Restaurant Reviews - Good Life Pizza and Chocolatree

 

Last night we had a bit of a treat... we went to Good Life (Modern Organic) Pizza's, in North Adelaide's O'Connell Street (which also has a cafe in Hutt Street in the city and in Glenelg. Actually, we've been meaning to come here for quite some time, and just hadn't got of our backsides until now. And whilst we didn't have our good camera with us, or our wits, we enjoyed the evening... which we'll share with you now.

If it had escaped you, the whole thing about this place can be broken into two main components: Pizza + organic ingredients. A simple recipe... and one that should be extra divine. Have I mentioned that T-chan, L-kun and I are Pizza freaks. Well, strictly speaking, L-kun is a garlic bread freak. So we ordered a two garlic breads and an olive bread.

I have to admit, our first impression was a little bit of disappointment. The garlic bread was decidedly un-garlicy, and the olive bread was even more disappointing (at $4.5 per slice it should have been divine). The olive bread consisted of a thick slice of Turkish bread with an organic olive tapenade. Now T-chan doesn't like olives, but I love them - and my mouth was watering expecting a luscious flavour. I was disappointed. The flavour was muted to the point that even T-chan could eat. So things got off to a rocky start. And don't get me started on the waitress... at every opportunity she would ask us if we wanted a drink - despite the fact that we told her that we wanted to read the menu first. Please listen!

So we then ordered our pizzas: organic free-range chicken with baby potatoes, garlic, rosemary and paremesan. Sounds simple... but I can honestly say it was the best chicken pizza that we've ever tasted. Not only that it was some of the best chicken that we've tasted. We could have eaten more and more of it. Big thumbs up! Oh by the way - we forgot to take the camera out until we'd almost finished, hence the sort of unsophisticated 'half eaten' look. It may not look like much, but it was extremely delicious.

The other pizza we had was the Smoked Salmon, with a combination of preserved lemon, caper mayonnaise and mizuna (or Japanese greens). This was also quite yummy - though not as amazing as the chicken - and the caper mayonnaise really set it off. Both of these were very simple in construction, but it just goes to show the value of good ingredients.

I should also give a shout out to the Mountain Goat Steam Ale which I had... once again a beautifully organic brew that was +1's all around from me. Our overall experience was good, but the downside of the garlic/olive bread, plus that there was a very large (noisy) booking that evening detracted a bit. The pizzas were about $15-25 per 9" pizza... so not cheap, but I think worth it for the quality ingredients.

Good Life's details are:

5/11 O'Connell Street, North Adelaide

Phone: 8267 3431 (note - they didn't reply to the phone messages until after 4:30 pm, so book evening before).

Any way - we had decided to go elsewhere for desserts and drink... as we don't often go out these days, we wanted to try a new-ish place in North Adelaide called the Chocolatree - Fine Chocolate and Dessert Cafe. This was a bit of a surprise for us, as it perhaps didn't quite attract enough attention from the foot-path... but once in, we realised that there was quite a bit of room, especially in terms of outdoor seating at the back.

As it was a chocolate cafe - there was plenty of delicious looking boutique chocolates to be had... 

Though there was plenty of variety beyond the simple delights of quality chocolate. 

Given that it as a chocolate cafe however, we decided to share a Chocolate Mousse... and it was a good thing that we had ordered to share, because believe me this little baby (which is served with an extra helping of rich Belgian melted chocolate) is divinely rich. Superbly - but too-much-to-be-good-for-you rich. We loved it however. 

I rather foolishly... I admit... ordered the Chocolate Indulgence to drink. It was incredibly chocolatey... and I just about melted into it's rich brown depths. However... when combined with the Mousse, I almost - and I really mean almost - reached my limit. I don't want to imagine what would have happened if I had crossed that line. Best not to think about it. 

T-chan ordered the Chai Latte...  which was delicious as well, and thankfully not laden with chocolate. 

We gave L-kun the choice of any delectable... he went with the bling of 100's and 1000's and ordered the Chocolate Freckle Round. He's a boy of simple tastes and drives.

As T-chan sat blissfully unaware (in a cocoa induced stupor) this cheeky shot some how summed up our experience. Caution: Mind your step! There is such a thing as too much of a good thing, and we had only just escaped the evening with our dignity intact. But - if given the chance again, we most probably would have indulged just as much next time again. I have to say that I'd also try some of their signature dishes like the truffles and the chocolate fondue.... yummy.

Chocolatrees Details:

25 O'Connell Street, North Adelaide

8367 0443

In closing - it was a great night out, and we all had a good feed and lots of good memories. I would recommend it to anyone... though don't expect the _perfect_ experience and you'll have a great time.