Adelphi Grill, Parmelia HIlton Hotel, 14 Mill Street, Perth WA 6000, Phone 9215 2422.

Asian Tapas … Heard through the grapevine that the Adelphi Grill at the Parmelia Hilton had had yet another revamp. The place has changed 3 times in the last few years. It now has a huge Bar with windows overlooking Mill Street. And, a pavement dining area with big umbrellas.

The dining area is the same, if a little smaller because of the Bar. There is also a very large Wine Cellar on the back wall of the Bar. It’s kind of awesome. You can walk in and look over the vintages. Noticed that the bottom shelf was a long line of Veuve Clicquot. People after my own heart.

It was a Saturday lunchtime and the Bar was empty. We were told we could only select items from the Bar menu. The service was lackadaisical. We didn’t know how to order, so we sat and waited for a while. Then went back to the Bar, ordered and paid. A little hint on how to order might have been nice.

We ordered four tapas plates. Three plates for $19.00 total. Plus an extra one plate for $7.00. We thought that was reasonable. Until the bottle of sparkling water came in at $12.00. Ah well, won’t fall for that one again.

So, the food. In the order they were eaten.

Fried Squid with Lime Aioli. This dish looked fab, with the squid sitting on a bed of the aioli. The first piece I tried was excellent, tender, not greasy and the aioli worked with the dish. The second piece was very tough. I had to chew it for a long time. It put me off a little.

Popcorn Chicken with Kimchi Mayo. This was the one that turned me off a lot. They were very dark outside and inside. They were greasy. It was hard to tell what you were actually eating. The kimchi mayo was tasty and overall the dish was better than it looked.

Arancini with Garlic Aioli. The Arancini were very dark. I presume they were cooked too long in the fryer. They too were on a bed of aioli. On cutting into one I was surprised to find they were Mushroom. They were gluggy and fairly dark inside. Okay to eat, much better than they looked.

Garlic Prawns. If it weren’t for this dish we would have had no story to tell. I could have eaten 4 plates of just the Garlic Prawns. They were grilled to perfection and the garlic and EVOO were lovely.

By the end of the meal we were alone in the Bar. No staff anywhere to be seen. We wanted to give them some feedback but it wasn’t to be. The whole experience was a little bewildering. This incarnation of the Adelphi Grill is one I won’t rush back to.

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