SA Weekend restaurant review: Down the Rabbit Hole at McLaren Vale

The whole aesthetic looks like it’s been curated just for Instagram. But while the food is beautifully photogranic, there’s nothing fake about this McLaren Vale wonderland.

Down the Rabbit Hole, McLaren Vale

Imagine a Wonderland with multiple Alices, Harry Potter’s double-decker bus and an assortment of fairytale cottages.

A place where every item of boho clothing, every cushion and even the contented chooks look as if they have been painstakingly styled as part of an Instagram ploy.

Yes, it is easy to be cynical about the image-conscious motivations of Down the Rabbit Hole, a creek-side cellar door and eatery to the south of McLaren Vale.

But, if you are anything like me, it won’t be long before the genuine hospitality and quality of the whole package wins you over.

Let’s start with the squadron of flaxen-haired “Alices”.

The first one meets us a few steps on to the property, greets us warmly, engages in banter, guides us to the right door.

Inside, another introduces herself (not Alice, apparently), asks our names and remembers them for the rest of the afternoon.

Kingfish ceviche with chilli and honey dressing.

We are sitting in a room painted in white and dusky pink, the design cues mostly from Scandinavia, with a few North African tiles and arches, and hippie woven lampshades thrown in.

Well-spaced folding tables are pulled up to benches along the wall.

A lounge zone to one side has armchairs and a wood heater.

Every item, down to the vases of fresh flowers at the bar, has been carefully chosen.

In contrast to most of its neighbours, DTRH restricts restaurant-style service to weekdays, when customers can be given more personal attention.

Weekend crowds (and it can feel like one big party, apparently) are offered simpler grazing boards and a handful of specials.

Head chef Cameron Clarke (ex-Salopian Inn) and his team know how to make a plate look photogenic but, once again, the style is matched by substance.

Even an appetiser of beetroot and goat cheese, layered like a pink and purple licorice allsort, is delicious, particularly with a toasted hazelnut on top.

Shanghai pork soup dumplings with chilli dressing.

More serious intent is shown in a dish of raw kingfish, with a faint hint of ceviche-style curing at the edges, crowned with daikon and fresh wasabi, then finished with a chilli, soy and honey dressing.

The acid balance of the Japan-meets-Peru dressing and quality of the fish both stand out.

Pork dumplings have the tender wrapper and juicy pork filling you would expect from someone who has spent time at the Salopian, as well as a scorched chilli relish/dressing that is still being sampled long after the dumplings have gone.

Kingfish ceviche with chilli and honey dressing.

Of the larger serves, the golden, spiral-cut lid of a mushroom and taleggio pithivier (aka pie) looks straight from the pages of a classic French cooking tome, as do the crisp slices of a potato galette. Carrot puree, a green apple and lentil salad and a vegan-friendly jus fill the rest of the plate.

A thick slab of grass-fed sirloin, sliced in half to show off its ruby, medium-rare flesh, tastes every bit as big and beefy as it looks.

An accompanying swirl of chermoula, baba ganoush and labneh all lend North African notes which makes the potato rosti a little like finding a jersey cow in the middle of the Sahara.

The dining room.

Table setting at Down the Rabbit Hole.

Dessert provides two diverging paths. Rich, squidgy chocolate and red wine brownie with fresh orange and a Mexican caramel ice cream is for those who prefer an indulgent finish. The second option is a long wedge of roasted pineapple nestled beside a piped line of cream cheese whipped with whey caramel, cubes of cinnamon biscuit and dried pineapple. A deconstructed cheesecake of sorts, the tang of the fruit and a pool of eucalypt syrup keeps it balanced and intriguing.

After lunch, we poke our heads into the renovated bus and watch a relaxed group tasting wine they seem to enjoy every bit as much as we did. There’s nothing fake about any of this. I’m converted.