Coming Soon: Adelaide’s Iconic East End Cellars Is Expanding to Norwood (and the Food Menu Almost Trumps the Wine)

East End Cellars, Vardon Avenue
East End Cellars, Vardon Avenue
East End Cellars, Vardon Avenue
East End Cellars, Vardon Avenue
East End Cellars, Vardon Avenue
East End Cellars, Vardon Avenue
East End Cellars, Vardon Avenue
East End Cellars, Vardon Avenue

East End Cellars, Vardon Avenue ·Photo: Josie Withers

East End Cellars’ highly anticipated Norwood opening is almost here. Expect the same wine bar-bottle shop hybrid format you know and love, plus a diversified food offering – think Ligurian focaccia sandwiches and apple tarte tatin.

As one of Australia’s most respected wine traders, with almost 15,000 bottles on show, East End Cellars is a staple in South Australia’s wine scene. And in good news for Adelaide, its presence in the city is soon to expand, with the beloved bar/cellar door opening a new site in Norwood. When the team – consisting of Michael Andrewartha, Mathieu Smeysters and Andrew Nunn – was offered the opportunity to set up in the Norwood Green development on Magill Road, they jumped at it.

“It’s a hybrid wine-bar-slash-restaurant-slash-bottle-shop which combines the traditional with the contemporary and the modern – not only in terms of cuisine but also in relation to wine styles and trends,” co-owner and Norwood local Smeysters tells Broadsheet. “We want to make it a meeting place for people that love food and wine.”

The format will be much the same as the esteemed Vardon Avenue joint, but with a broader food menu and table service. The team has invested in a state-of-the-art kitchen, with Josh Lansley (ex-Osteria Oggi, Press Food & Wine) at the helm.

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“East End Cellars Norwood’s food offering will be much more than just platters and small plates,” says Smeysters. “The intention is to make our Norwood venue as much a dining destination as a wine destination.”

The focus will be on lunch and dinner trade initially, with Sunday breakfasts set to be included down the track. Expect approachable brasserie food that focuses on well-executed simple flavours (“We like the term ‘bistronomy’,” says Smeysters). The menu touches on European influences with Ligurian focaccia sandwiches, seafood snacks like Gazander oysters from Coffin Bay, and raw bluefin tuna belly, steak frites and cheeseburgers with a cafe de Paris, bearnaise combo sauce, as well as all the cheese and charcuterie that’s become synonymous with East End Cellars.

Wine is still the star of the show, with glasses and bottles from a wide range of regions on offer at all price points. As with East End Cellars on Vardon, wines from the bottle shop will be available for on-site consumption for a $20 corkage fee. A list of rare, high-end domestic and international wines will also be available by the glass. East End Cellars Norwood will be South Australia’s first Krug “Champagne Embassy” with prestigious bubbles available by the glass. There’ll also be cocktails and beers on tap with a coffee machine pumping out takeaways in the morning, too.

The fit-out reflects East End Cellars’ distinctive style, with a couple of tables inside and a mass of al fresco seating with umbrellas and“great furniture”. There will also be jazz tunes (“plus a bit of ’60s and some alternative and hip-hop”) creating the ultimate wine bar atmosphere.

East End Cellars Norwood is also set to host wine-centred events including tastings and dinners.

“We want to make it intimate [to] give us an opportunity to connect with our guests,” says Smeysters. “We have a few surprise tastings coming up but will keep that reveal for a bit later.”

East End Cellars Norwood will open in September and will operate seven days a week.

East End Cellars Norwood
100 Magill Road, Norwood

www.eecnorwood.com.au
@eastendcellarsnorwood

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