Sunset on Kangaroo Island – it’s stunning

It’s a stunning view and food to match: a young couple have taken a holiday hotspot to the next level, writes Simon Wilkinson

IN this ludicrously privileged role of visiting the state’s best restaurants to fill this weekly diatribe, there is one notable gap in my resume that is unlikely to ever be filled.

For while its cooking might well be exemplary and its service beyond compare, the Southern Ocean Lodge is an unattainable dream for the likes of you and me.

As well as being at the far end of Kangaroo Island, a logistic challenge in itself, the food experience at SOL is available only to house guests. And with room rates kicking off at more than $2000 a night (including food and drinks), it’s an expenses claim that only the most thick-skinned pollie would even think of lodging.

.Nomad chicken, sweetcorn,gritz at Sunset on KI . Picture: TAIT SCHMAAL

However, on a recent, overdue visit to check out the island’s dining renaissance, I found the next best thing, for a comparatively minuscule investment, at Sunset Food and Wine.

The young owners, Jack Ingram and Vanessa Cu, both came to the island for jobs at the prestigious lodge, where he was executive chef and she managed food and beverages. Together, in an old winery a short drive from Penneshaw, they have put together a restaurant with the locavore passion and sophisticated palate that KI has long deserved.

Oh, and it also has one helluva setting, on a steep hillside above the road, looking across the water to American River as the sun dips from view and the bay is infused with a rosy glow (hence that mildly naff name, adapted from the previous tenant).

You might choose to sit inside, out of the breeze, free from flies, on more giving seats, but I wouldn’t recommend it, at least until the evening chills really kick in.

The other option is out on a deck, where diners are comfortably spaced along park-style benches that could do with a cushion or two, and blinds are manipulated to cut the glare but give as much access as possible to the view.

No, it’s not terribly lodge-like, but just as special in its own informal, outdoorsy way – particularly with a glass of something good and a starter of snook pate.

The locally caught fish has been lightly smoked and processed into a luscious, silky emulsion in which its presence is never in doubt. Alongside are two small flatbreads, flecked with chives, dill and parsley, pocked with char marks and still warm from the pan. Dollop one on the other, add a slender disc of lightly pickled cucumber, take in the view, and this is the ultimate beach shack bickie and dip.

Ingredients from the island are scattered here and there on the menu, limited at least in part by difficulties in the supply chain. The only abattoir is on the mainland, for instance, and the chook farm is no more.

Lamb tartare at Sunset. Picture: TAIT SCHMAAL.

So, there is a tartare of hand-cut KI lamb that has divine texture but would have shone brighter with less of its Tabasco/caper dressing. It’s accompanied by beetroot relish and KI potato crisps. And KI whiting, coated in a “milanese” style parmesan crumb, with cabbage slaw.

The rest of the seafood, a little disappointingly, comes from elsewhere. A kingfish wing, one fin jutting defiantly skyward, carries a plentiful lode of glossy, pure white meat, the belly fat keeping it so rich and buttery it might be the best lobster. A sauce based on the soft, spicy nduja sausage, curry leaves and grilled lime all play along.

Catch of the day is mulloway, from the Coorong most likely, the fillet pan-fried and nestled into a mattress of pulverised peas, surrounded by two forms of zucchini and mussels that have been soaked in a strangely sweet pickle.

Chicken from Fleurieu producer Nomad Farm is split into the roasted breast and legs that are shredded to make a rillette. The partner here is corn, both as charred kernels and a base layer of grits.

The quote marks around “mille-feuille” hint that it may not be the traditional construction, and so it proves. Instead, while the puff pastry is built into a block of crunchy, frangipane-smeared layers, other elements including fresh blackberries, honey ice cream and a wildly coloured emulsion based on blackcurrant liqueur come together on the spoon.

At the end, there is no luxury pavilion to wander back to, no king bed, sunken lounge or heated floors. Just a short drive to a B&B with scratchy towels and a beach down the road. That’s the KI most people know and love. The one pitfall had always been the dining scene. But with Sunset leading the charge, and a few other SOL alumni setting up elsewhere, that is changing for the better. So it isn’t just the pampered few who are benefiting after all.

SUNSET FOOD AND WINE

4564 Hog Bay Rd, Penneshaw, Kangaroo Island, 8553 1378

sunsetfoodandwine.com

OWNERS Jack Ingram and Vanessa Cu

CHEF Jack Ingram

FOOD Contemporary/regional

ENTREE $18-$22 MAIN $33-$41

DESSERT $14-$16

DRINKS Mostly Australian labels on a terrific list compiled by someone with a passion for wine. Rockford 2014 GSM at $14 a glass — how could you say no?

OPEN BREAKFAST Sat, LUNCH Tue-Sat, DINNER Thu-Sat

Score: 15.5/20