SA Weekend restaurant review - Muni, in Willunga

With a stunning seafood double-act, this regional surprise packet serves up one of Simon Wilkinson’s “most memorable” dinners of 2022 so far, earning it one of his highest ever scores.

The smoke wafting across Muni’s dining room has the beachy smell of washed-up seaweed and crab shells baking in the summer sun. Its intensity is partly due to the close proximity of the kitchen in this little regional surprise packet. But equally it is a result of what the chef is doing.

Flattened clumps of calamari tentacles, spreadeagled like a starfish, are laid on a charcoal grill and then blasted with a blowtorch flame, so they are hit with intense heat top and bottom. This continues until the tentacle tips are charred like a lit match.

Laid on an oily orange emulsion of the spicy sausage nduja, the squid bottoms are the flavour equivalent of sitting with an ear to the speaker at a Guns N’ Roses gig.

And they are only half of a cephalopod double-act for the ages. And that double-act is only one of the special moments in a dinner that is certain to remain among this year’s most memorable.

Muni has done a good job at flying under the radar until now.

Owners Mug Chen and Chia Wu are quietly spoken and don’t come across as giving much thought to self-promotion.

Both raised and trained in Taiwan, they met in Melbourne while working at Vue de Monde.

Burnt leek, aubergine cracker and crumbed daikon radish. Picture Hanmo Li

Calamari tentacles with nduja. Willunga. Picture Hanmo Li

After moving to Adelaide and stints at the Salopian Inn and d’Arenberg Cube respectively, they took the plunge and leased a small property at the bottom of Willunga’s famed hill.

Designers Studio-Gram have finished the room with a restraint that suggests modern Japan. Floors are polished concrete, the walls in twin tones of grey. The kitchen is down one side, divided from the dining space by a counter where you can also sit to watch the action. Simple black light fittings hang over tables. Other than the kaleidoscope of labels on the bottles in the shelves at the front, there is little in the way of decoration. The original concept for Muni, in fact, was to be a bar showcasing this collection of natural wines and serving small, affordable plates. It still operates this way for much of the week and is terrific value. But the vast imagination and technical virtuosity at play here can only be properly experienced in the
11-course degustation.

The detail that goes into even a two-bite snack is extraordinary. Take the leeks that are poached in beetroot juice for two hours and re-rolled into uniform little batons. They are then piped with “liquid brioche” (a thickened brown butter sauce) and sprinkled with beetroot powder. Pastry crisps, sweetened with maple syrup, are topped with a concoction of smoked eggplant and miso, as well as pumpkin powder.

Dacquoise, matcha, yuzu. Picture Hanmo Li

Charcoal sweet bun and oyster crema with seasonal greens. Picture Hanmo Li

Golden-crumbed cubes of peppery shredded daikon come with a house-made oyster sauce. Think Chinese radish cake meets pub schnitty.

Serves slowly increase in size. A sweet blackened bun is dunked into oyster cream hidden beneath a thicket of pea shoots. A sashimi plate features fillets of cured and torched sardine, a smoked tomato and heavenly sheets of KIN bluefin tuna belly with kaffir leaf and ponzu. Then comes the squid duo … the scorched tentacles mentioned above and their ying-and-yang partner, delicate noodles made from strips of the near-raw tube twirled atop a stack of oyster mushrooms and crisp puffed rice. As an expression of calamari, I can’t think of better. Even the simplest plate, a slowly grilled cube of sublime wagyu sirloin, is enhanced with cherry vinegar gel, beetroot chips and onions pickled in the juice used for the leeks.

Flaws? You’d have to be picky. Perhaps the overt sweetness of the eggplant cracker at the start. The natural wines won’t please everyone.

Otherwise, Muni is the mouse that roared, a small but perfectly formed restaurant that delivers an exhilarating experience. Quiet but confident, its two chefs are stars of the future. Degustation bookings are limited. Get in quick.