The Hagen Arms | SA Weekend restaurant review

An encounter with a snake sets the scene for a country pub serving fancy dishes that look as if they’ve been put together by a greengrocer – and are all the better for it.

The Hagen Arms in Echunga is “one of the great discoveries of the dining year”, according to Simon Wilkinson.

On the footpath outside the pub where we’re heading for lunch, our group’s progress is halted by a shriek from the front. “S … N … A … K … E!” It isn’t a false alarm or an over-reaction. A young, metre-long brown snake is sunbaking a mere step away. Fortunately, the interloper is equally alarmed and quickly finds refuge beneath a large timber sleeper. Clearly, the hotel in question is outside the city limits but not, as you might assume, in a remote, wilderness location.

Echunga (not to be confused with Euduna or Echuca) is between Mylor and Meadows in the Adelaide Hills, and this quiet town is home to one of the great discoveries of the dining year.

The Hagen Arms strikes the right balance for a country pub, with a front bar where locals in their working clobber are still happy to pull up a stool and down a well-earned pint. On the other hand, the food, while never pompous, is made with all the care and consideration you’d expect from a high-profile chef. And the wine list stretches far and wide while still offering a range of eminently drinkable bottles for only $35.

Blue swimmer crab buns at The Hagen Arms, Echunga.

Kingfish sashimi with fermented chilli and artichoke chips at The Hagen Arms, Echunga.

That list also provides a clue to the Hagen’s owner, Steve Grimley, and a family company with wine/hospitality related brands including Five O’Clock Somewhere, Loom and Daily Grind. He saw the potential in the property established by Echunga’s founding father, Jacob Hagen, in 1848 that now includes a front bar, dining rooms and cellar, all stripped back to show off the wonderful brick and stone work.

Beyond that facilities are limited and, for now at least, the kitchen has been set up in a shipping container plonked on to the patio at the rear.

For chef Ben Fenwick, who has a background including the Bird in Hand winery and more recently Bridgewater Mill, it could be seen as an unfortunate change in circumstances. But he and right-hand-man Billy Hatwell seem to be relishing the challenge.

My first encounter with The Hagen follows a long hike in the surrounding countryside, when the idea of a quick quenching beverage morphs into a light lunch of blue swimmer crab buns and a charred cauli salad. Both show the kind of star quality that demands a return visit.

Fried gnocchi with roasted pumpkin and hazelnuts at The Hagen Arms, Echunga.

So a week later an expanded entourage sits down for a proper meal, coincidentally at the same high table in the front bar we’d occupied previously. The deja-vu moment stretches into another round of the generously filled sliders, this time teamed with a plate of kingfish sashimi glowing with rosy-cheeked freshness, topped by little dabs of fermented chilli, fried Jerusalem artichoke chips and a light ponzu dressing. Perfect. Pub classics including an intimidating beef burger and crumbed fish (this day flake) with chips and tartare are handled with aplomb.

More contemporary dishes look as if they have been put together by a green grocer and are all the better for it. For chipotle braised lamb shoulder pieces on a bed of baba ganoush, the accompaniments are asparagus spears and finely sliced discs of radish and cucumber, as well as a final sprinkle of the Middle Eastern mix of dried herbs and spices known as za’atar.

Lamb shoulder with babaganoush and asparagus at The Hagen Arms, Echunga.

Vanilla panna cotta with strawberries and shortbread at The Hagen Arms, Echunga.

“Roasted” Nomad Farms chook comes with romesco sauce and a who’s-who of the pepper world (capsicum, banana pepper, jalapeño, padron chilli) so each mouthful offers variations of smoky sweetness and the occasional jolt of heat. Indeed, the use of chilli across the menu, notably in a Thai-style fish curry, is masterful.

The only time the cooking falters is in a batch of leaden-textured fried gnocchi that doesn’t do justice to a soulful combination of roasted pumpkin, onion soubise, hazelnuts and salsa verde.

Two desserts are black and white, good and evil. Vanilla panna cotta, strawberries and shortbread versus brownie, choc-coffee sauce and rum-soaked raisins. I’d take the latter.

And our friend Joe Blake? Unfortunately, he picked the wrong time to cross a country road.

For more reviews visit delicious.com.au/eatout