What’s better than snacks? Free snacks.
Rundle Street basement bar Hellbound is running a daily aperitivo “hour” from 4pm to 6pm, and opening seven days a week (instead of the usual Wednesday to Sunday) until around Easter.
Do as the Europeans do: order an aperitivo; get a free, bite-sized portion of a dish from one of the city’s best bar menus. You might get a teaser of whipped tahini with date butter and dukkah; sardines with red capsicum, pomegranate and smoked almonds; or anchovies with almond tarator (sauce) and pickled capsicum.
As it is, “We change our by-the-glass wine list twice a week,” Reginato says. The aperitivo list is just as spontaneous: “If it’s 45 degrees, I might put eight sherries on the bar.”
Hellbound is a wine bar, first and foremost. Choose from French champagne, a haul of fortifieds such as vermouth and sherry (there’ll be magnums, says Reginato), or a few different spritzes. There's also Mortiz Spanish lager (from the state’s only tap) and some “large-format” beers and ciders.
Also keep your eyes peeled for the “Destroyer”. It’s an Adelaide Hills chardonnay made by Col McBryde of Adelina Wines and bottled under Hellbound co-owner Louis Schofield’s label, Worlds Apart Wines. The three-year-French-barrel-aged white has an oxidative character (similar to dry sherry) but retains its zesty fruit characteristics.
Hellbound
Downstairs, 201 Rundle Street, Adelaide
Hours (from Monday November 5):
Mon & Tue 4pm–10pm
Wed & Thu 4pm–12pm
Fri & Sat 4pm–1am
Sun 4pm–12pm
This article was updated on December 10, 2018. It first appeared on Broadsheet on October 25, 2018. Menu items may have changed since publication.
