Adelaide is buzzing with excitement for the upcoming festival period. And North Adelaide’s The Oxford Hotel is joining that buzz with an exciting new menu.

The Oxford‘s owners, Grant and Anastasia Murray, are offering diners a creative and artistic menu. “There’s such a big buzz in Adelaide around Fringe time and what would be more fitting than aligning our menu with the festive season seeing as we both promote creativity and celebrate art?” says Anastasia.

Chef Symon Conway-Lyden wants to offer diners a menu with a creative twist and artistic flair that compliments the strong art philosophy of the venue. With more than seven years’ experience in the kitchen he says “designing a menu that possesses a festival theme certainly allows me to create more daring dishes and that’s right up my alley… it’s allowed me to execute a menu that’s delicious, yet modest and down to earth.” And delicious it is!  The menu is divided into festive themed sections and here’s a taste of what Chef Symon has come up with.

From the Opening Night menu (starters):

Sprouted hommus dip with toasted bread and condiments;

Lamb croquettes with lamb, pea and cashew with a mint aioli.  These were a personal favourite with soft, delicate lamb (without that fatty taste) and a crispy coating. And that mint aioli certainly added some extra zing!

Sticky black vinegar wings with zingy chilli sambal;

Seared scallops with bacon, shitake, shallots, asparagus puree, peas and truffle oil. (A personal favourite of Chef Symon);

Whole cord on the cob with lime paprika butter and parmesan dust. I could eat a whole lot of these! Yum!From the Earthly delights menu:

Superfood salad with mixed lettuce, butternut pumpkin, beetroot, wild rice, quinoa, goji berries, cranberries, pepitas, basil seed, puffed amaranth, balsamic maple dressing;

Ancient salad – salad leaves, ancient fruit and nut mix, pearl couscous, cherry tomatoes, red onion, Persian feta, pickled sultanas, millet puffs and lemon mustard dressing. From the Street parade menu:

Jap Che salad – beef, egg, vegetables with noodles in Korean sauce;

Shrimp Po Boy – a crusty roll with spicy aioli, lettuce, avocado, tomato and crumbed prawn;

From the Spiegeltent (mains) menu:

Scotch fillet with honey glazed vegetables, white pearl pea cassoulet, mash and OmNom dressing;

Pan seared snapper with a mango and heirloom tomato salsa, blackberry and peach gel;

Chicken breast with capsicum, pineapple glaze, pickled baby corn, avocado roquette salad, pomegranate dressing and beetroot infused basil seed;Tofu Gado Gado – Indonesian style salad with tofu and coco peanut satay sauce;

Strozzapreti with pepperade sauce, olives, chorizo, spinach, cherry tomatoes and Persian feta; Gluttony (Oxford Classics) menu:

Chicken creole burger with a grilled chicken fillet with house-made pickled vegies, chipotle sauce, tomato, lettuce and fries;

The new menu is available now, and there’s certainly something to please all palates.

** I was an invited guest.