Established in 1998, ‘SA Mushrooms’ is a family run and owned mushroom business located in Waterloo Corner. With a recent expansion in 2019, ‘SA Mushrooms’ is the second largest producer of mushrooms in South Australia. On Saturday, Adelaide Food Central was invited to attend a long lunch at their farm, which showcased the incredible product that they grow daily.

As we entered the large mushroom farm we were greeted by a beautiful long white table, which was set up with stunning gold plates. Most importantly to the left was the bar, which showcased a small range of ‘Virgara Wines’. I decided to have a glass, or two of their sparkling white wine, which I really enjoyed, slightly sweet and easy to drink. It was great to see this event supporting another local South Australian business, and I am excited to now head up to their winery to see what else they have to offer.

As we were sipping on our drinks, a round of mushrooms, came around with some olive oil and ciabatta. They were some of the juiciest and addictive mushrooms, I just wanted to keep eating them. Before we sat down to our five course lunch, we were taken around the mushroom farm to see how they grow their produce. This was one of the coolest things I had the pleasure of seeing, we were even picking off the fresh mushrooms and eating them as they were growing.

Our first course of the day was the stunning ‘Mushroom Antipasti’ with baby mushrooms, cured meats, buffalo mozzarella, mushroom dip, olives and arancini. Everything was incredibly fresh and of course we polished off the whole platter without taking much of a breath. The arancini was a highlight, crunchy, creamy and flavoursome, everything you could ever want in a rice ball.

Our second course was the ‘Pasta’ with mushroom, spinach, ricotta, tomato, pine nuts and herbs. The sauce that covered this giant pasta, was to die for, extremely flavoursome and authentic, just like Nonna’s. Of course it was filled with juicy mushrooms and topped with crunchy pine nuts. It was a beautiful dish and if I was not in public I probably would have licked the plate clean.

For the main course we had ‘BBQ Quail’ with peppers, argrodolce, and ‘Italian Roast Lamb’ with olives, shallots, garlic, baby mushrooms and peas. The quail was a highlight of the day, roasted perfectly, not over cooked and with incredible seasoning. The lamb was also delicious and paired well with the fresh and soft medditeranian vegetables.

Last but not least we finished with dessert: ‘Fig Crostata’ with vanilla double cream. I love fig in dessert, so this was an awesome combination, especially with the rich cream. It was a wonderful end to a day which was one of my favourite events I have attended so far.

Thank you to Jessica Gerardis and the wonderful Femia family for having us along to see all the hard work that has gone into producing their juicy mushrooms. We were incredibly impressed with everything, and this was especially shown through the dishes that we ate, and the hard work that went into creating this event.

Words by Tomika Salerno

WHERE: 153 Tozer Rd, Waterloo Corner