A new restaurant by East End Cellars and Mother Vine is here
Located at Festival Plaza is Station Road, bringing unpretentious, clean food with a rare wine collection to the Adelaide CBD from this Thursday.
Mathieu Smeysters has gathered Station Road’s front-of-house staff in a huddle and leads a football-like chant as he sends his new team into the wild.
Preparing for the opening this Thursday, every worker is dressed in beige suits and baby blue ties, custom-made by The Service Club and created by Australian designer By Johnny.
As the team open the doors to family and friends for the first time, Mathieu leaves the group to sit down for our interview.
“I think to us, it was…about the people,” the co-owner and general manager says.
“We knew there’s no point in having an amazing fit out [designed by Studio Nine Architects] and having a state-of-the-art kitchen if you don’t have the people that can execute it.”
Mathieu says this team did not want to “align with the other venues that [they] already have within the group” being East End Cellars and Mother Vine.
“We wanted to bring something unique to the Adelaide dining scene, which we believe is not done yet here in South Australia,” Mathieu says.
“So we went and looked at our favourite venues in the rest of the country and interstate and overseas as well and came up with a concept which we believe marries amazing service with terrific food without having to be fine dining.
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“That was never the intention for us. We believe in the fact that you can provide a level of service, and really focus on the highest quality ingredients without making it feel stuffy.”
Hand-picked mud crab on a betel leaf. This picture: Claudia Dichiera.The Station Road team wants to be “unpretentious” and versatile, given they’re located at Festival Plaza and within walking distance from Adelaide Festival Centre and Adelaide Oval.
“There’s a side of the restaurant which is dining and, preferably, you’ll make a booking to dine here, but even so, we’ll always keep a few tables available for walk-ins,” Mathieu says.
“But the other side of the restaurant [which is separate from the dine-in area], yes, the offering is of a certain standard, but you’ll be able to come here and be like ‘well, I just went to see a show’, or ‘I’ve come from the casino’, or you just went to see a game of footy, and you want to have something to eat. No problems at all.
“You’ll be able to have an experience without having to think about it three months in advance.”
Mathieu describes the food, led by head chef Baine Stubbs, as “clean” with a French-inspired modern Australian menu.
“It’s a very balanced menu, but [Baine’s] love of amazing seafood and produce is something that is translated in Station Road,” Mathieu says.
“For the last three months, the only thing he’s been doing is tasting and looking for the best produce he could find in Australia, with a heavy focus on South Australia.
“So everything we serve, from the sea urchin to the tuna to the wagyu – which we have from Mayura Station… South Australian wagyu – everything is thought about.
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“We’re championing small farmers, producers across the country… and using some amazing techniques at the same time as well – just have the best expression of that particular ingredient on your plate.”
What’s currently on the menu is mushroom and gruyere tart with pickled jalapeno, southern rock lobster cannelloni with Serrano ham and sauce mornay, Queensland tiger prawns and ‘Nduja tempura with warm tartare and more.
Kombu cured, yellow fin sashimi.Station Road’s menu is not designed to be shared.
“It’s become a trend where everyone shares everything and I think it takes away from what dining truly is, you know?” Mathieu says.
“A lot of restaurants will do it sharing-wise [and] know that you’ll order a lot of dishes, and they make them more compact and smaller knowing that you’re going share them. We don’t do that.
“Your main should be sufficient for you. We really made it in a way that we ensure that.
“No, we’re not cheap. Why are we not cheap? Because we’re using the best produce in Australia, but we’re also not expensive, and we really try to keep it at a level where we feel that we’re very fair with our pricing and the portions as well.”
Like any venue connected to the East End Cellars name, wine is a large aspect. Mathieu says that he started “putting away wines almost four years ago” and they now have approximately a 2,000-bottle list of “the rarest wines you can imagine”.
“The idea was [collecting] allocated wines that we were able to get if I didn’t feel they were appropriate for that particular wine list, we put them away to create a museum of amazing wine somewhere in the storage,” Mathieu says.
“And we did so for the last three years, with the aim of one day opening a restaurant where we felt this wine is really going to be in line with the offering and be something that we can hero at the same time.”
Station Road is opening this Thursday and is located at Festival Tower, Station Road, Adelaide.
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