showers. The beergarden has its own bar and possibly a separate menu but couldn't confirm.
The drinks on offer at the front bar included SA's Coopers Pale Ale (of course) as well as their Celebration Ale (splendid!, although $7.50), along with Carlton Draught, Boags Draught, XXXX Gold, and few others.
Beer rant.... Beers in SA are more expensive than those in NSW, even SA's own Coopers fetches a higher price in its home state. Whether it's a difference in state taxes, the cost of importing beers into SA, the increased NSW population and higher consumption, or perhaps something to do with club-crazy NSW and its poker machine offset, who knows (does anyone out there know?), it sure is noticeable. The cheapest tap beer on offer here was Boags Draught at a special price of $5.50 - can't remember if that was schooner or pint but either way, still more expensive than NSW. Keep in mind that a NSW 'schooner', is called a 'pint' in SA. A Carlton Draught at the Tanunda Hotel was $7. Seven Dollars! Ouch. Final note on the drink sampling here - God knows why Mr Blogs even bothered with a Carlton (except for price comparison) and not an SA Coopers Pale Ale. Dick move. End beer rant.
While on the topic of ordering drinks at the bar, a note on the front bar. Sport on tv, pool tables, possibly a dart board. Nothing out of the ordinary. Note finished.
Over to the food. The menu was not short of options, although all things you would generally find on a bar menu. Simojoe ordered up a couple of Tanunda Hotel Burgers at $17 each. Other items on the menu included "Our famous garlic bread" at $6 (not sure why so famous), "Parmy bread" at $7, chips, wedges, tasting plate, and oysters. There were two mains sections titled "From the Sea" and "From the Land", with the former listing items such as crumbed prawns and fish, and the latter rattling off the T/H burger, chicken burger, beef and chicken schnitzels, a "MEGA BEEF SCHNITZEL 400g 16inch *Big Challenge* $25" large schnitty option, rib eye, and an eighties-sounding "French chicken breast".
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| T/H Burger featuring bun blunda |
The food arrived. The T/H burgers, consisting of homemade burger, bacon, onion, egg, cheese, lettuce, tomato, beetroot relish and a side of chips, came in at $17 a pop. Simojoe opted sans bacon & egg. Although nothing bad, they weren't anything amazing, which prompted the couple to question the price and they concluded that it may have been inflated due to the tourist factor. Same goes for the beer price maybe? One other thing to add about the burger was the bun. The menu stated a "bakery bun" but it was really anything but that. The bulk-buy feeling bun (Tip Top?) cheapened the experience and also wasn't very good at holding together with the pressure of the burger innards and the soggy, overly sweet beetroot relish. What Simojoe would have liked to have seen/tasted was a good locally-made local-bakery bun tying the whole thing together. Bit disappointing.
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| Tanunda Hotel |
All in all, not a bad pub. It's a bit far out of the way, especially if you live in Sydney, but if you live more locally or you're tripping through that way on a holiday or busines trip, why not pop in and check it out. The Tanunda Hotel - "It's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there."
Cheers
Sydney Pub List
Web address: www.tanundahotel.com.au/
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