Fresh Bites, Citi Centre Arcade

The food court at Centre Arcade is badly in need of a facelift. Some of those shop facades have been around since at least the 90s and many are probably older than I am. Think places like The King of Sandwich and Mangia Mangia. That said some new blood is slowly starting to seep in - the spud place has closed down and banh mi / Japanese eatery Fresh Bites has opened in its place.

A teriyaki chicken wing was my sneaky lunch entree. The meat was firm, juicy and flavoursome but had lost a little of sweet glazed char flavour that the exterior flaunted. Tasty, but not super value for nearly $2 bucks.



Banh mi / Japanese fusion rolls really makes sense me and the one from Fresh Bite bought together the best of both worlds - sticky sweet teriyaki chicken from Japan; the baguette style bread and crunchy fresh salad from Vietnam; a dollop of kewpie mayonnaise for extra richness; and fresh coriander, spring onion and chilli to provide some cut through.



Hopefully newcomers like Fresh Bites will provide the impetus and bring in the new stalls and customers needed to make renovations at Citi Centre a reality.

Ricky's Kitchen, South Cross Arcade

It finally feels like Ricky's Kitchen has reached it's promising potential.

Comparisons to Ricky's Chicken Rice were always initially going to be unfavourable. When I first ate at Ricky's Kitchen - just after he shifted from his chicken rice stall in the China Town Food Court - I was disappointed. The soul of his food seemed to have disappeared. I recall hoping that Ricky just needed to get know his new dishes and kitchen a little better. I'm pleased to report that this indeed seems to be the case.

Firm and fatty with crunchy crackling and scattered with fresh coriander and spring onion the crispy pork was very good indeed. The sauce the noodles were served in was light but full of flavour and didn't dominate or detract from the crispy pork.

What I (and most people I think) love most about eating at Ricky's are the dipping sauces. The green spring onion sauce has regained it's earthy almost mustard-y bite while the red chilli sauce is back to it's sharp, hot almost tropical self. 



Watching Ricky's finesse while slicing and chopping joints of meat for dishes is one of the new mesmerising pleasures of the new open kitchen - and gives you something to do while you endure the long wait for food from this now popular stall. If he continues in this vein Ricky's Kitchen will no doubt achieve the cult status Ricky's Chicken Rice had.

Klaus's Wurst Haus, Victor Harbor

A fortnight ago I put the call out to see if anyone knew of better Adelaide hotdog than Wendy's (here http://theofficeeater.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/wendy-myer-centre-food-court.html).

Well, I found one. It's not quite in Adelaide - it's from Klaus's Wurst Haus in Victor Harbor and despite it being less of a haus and more of a essenwagen (rough google translation of food van) it's probably the best darn hotdog I've ever had.

I've had hotdogs from Klaus's before and this time I ordered the Vienna sausage with sauerkraut, fried onions, cheese and curry tomato sauce. You know how food often doesn't taste as good as you remember it? Klaus's bucks that trend - it actually tasted better. MUCH better.



Klaus's uses a sausage cooking method that I haven't often seen - boiling each sausage until firm and then charring on a grill. I really rate this method - although you can't see it the sausage developed a wonderful snap and had a noticeably smokey taste. Hot sauerkraut cut through the fatty richness of the sausage while the caramelised onions added some sweetness. Warmed in some sort of bun warming cabinet thingo the light white bun had the perfect amount of crunch and chewiness.

What really made this hotdog was the curry tomato sauce - sweet, savoury, deeply tomato-y and with curry flavour and heat to spare this sauce really packed a punch. No wonder currywurst is all the range in Deutschland.

I know Klaus's Wurst Haus is a bit too distant for most CBD 9-5ers to drop by for lunch but if you ever find yourself Victor this is the place to hit up.