On Sunday night, Adelaide Food Central visited the famous Sammy’s on the Marina at Glenelg, to sample their new menu items, including their delicious and inventive sunset cocktail menu. The Sammy’s brand has been around for 30 years and it still strives to present high quality seafood to people around South Australia and beyond.

We were seated upstairs in the beautiful sea view private dining area, with a gorgeous balcony and 270 degree views of the marina. Here we sampled a few of their new menu items, which included some dishes we will never forget.

We began with some of the snacks on their new sunset menu starting with the Seafood Tasting Plate with Fresh SA King Prawns, Coffin Bay natural oysters, grilled octopus and salt and pepper squid served with a selection of condiments. A tasting plate is a fantastic way to try a little bit of everything from a large menu. My favourite part of this plate would have to be the coffin bay oysters. Oysters have always been my favourite food in the world, and it was great to see such a fresh addition to the plate.

The next dish that we were lucky enough to try was the House Smoked Tuna Carpaccio with feta and watermelon salad. This was by far my favourite dish of the night; it was a little bit different to everything else we had tried and a little bit fancy. I loved how fresh the tuna was and it paired perfectly with the sweet watermelon and the creamy feta cheese.

Next up was the Summer Crab Salad with ceaser dressing, aged parmesan snow, bacon fat tossed croutons, bacon, chips and baby romaine. Do you like caeser salad? What about crab? Well then this is the perfect combination for you. A fresh salad, with subtle crab, and tasty bacon that created a filing and refreshing dish.

The last of the entrees was the SA Prawn Rolls with chardonnay mornay sauce, lumpfish caviar and rhubarb. This is a great snack if you are wanting something to eat after work with a refreshing drink. You could eat even just one of these and become quite full, as they are heavy, but absolutely delicious. The creamy mornay sauce, with the salty lumpfish and sweet rhubarb is a great combination.

After trying the delicious snack menu, some favourites from the main menu were bought out. We started with the favourite of the night the Thai Baked Snapper in banana leaf with raw papaya and a bean and mango salad. I have never been a huge fan of whole fish served in this way, but I was pleasantly surprised with the flavours that this dish presented. The subtle fish was lightly seasoned and served with a sweet salad, which complimented the each other. The fish had been cooked in a banana leaf, which gave it not only difference in taste, but an overall different aesthetic.

The grand finale was the Amazing Aussie Favourites which included wine tossed grilled scallops, grilled prawns, grilled octopus, herb crumbed King George whiting, grilled prawn skewers, salt and pepper squid served with cucumber, fennel and orange salad. The idea with this platter is that you can mix and match the seafood that you would like to try. I am a sucker for scallops so I was excited to dive into these and experience the taste of the sea in my mouth. The scallops were accompanied by a light butter and garlic, which I believe is the right way to marinate this kind of seafood. The salt and pepper squid was another crowd favourite, with a lot of flavour and a crunchy batter. I can tell why this dish is named what it is as there is something for every Aussie seafood lover.

Thank you to Savvy and the team at Sammy’s on the Marina for inviting us along to sample their new menu items. We will sure to be back to enjoy another beautiful cocktail and seafood on the balcony when summer really hits.

Words by Tomika Salerno

WHERE: 1/12 Holdfast Promenade, Glenelg