Bite-Size Review: Louca's Seafood Grill

My cousin Evelyn's kids love fish and chips.  Just love them. Adore them. Crave them. Fanatical about them. Would eat them pretty much daily, if permitted, and sometimes they are. For breakfast (well, the fried fish part, at least, which then makes it ok.) So when during a recent holiday to my coz's home turf in Adelaide, and she suggested we dine at her kids' favourite neighbourhood fish and chips place that was within walking distance from her house, I braced myself to schlep to some greasy takeaway joint - you know, the type that wraps your order in newsprint, stinks of stale deep-fried batter and cheap vinegar, plastered wall-to-wall with faux vintage posters of haddock and plaice, and posits a generous supply of smeary ketchup packets in a plastic tray by the door.

The reality couldn't have been any more different.

First off, the restaurant - yes, for that is what it is - a proper restaurant - is delightfully homey, modern and as befitting its corner location, filled with natural light.  There was not a whiff of weeks-old Canola wafting from the open kitchen, and I suddently felt a bit underdressed in my Uniqlo tartan tunic, tights and FitFlop sneakers.  Luckily, the amiable owners Peter and Caroline Louca overlooked my sartorial faux pas, welcomed us warmly and proceeded to fuss over my four-year old goddaughter Annabel, as most people are wont to do. 

 

And then, came the food.

Our server Angela gamely setting down our ginormous surf and turf platter.

Aside from the ubiquitous battered fish and flat-cut chips for Annabel, we'd ambitiously ordered the massive surf and turf platter (picture, above) consisting of char grilled skewered prawns, scallops, octopus, calamari, soft shell crab, lamb, chicken and garfish that seemed to envelop our table top.   This magnificent bounty came with a side order of Greek salad (picture, below) with just the right servings of feta cheese (not really my favourite) and olives (a recently acquired taste.)  Oh, and more fries than my carb-deprived appetite can handle.  Now, from past experiences, I was initially concerned that the seafood would be, well, too carcinogenic (aka burnt to blackened crisps,) but they, especially the calamari and giant prawns, were char-grilled to perfection.  And that chilled bottle of Pinot Grigio that accompanied the dinner was especially spot-on.  So much so that from now on, I'll keep my preconceived judgemental stereotypes about fish-and-chippy joints to myself, especially when I head down to Adelaide again.

Our Greek Salad

Standing at the corner of Hutt and Gilles streets; enroute to dinner. 
Louca's Seafood Grill is on the right side of the photo.

Louca's Seafood Grill - 1/242 Hutt Street  Adelaide, South Australia 5000, Australia.  Telephone +618 8232 6792