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There’s a confidence to Ricehome, a new Adelaide restaurant built around patience, tradition and a finessing of flavour. Specialising in claypot rice and slow-simmered stew soups, the Ricehome owners tell us they’re doing something that perhaps no other venue in Adelaide is currently offering: cooking claypot rice fresh from raw rice, to order, every single time.
Usually rice will be cooked in batches for efficiency, but here, raw rice is added to the clay pot and cooked slowly, allowing the grains to release their natural aroma while absorbing the richness of the meats layered on top. The result is rice that’s deeply fragrant, textured, and infused with flavour right through the pot.
The menu leans heavily into classic Cantonese comfort food, with claypot rice dishes designed to be warming, satisfying and layered with savoury depth. Options include black bean pork ribs, spicy pork ribs, and Chinese sausage paired with pork ribs, alongside minced pork patties mixed through shiitake mushrooms, preserved mustard greens or salted fish. There are also heartier combinations like pork belly with pork ribs, pork belly with salted fish, beef with pickled mustard greens, and beef folded through soft scrambled egg. Chicken claypot rice appears with shiitake mushrooms or Chinese sausage, while minced pork with eggplant rounds out the line-up with something rich and comforting.
Guests are asked to allow around 15 to 20 minutes for preparation, a small wait that’s central to the experience. The slow cook is deliberate, and the Ricehome owners say it shows.
While the flavours are rooted in tradition, there’s a strong house identity running through everything. Both the chilli sauce and soy sauce are made entirely in-house, prepared by hand to complement the claypot dishes rather than overpower them. It’s a small detail, but one that reinforces Ricehome’s focus on control, balance and depth.
For owners Annie and Kary, claypot rice is personal. Originating from their hometown of Guangzhou, the dish represents the taste of home and the food they grew up with. It’s this connection that shaped Ricehome long before the doors opened, with nearly two years spent refining recipes, techniques and timing to ensure each pot delivers that same familiar, comforting feeling they remember.
“As mothers, food safety and quality matter a lot to us,” they say. “We don’t just cook for customers, we cook the same way we would for our own families.”
Ricehome isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel. Instead, it takes time and care with its dishes and it’s all part of the experience.
Ricehome
Where: 27 Field St, Adelaide
When: Tuesday to Sunday 5-9:30pm
For more info, click here.
