Entropy - Char Bar Friday

Entropy - 37 Little Queen Street, Thebarton SA 5031

On Friday nights Entropy hold a Char/Bar evening whereby they cook South Australian Premium meat cuts, seafood and vegetables over an outdoor char grill. They also provide a bar feel with the inclusion of a DJ in one corner playing some funky dinner beats. The interior of Entropy has a warehouse vibe, with a large open space which opens out to an outdoor paved and grassed area right by the River Torrens.

The Char/Bar menu changes weekly to ensure a local seasonal menu is designed each time. This particular week there are 8 items on the menu plus one dessert. We are informed that the dishes are designed for sharing so as I (Amanda) have a booking for 7 people we decide to order every dish.  

You are required to order at the counter and pre-pay for your meals. I think this process is acceptable for brunch or lunch when you are ordering your own dishes but when you are trying to coordinate a number of shared dishes for a large number of people it becomes cumbersome. Especially when you do not know how much food you will require and have to return to the counter multiple times throughout the night to order more food...this did diminish the overall experience. It is further frustrating when you have to wait in a line for up to 15-20 minutes to place a food and drink order. 

Once at the counter, we are informed that most dishes are designed to share between 2 people. I found this inconvenient as we had to order 3 or 4 serves of the same dish to ensure we had enough for everyone at our table. As each dish is presented on beautiful big plates it was very difficult to manage the amount of dishes brought to our table. At times there was no table space as most of the food was coming out at the same time.  It would definitely make sense to combine the orders and place at least 2 serves on one plate - the plate definitely had the room for it!  If the food was spaced out more evenly throughout the night rather than delivered all at once, this may have alleviated our issue.

Apart from these few issues which I think could be easily improved with some extra planning, the main focus... the food... was faultless. All 7 of us thoroughly enjoyed the food and there were definitely no complaints. As we ordered the whole menu I will provide a quick summary on each:

Chicken Wings $14.50

"Arroz con pollo" charred chicken wings with spicy fragrant rice and capsicum sauce - finger licking good! I'm not normally one to order chicken wings but these were charred perfectly and had great spice. The rice added good bulk to the dish and I could have definitely had about 4 of these wings all to myself!

Spicy Beef Ribs $15.50

Spicy beef ribs with kale and beetroot slaw - the beef was tender and had good spice to make this a tasty dish. The kale and beetroot slaw had great acidity and one of my friends who had never eaten  kale fell in love with it, which was definitely a reflection of the perfect execution of this salad.

Lamb Shoulder $15.50

Charred smokey lamb shoulder with smashed baby potatoes and house made mushroom ketchup - this was probably my favourite dish of the night. The lamb was so tender and melted away in the mouth with highlights of that smokey flavour. The chunky mushroom ketchup brought wonderful earthy flavours and was a great match to dip both the lamb and the potatoes in.

Crispy Pork Belly $15.00

Crispy pork belly with butternut pumpkin puree and jalapeno cream - the pork belly was cooked beautifully with a soft centre and crispy skin top and both the puree's were smooth and a great accompaniment to the pork. The butternut added a nice sweetness to the dish and the jalapeno added a subtle heat.

Charred Brisket $15.00

Charred brisket in BBQ sauce with charred corn, zucchini and basil salad - this seemed to be the all round favourite of the table. Nice big chunks of tender charred brisket seasoned immaculately, matched with the fresh corn, zucchini and basil salad had everyone at the table wanting more.

Charred Carrots $8.00

Charred carrots with balsamic reduction - surprisingly this vegetable dish was another crowd favourite. We only ordered 2 serves of this initially but ordered another serve later. There must be something about char grilled carrots that bring out a smokey sweetness and combined with the sticky balsamic reduction was a party in the mouth.

Charred Eggplants $9.00

Charred eggplants with quinoa, parsley, pine nuts, and yoghurt dressing - the soft delicious charred eggplant with the creamy yoghurt dressing, filling of the quinoa and texture of the pine nuts made this another great vegetarian dish. It was great to have some stand out vegetables to break up the meat feast!

Charred Red Onions & Green Capsicums $8.00

Charred red onions and green capsicum with garlic honey and mustard - this was probably my least favourite but the standout was definitely the garlic honey and mustard sauce. So full of flavour with the sweetness of the honey yet the creamy more savoury notes from the mustard.

Orange & Blueberry Vegan Cheesecake $13.00

Orange and blueberry vegan cheesecake with charred plums - this was a nice way to finish our clean, fresh, healthy char grilled dinner. A refined sugar and dairy free vegan cheesecake. The cheesecake was smooth and the nut base added great texture and richness. My only negative here was that on this occasion the plums seemed to be just that little bit over charred.

The Char/Bar Friday concept is definitely a great idea and as they change this menu each week it definitely entices you to return when the food is this good. Maybe next time I will attend with only one other guest so the overall experience is much easier to coordinate!

Vegetarian/Vegan Friendly:  3 vegetarian options
Child Friendly: I would recommend bringing the kids to Entropy for brunch or lunch instead

Ambiance: 4/5 - Open plan and relaxed.  Great addition of the DJ!
Service: 2/5 - Long waits to order and pre-pay at the counter.
Food: 8/10 - Who doesn't love a good char grilled dinner!  Would like to see bigger serves for ease of sharing.

In total OTCB gives Entropy 14/20 chops on The Chopping Board