ARCHIVE: POSSUMS CLOSES ... ADELAIDE 1985

By 1985, Adelaide had got too small for Phillip Searle (left) and Barry Ross (right), whose radical restaurant, Possums, broke most of the Adelaide laws that were easiest to break, and quite a few others.

During the Adelaide Hills winter, for example, the staff would scour the damp bush for mushrooms few crazy whites had tried before. Morels, and other European sophistries, were beginning to appear in the best shops at very expensive prices, whilst the Hills were loaded with free native fungi that nobody understood. They'd divide up and eat their daily harvest, and if they tasted good and nobody got sick, they'd be on the menu next day.

Some of us were rather good at the range of mushies we called the brain crayons, but few knew much about those which were simply delicious to eat.

Once they'd decided to move east, Phillip And Barry sold the lease and staged a farewell dinner for Adelaide. First course was meat pies with sauce; dessert was a six foot ice cream cigarette, complete with dry ice within, so it actually smoked as it was devoured.

Arthur's often gets the credit, but, for a brief explosive burst, in its heart, Possums was the true CBGB's of Australian cuisine.

For a more complete essay on this bright slice of Australian culinary history, read Mietta & Friends.

The author deals with his first six foot ice cream cigarette, the Hon. Alexander Rix smiling behind.

The mighty Ned Armstrong, left, and Phillip Searle, right. We'd love to know who the little kid is. He looks like Dylan Thomas, and perhaps that's a lawyerly Dad standing behind? DRINKSTER has no idea who took these rare photographs which we found recently in a box of treasures we'd been a bit scared to open. We'd appreciate any information you can offer.

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