Welcome to the Club Is Coming to Tasting Australia – and Bringing Top Aussie Chefs With It

Top chefs will join nonnas, yiayias and volunteers in the kitchens of Adelaide’s cultural clubs when Tasting Australia’s new dining series hits Adelaide this May.

South Australia’s cultural clubs are joyous places where generations of immigrants celebrate their culinary heritage. Despite driving past their buildings on suburban and city streets daily, many locals don’t know what’s happening inside. That’s about to change thanks to a chef takeover with collaboration at heart.

“When Australia’s best chefs step into community clubs, they’re not taking over, they’re listening,” says festival curator Duncan Welgemoed. “These rooms already know how to feed people properly with memory, ritual and care. When a Serbian or Polish club opens its kitchen to a wider audience, culture stops being a label and becomes a shared table.”

The five-night series kicks off in Hindmarsh, where the multi-generational Slovenian Club typically serves kranjska sausage and schnapps. On Friday May 8, Thelma’s Tom Campbell  and Dirty Dorris’s Denny Braden will team up with Sydney-based Dan Puskas of Sydney institutions Corner 75 and Sixpenny to turn up the Euro volume with their take on Slovenian classics.

“Food is how our community has always told its story,” says Slovenian Club committee member Nina Jerebica. “Inviting chefs into the club lets us share that story beyond our own walls in a way that feels generous, proud and very much alive.”

On Saturday May 9, Felixstow’s Fogolar Furlan serves Italian perfection thanks to Max and Laura Sharrad (both of Fugazzi) and Enrico Sgarbossa, who opened an eponymous pizzeria in the Hills last year. Bottega Gelateria is on dessert duties. Front-of-house maestro Sharon Romeo of Fino Vino and the Radio Italia crew will be on the floor to heighten the Italo-vibes.

For a lively Austrian atmosphere in an underground setting, the Austrian Club’s “kellerstuberl” (cellar room)  will welcome three top chefs on Thursday May 14. Darren Robertson of Three Blue Ducks fame, the Watervale Hotel’s Nicola Palmer and Quentin Whittle of Herringbone and Trak will join Viennese volunteers in a kitchen tucked away inside a former Dominican Catholic School.

“We’re thrilled to share our culture with the public,” says club president Herbie Reiter. “I know there will be schnitzel on the menu but in terms of what [other] Austrian-inspired dishes the chefs come up with, we’re excited to see that too.”

On Friday May 15, it’s all about Polish cuisine at the Dom Polski Centre in Adelaide’s CBD. The country’s famous pierogi will make an appearance, but chefs Imogen Czulowski, Northern Rivers chef Matt Stone and Phil Helyard of Peel Street Restaurant will delve deeper, serving lesser-known dishes. Poland-born sommelier and front-of-house superstar Agnes Wyszomirska, who moved to Australia seven years ago, will also anchor the event.

“Tennis fans might remember how Polish player Iga Swiątek shocked Wimbledon when she praised pasta with strawberries, a classic Polish summer dish and a nostalgic favourite from her childhood in Poland,” Wyszomirska says. “The news went viral and sparked an interest in Polish cuisine, which is more than just dumplings. I hope to do the same: shock, inspire and share the best sommelier stories from Poland. The wine culture in Poland is still evolving and gaining momentum, so experimentation and breaking stereotypes is in our nature.”

It’s a Greek finish to the series with Ozge Kalvo of Hot Listed Sydney Greek restaurant Olympus, fellow Sydneysider Jason Roberts (Manly Pavilion) and local legend and many-time Masterchef-er Callum Hann hitting the Hellenic Club in Woodville South on Saturday May 16.

Each dinner is four courses and a drink on arrival. Tickets are $110.

For the past six months, Broadsheet has frequented Adelaide’s cultural clubs as part of our Welcome to the Club columns written by Katie Spain. The Tasting Australia Club Series will be hosted by Spain. Tickets will be available on the Tasting Australia website from 7am on Thursday February 5.

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