The familiar bluestone building overlooking Whitmore Square has reopened, bringing a new multicultural taphouse and pizzeria to the city venue.
HC317 is located at the former Mismatch Brewery site at 317 Morphett Street, complete with daily mahjong, craft beer, rooftop barbecue nights and live music.
The venue officially opened on August 20 after first trialling its restaurant operation in July while waiting for its liquor licence.
The team moved into the building in May, spending several months getting the venue ready, co-owner Steven told Glam Adelaide.
“During that time, many pedestrians and people who live locally came over and asked whether we were bringing the venue back to life,” Steven says.
“I think there are many people in Adelaide who know this place and want it to be brought back to life.”
While the venue retains some of the characteristics of its former life as a taphouse, including its extensive beer setup, Steven says HC317 has a different customer focus to Mismatch.
“There’s a lot of students in the area and we want it to have a real social feel here,” he said.
At the centre of that new identity is mahjong, which is available every day from 2pm, for $20 an hour per table, with a “play 3 hours, get 1 hour free” promotion.
Steven says the venue has already attracted more interest from local mahjong players than he expected, building on a customer base from his previous hospitality businesses.
“Many of the customers we’ve brought over from our older venues are from Asian backgrounds, including Malaysian, Chinese and Japanese customers,” he says.
The venue is designed to make the game accessible even for people who don’t arrive with a ready-made group.
“People come with friends, and it is a four-person game,” Steven says.
“We advertise that people can come by themselves or without a full group of four. We can find other players from among our customers and make up a table for them.”
“It’s a social event and it’s great for meeting people.”
The social focus extends to the drinks offering, with HC317 currently pouring 12 craft beers on tap and plans to have all 16 taps operating by the end of September.
There is also a daily happy hour and beer towers aimed at groups and parties.
Food is another major part of the new venue, with HC317 Pizzeria serving traditional pizza alongside Asian-influenced options, including Chinese braised beef, Chinese sausage and hoisin, Sichuan-style crayfish and Buldak chicken.
The menu also includes more familiar pub fare such as burgers, schnitzels, steak and share plates.
Upstairs, the rooftop is set to become another major drawcard, with HC317 planning Friday barbecue and music nights.
“The rooftop is a semi-open space and we have a bar upstairs as well,” Steven says.
“We’ll have DJs and singers, along with different food and drink combinations.”
The venue is also planning to introduce jazz, Latin music and Latin blues performances from early to mid-October.
“We’re seeing how everything goes and learning what people want because we’re still planning everything,” Steven says.
HC317
When: From 2:00pm daily (lounge from 11:00am on select days)
Where: 317–319 Morphett Street, Adelaide
For more information, click here.
