15 hours Ago By Dani Valent
14 / 20 How we score Greek $$ $$ I’m not much of a rower, so this is my kind of paddle – the one with four beers on it at Pirate Life. A beer paddle is usually an oar-like length of timber with indents to hold glasses steady. It’s the perfect way to sample a bunch of beers, whether you’re a craft connoisseur or, like me, still a bit hazy about what makes a hazy.
Pirate Life’s paddle ($20) is actually a metal platform that cradles a brace of 148ml beverages. I try the flagship South Coast pale ale, an elegant Japanese-style lager made with rice, a hoppy IPA and a dark, smooth double IPA. All of them are well-made, like sippable invitations to different spins on summer.
The 200-seat dining hall in an old mechanic’s workshop opened last March, the east coast HQ of the popular South Australian craft beer brand. Like many indies, the origin tale is along the lines of “two blokes and their dad in a garage” followed by the equally standard progression journey: beloved independent is snapped up by a global megabrand looking for cachet and a facsimile of the competition while controlling vast swathes of the drinking economy. If you’re a casual sipper like me, it’s no big deal: just slake my thirst.
If you’re my neighbour, Chris, a beer guy who gets the stuff delivered by the keg, you might grumble about the flattening of a fertile drinkscape of handcrafted fizz. Pirate Life looks, at first glance, like a brewery with a hospitality offering to keep drinkers carbed. It’s not; the beer is made off site.
Some beer bros have found this disappointing, but I see a positive: the venue has to stand on its own terms as a food and drink drawcard. The location has a Nowheresville feel, but it’s breezy and fun once you get there. Waiters are friendly and well-informed and the food is shareable and good value, driven by a wood oven stewarded by two job-sharing head chefs.
Maria Delengas has Greek heritage and worked at Adelaide’s highly regarded Arkhe, where everything is cooked over fire. Nicolas Lopez is Chilean and brings influences from Italy and Japan, too. Pirate Life’s food is also the result of relationships with traders at nearby South Melbourne Market.
When the chefs run short or want to experiment, they chat to a local fruiterer or butcher: it’s enriching and embeds the venue in the neighbourhood. The food is a mix of cheeky drinking snacks and more composed plates; flavours are bold. Chicken chops ($18) are marinated in evaporated milk, which makes them sweet and juicy and ready to dunk in burnt pineapple sauce.
Goat spring rolls ($16) are a fun take on a Chiko roll, packed with cabbage and fermented chilli as well as roasted meat. Cabbage is the hero of a vegan dish ($20), basted with a Sichuan-peppery glaze until it caramelises into a tasty hot mess. Dirty rice ($32), studded with calamari and long peppers, finds the meeting place between paella and jambalaya.
Gloriously crispy on the bottom – rice is baked onto the base like a proper paella – it’s gratineed and golden on top, a double dose of joyful and satisfying. I’ve eaten one of the best steaks of my life at Arkhe, so it’s no surprise that alumnus Delengas takes the meat here seriously, with smoke notes and charcoal sizzle augmenting excellent beef (sold by weight, $15-$22 for 100 grams). My instinct is to lean towards red wine with steak but you could easily plump for a California Pale Ale, which has biscuity malt notes and enough lingering bitterness to duke it out with rich protein.
That play-it-your-way mood is typical of this particular pirate ship: come with kids, the dog or colleagues for a speedy, one-plate lunch. Just don’t worry about bringing a paddle. The low-down Vibe: Cruisy, spacious food hangout Go-to dish: Dirty rice ($32) Drinks: Beer is the main focus – there are 12 on tap – but the cocktails are fab (the Radler mixes lager and grapefruit juice) and the wine list includes interesting, mid-range drinking across colour and style, 12 by the glass Cost: About $120 for two, excluding drinks.
