SA’s delicious.SA: Regional 50 — Clare wine region serving up an exciting regional dining experience
The rural charm and fine wines of Clare are now matched by some of the state’s most exciting regional dining experiences, writes Simon Wilkinson.
Food & Wine
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Hitting the road this summer? The new delicious.SA: Regional 50 highlights the best eating and drinking in the state - including one of the hottest places right now.
You never know what you’ll find around the next corner when winding through the Clare Valley.
Smoke drifting from the chimney of an old stone farmhouse with chooks scrabbling about in the front yard. Vine-covered slopes leading to a yet-to-be-discovered cellar door.
Untouched bushland. Views across a patchwork of paddocks in some of the state’s most productive cropping land.
Clare has always felt different from larger wine regions nearer the city, such as the Barossa and McLaren Vale. It has that extra degree of separation and small-town vibe of the countryside.
But while Clare has always punched above its weight in the world of wine (particularly for lovers of riesling and other cool-climate varieties), it has fallen short when it comes to dining. Until now.
As revealed in the new delicious.SA: Regional 50 restaurant guide, Clare’s food scene has flourished in the past year or two – the problem now is not where to eat but how to fit so many options into a single trip away.
The answer, clearly, is to go again and again.
Not surprisingly, the area’s wineries have played a leading role, not only through their own ventures but also working together to nurture a stronger regional food culture to the benefit of all.
Leading the way is Paulett and its Bush Devine cafe that last month won a Great Wine Capitals Best of Wine Tourism award thanks to the inspired native-ingredient-led creations of young gun chef Tom Erkelenz.
A few twists and turns further along Polish Hill Rd, Pikes winery has built an inspired pavilion of stone and glass that rivals any regional dining space in the state.
Dan Moss at Terroir in Auburn was one of the first in the region to delve deeply into the network of surrounding producers and maintains a strict locavore (local food) ethos.
The new Watervale Hotel has taken this a step further, sourcing ingredients from its own Penobscot Farm for its multi-layered menus. Pumpkins that have been smoked over a firepit, for instance.
Co-owner Warrick Duthy reckons the unique climate pattern of the region is behind the quality of what it grows.
“We’re a bit like the Barossa during the day and the Adelaide Hills at night,” he says. “That means you get beautiful ripe fruit (wine grapes) but you also get long natural acidity.
“Now, as a farmer, when we look at our citrus and tomatoes, I see exactly the same thing. You get a beautiful balance of rich fruit flavour and really good natural acids. You can really taste that temperature difference.”
BUSH DEVINE CAFÉ, PAULETT
752 Jolly Way, Polish Hill River
WHEN the bush garden at Paulett cellar door was planted in 2010, Thomas Erkelenz was still at school in Clare and planning on a career in psychology.
After starting as a kitchen-hand to pay his way through uni, he discovered this was the work he loved and moved to the city to become an apprentice chef.
Now, a decade later, he is back home and making magic with the native ingredients growing in that Paulett garden as the head chef of Bush Devine.
“I’ve had to learn a lot on the run and that has been a blessing rather than a curse,” he says of native foods.
“You have no preconceived ideas … it’s all new. You have ingredients like muntries come in and you go ‘What the hell are these’ and you work it out.”
He is particularly proud of the raw kingfish he serves with native versions of Japanese condiments, including a finger lime yuzu kosho, native plum umeboshi and fermented bunya nut soy sauce.
“It was a creative process taken by the whole kitchen,” he says. “It’s everything we are about and great fun.”
paulettwines.com.au
SLATE, PIKES WINES
233 Polish Hill Rd, Sevenhill
For chef Rory Brennand, there is no looking back.
Having left the high-stakes restaurant scene of Sydney, where he worked in the kitchens of fine diners including Sepia and Aria, then being locked away for two weeks of quarantine, he is now working to get “plugged into the network of local producers” and adjusting to small-town life.
The results are already being seen on the menu at Slate, a stunning construction of local stone and native timber that overlooks the vineyard at Pikes.
Foraged pine needles add an extra layer of flavour to a dish of crispy spiced Gawler River quail. Port Lincoln mulloway is served en papillote (in a paper package) topped with Goolwa pipis, shiitake mushroom and radish.
“I’m really trying to push local produce and local food,” Rory says. “That’s how it should be.”
Andrew Pike sees the restaurant as important to his family’s overall business and part of a bigger push to promote the region as more than a destination for great riesling.
“It’s about growing the pie and everybody benefits,” he says. “Clare is coming out of the closet. It is starting to put a bit of fizz into the regional food scene.”
pikeswines.com.au/slate
ALSO CONSIDER
O’Leary Walker
This hilltop cellar door has one of Clare’s best views and plenty of lawn for youngsters to dash around while the grown-ups are inside. The impressive restaurant also tries to keep all age groups happy, with dishes such as duck breast topped with rhubarb, blueberry, lavender and duck skin crumble, as well as a superior kids’ menu.
Terroir
There’s a real community spirit attached to this charmer of a restaurant in the little town of Auburn. No wonder when Dan (chef) and Annika Moss continue to support their neighbours with a strong buy-local ethos and a warm approach to service that makes everyone feel welcome.
COMING SOON
Seed
The next move for Guy Parkinson and the team behind Seed. An old bank in Clare’s main street will open early next year as a produce deli, bistro and rooftop bar. Meanwhile, SeedStreet will continue to knock out next-level burgers and fish and chips.
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