Many Adelaide residents can still recall a time when walking towards Rundle Street from East Terrace meant being hit a series of rather ugly brown banners draped from The Stag Hotel, emblazoned with phrases like ‘Adelaide’s Worst Vegetarian Restaurant’.

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After closing and then reopening under new management in October, the newly refurbished pub boasted several big changes. As well as offering new facilities like spinoff restaurant Vardon and a champagne bar, The Stag’s new menu even caved in and adopted several vegetarian options.

So now five months into the rebirth, how does the new incarnation of The Stag measure up in the context of its meaty history? ripitup.com.au moseyed on down with a team of four hungry vegetarians to check out the options.

Warm knotted olive roll with cultured butter

The Stag’s bar menu (available from 12.00pm to 9.00pm each day) offers nine vegetarian options including ‘bar nibbles’, sides, two mains and a cheese platter. After some deliberation, our team decided to sample five of these options, settling for the warm knotted olive roll, orchard dukkah, seasoned fries, baked tartlet, and ancient grain salad.

Despite not knowing exactly what cultured butter is, we all thoroughly enjoyed this starter. The bread was soft, warm, and fresh, and even the token olive-hater of the group loved it. The olive roll heralded a good start to our culinary expedition and whet our appetites, both physically and metaphorically.

Cost: $2.50
Score:  4/5

Orchard dukkah with olive oil, goat’s curd and sourdough

The mood improved further when our vegetarians noticed another beloved olive roll sliced up into four dip-friendly segments alongside the promised sourdough. While we liked the olive oil and balsamic vinegar enclosed by a piped ring of goat’s curd on a visual level, we agreed that it was an impractical way to dish up a platter comprised mostly of oil and nuts.

As we tucked into the starter, the plate started to resemble a particularly artistic toddler’s study in texture – some dipping bowls for the various condiments would make it a much more manageable dish. It tasted great though! The dukkah was nicely toasted and complemented the creamy goat’s curd well. Did we mention the olive roll?

Cost: $8
Rating: 3.5/5

Seasoned fries with tomato relish

The fries were solid but unremarkable – hot, not too greasy, could be saltier, but overall fairly neutral. The Switzerland of fries. The relish, however, was an absolute winner. It was the perfect balance between sweet and smoky and had just the right amount of chunkiness to it to make a very satisfying accompaniment.

Cost: $8
Chips rating: 3/5
Relish rating: 5/5

Baked tartlet with beetroot, leek and goat’s curd, $17

The baked tartlet was delicious – the flavours were well-balanced, and the goat’s curd garnish cut through the bake and complemented the beetroot beautifully. However, the tartlet’s ultimate downfall is its price considering the portion size. As delectable as it is, the price seemed a little steep for a small and not-particularly filling bundle.

Cost: $17
Rating: 4/5

Ancient grain salad with herb yoghurt, carrot and walnut dressing

The menu is vague about what’s actually in the salad, so for the benefit of the masses we took it upon ourselves to pick out as much as we could with our amateur palates. The consensus was apples, raisins, goji berries, lentils, quinoa and vinaigrette dressing alongside the listed ingredients.

The salad was crunchy, nutty, chewy, grainy, and gritty – a textural party, if you will, although it was the kind of overwhelming party where there are too many people. The one where you lose your friends in the crowd and consider bailing, but stick it out and end up having a decent time anyway. While the salad was tasty and enjoyable, its price is simply not justifiable. Replace one of the legumes with haloumi and avocado and we’ll talk.

Cost: $17
Rating: 3/5

A hard-won reputation, eagerly abandoned

It seems The Stag left its anti-vegetarian ethos behind the day that the old management shut the doors and binned the banner once and for all. But although you could eat either the baked tartlet or the ancient grain salad as a main, meat-averse patrons may leave slightly unsatisfied.

The Stag seems eager to completely reinvent itself by casting off the shadows of its meat past with its fancy new menu. But neglecting more traditional pub fare isn’t necessarily the only way to do this – we’d be keen to see a veggie burger and eggplant schnitty on the menu.

While the new Stag isn’t the first place a vego would go to eat, they can at least head over without fear of being chased out by someone brandishing a leg of meat at them.

Adelaide’s best vegetarian restaurant? Not quite, but it’s certainly gone a long way to put the past behind it. Lettuce eat!

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