The Arab Steed

The Arab Steed Hotel is a great little local pub on Hutt Street. Great meals, great atmosphere, great prices and a good location in the city. For many it is their local pub because they live in the area and I cannot think of a better place when it comes to a good meal, in a nice venue at a good price. They have a range of choices and whoever is the chef there not only cares about the food but presents it superbly. So we went there for our New Year's Eve meal and , as it turns out, it's how a lot of Adelaide decided to spend NYE...dining, wining, with family and friends, calmly and contentedly. Most of the venues around town were busy and on the drive Cafe Bongiournos was doing a brisk trade and Marcelina's was in a fiesta mood with the balloons and party look. Looked cool. Plenty of families picnicked at the beach reserves and enjoyed the company of others, a nice home provided basket and the beach fireworks. In my travels no one was shouting ,yelling, hooning, drunk or disorderly. It was a quiet evening but everyone had a good sense of self and a pleasant disposition. The generations mixed with marked ease and valued each other. Another good reason to go to The Arab Steed...everyone can dine there and everyone can dine there in comfort. Little children sat happily at tables and participated in conversations, teenagers mixed with the oldies and the oldies felt quite at home. I had the garlic prawns which were brilliant followed by the most superb strawberry pavlova which looked spectacular. I was not allowed to take photos as certain people in our group said they would be far too embarrassed if I sat there snapping the meals...bugga, now you can't see just how great they were. Past that point we champagned on at home with Eric Clapton DVD in Hyde Park...how cool and brilliant was that...so it was a slow, but utterly satisfying New Year where we all stayed up late because we were contented and glad to be in the company of each other.