… Adelaide.   Andrew Fielke and Murray Hird could be twins separated at birth. But they aren’t. A friend of Murray’s going back many years (though neither will tell how many) Andrew is a chef and entrepreneur who has been a proponent and supporter of wild foods for more than a few decades. While his early years of culinary experience were largely spent in Switzerland, Austria, and England, Andrew came home to Australia in the mid 1980s and discovered a new, yet quite ancient, approach to cuisine: using 40,000 year-old ingredients together with conventional foods to create truly unique Australian dishes. In 1992, Andrew opened the first of his three Red Ochre restaurants in Adelaide along with incorporating Australian Native Produce Industries.

After twenty plus years in the restaurant business, Andrew decided to “hang up his chef’s clogs.” Now he keeps himself busy through a variety of business ventures: consulting chef, television presenter for the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Company), owner of Australian Food Partners, and originator of ProChef Golf Tours, an exclusive tourism business that combines two of Andrew’s lifelong loves: cooking and golf. When we caught up with Andrew, our venture was decidedly less complicated: meet for drinks and then dinner at one of Adelaide’s many excellent restaurants.

At Andrew’s suggestion we met at the pub in the Archer Hotel. Outside, the building is typical of the traditional Australian pub you see everywhere in the country: Victorian architecture and a corner location. Inside, the pub was packed. We managed a spot near the bar and over a couple of midis of “Cleansing Ale,” (i.e., Cooper’s) got a chance to hear more about Andrew’s work and his travels. It’s clear, after talking with him for awhile why the locals have dubbed Andrew the “Wizard of Oz.” He is near encyclopedic about “Creative Native Australian Cuisine,” and the couple of samples he brought us of products he’s developed using wild foods underscored the fact that this guy really knows his way around Bunya Nuts, Lemon Myrtle, and Quandongs.

He also knows his way around the Adelaide restaurant scene and took us down to Gouger Street and Nu’s Thai for dinner. If we thought the Archer was packed, Nu’s was a mob scene. It’s a small restaurant, with tables jammed together to accommodate as many as possible. We didn’t have a reservation and so were in for a bit of a wait. It was well worth it. With a bottle of 1996 Paulett’s Polish Hill River Riesling as the accompaniment, dinner was an astounding array of not-so-traditional Thai delicacies: Salty Egg wrapped in Spicy Fish served with Chili Sauce, Betel Leaf (a Northern Territory native) with Chopped Lime, Chili Ginger, Peanuts, Prawns, and Coconut Sauce, Coffee Duck (far and away our favorite) wrapped in Minced Prawn, Nu’s Pad Thai – rice noodles cooked with fresh tamarind wrapped in an omelet with lime juice – and a warm Thai salad of steamed prawns, squid, scallops with tarragon, lemon grass, Thai basil and mint. Dessert was Nu’s version of Sticky Rice.  Nu’s partner, Jane, saw to it that we were well looked after and Nu himself, once the main dinner rush was over, came out to join us for a “Cleansing Ale,” and a brief chat. Nu is younger than expected given the scope and sophistication of his cuisine. Truth to tell, his English is not easy to understand. But that’s far from a problem as our dining experience clearly articulated his passion for creative cuisine and precise presentation.

So there you go. Next time you’re in Adelaide, stop by the Archer Hotel for a quick drink in a restored pub that retains all the feel of the old Victorian drinking establishments. And take our word for it, call ahead for a reservation at Nu’s.