2022
Rows of exotic and rare rice wine vinegar, lined up against old stained glass windows advertising Amscol Icecream,
Welcome .. to the local deli’s of the sleepy beach suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia.
The last few decades have seen Delis / milk bars / corner stores, whatever you want to call them, slowly disappear from suburban streets. I had thought t these corner stores, the cornerstones of my youth were gone, replaced with enchained supermarkets, Rubber stamped, visual display approved, Service Stations and vending machine robots. Living snd walking through back streets of the suburbs of Port Adelaide has revealed some secret and not so secret, morphing deli’s, scattered in strange places.
Here’s a list of four favourites I’ve uncovered in my wanderings.
The Alpine Deli
Chocolate donuts. Well, some things never change. At 7am on a Tuesday morning the Alpine deli is busy with young men in high visibility vests on their way into building sites, keen office workers craving a flat white before their commute and me. Watching it all with a great sense of joy knowing that this banging little joint isn’t about to shut up shop any time soon.
They’re booming.
The Friendly Deli - Hargrave St, Peterhead.
Rice wine vinegar and Sriracha chilli sauce standing to attention next to original Gumball machines, still shooting brightly coloured concrete Gumbolls that look as old as the stained glass windows.
Anh sits at the counter watching streaming mandarin TV, A sitcom. I think it’s about a lady in a karate outfit who has long red talon nails and uses them to point and look angry at a cowering Ninja. There’s a port power football team shrine next to a waving Asian Kitty robot, next to an effigy of Buddha. Says it all really doesn’t it?
Regent Deli - Military Rd Taperoo
Iced Vietnamese coffee anyone? The last time I had the condensed milk bundle of cool caffeine I was sitting in Hoi-An waiting fo ray boots to be repaired. The Regent Deli also knows the recipe for deli success and I’ve never been the only customer here regardless of when, between 6am - 8pm I end up there. They boast a few delicacies like the coffee and traditional Banh-Mi rolls . Mum tells me it’s a family who run the deli and they live next door to Doughie Baker’s old house. Mum tells me they’re good people. Nice people. I agree. They are.
The Wills St / Fletcher Road “yeros” deli.
Old Lino and an elderly man in an immaculately pressed shirt and vest greet me as I walk into the Deli near the corner of Wills and Fletcher road. He’s got a formal British accent with something that sounds like an Eastern European lilt underneath, calls me Madam and has a sign on the front advertising “yeros” $7. Inside I find “fake” frog cakes (a South Australian classic) for $1 each, next to Koulourkia (greek easter biscuits).
I can’t work this place out. He’s clearly been here for many years and has a greek “connection” who might have dyslexia. But what’s his story? When did he come to Australia? Why is there a Greek connection? Please do go .. help me solve this mystery!
So, here are four.. there are more and this intrepid Deli reporter will continue to explore and update you on old delis. They’re still around so get along to one soon. They’re changing .. still run by new migrants, filled with different treats. Vale 5 cent cobbers and 2 cent spearmint leaves. Come on in Banh-Mi and Vietnamese coffee, Rice Vinegar sitting against those stained glass windows. $1 lolly bags are still there and aren’t too bad. You can still get milk bottles, snakes and jelly beans. Oh .. and also now, Indonesian ginger candy.
