SA Weekend restaurant review — Pike & Joyce cellar door restaurant

An unexpected Christmas gift leads to a cellar door lunch in the Adelaide Hills that hits the heights, writes Simon Wilkinson.

The stunning views at Pike & Joyce at Lenswood in the Adelaide Hills.

My Aunty Gill is a seriously good cook. Each Christmas Day, she and my uncle host a significant family gathering and, despite saying she won’t go to any fuss, fills the table with an extraordinary array of both savoury and sweet foods.

Last Christmas, she offered an extra gift: a glowing report about a lunch in the Adelaide Hills.

Given my aunt’s kitchen repertoire, this is like receiving a racing tip direct from Gai Waterhouse, so a few weeks later we are following the blue line on Google Maps to Pike & Joyce cellar door.

The route heads towards Lenswood and then goes up Harris Rd, a steep incline winding between vineyards and apple orchards. Half way up we pass Mount Lofty Ranges Vineyard, where the tasting room, restaurant and deck are on the lip of a precipitous drop, looking over a rippling landscape of vines arranged with military precision, and wilder patches of bush.

When it comes to views, however, Pike & Joyce has the primo position at the top of the hill, all 593m of it, not quite Everest or even Lofty, but enough elevation to see a vast expanse all the way south to Mount Barker.

On this site, the owners of the label have built a modern structure that, quite rightly, prioritises the outlook in all areas. To one side is a courtyard, where unexpected arrivals can sit with a glass of wine and cheese/charcuterie plate. More structured tasting flights are delivered in the next room, but by far the largest slab of real estate is reserved for dining.

Pike & Joyce cellar door in the Adelaide Hills. Photo Ben Macmahon

Tables in the restaurant are well spaced across a polished terrazzo floor and what walls there are to speak of carry abstract artworks of flora and fauna. The rest is glass, divided into two sections of windows, one to normal ceiling height, the other part of the pop-top roof line.

Like many businesses, Pike & Joyce has used the downtime of COVID to reflect and restructure. In this case, a more casual a la carte menu has been replaced at weekend lunches by a fixed selection of five courses, plus house-made bread and butter. It is competitively priced at $75.

The change makes sense. Chef Mathew Kinghorn and his team can now focus on these five plates alone and not sacrifice time and effort on food that won’t be eaten.

Making the wine look good, of course, is a priority for the cooking and a package of matched half-glasses is available, complete with brief tasting notes that are convincingly delivered by capable young staff. The pairings aren’t revolutionary but they do have an unexpected twist or two.

The delicate lemons and limes of a 2020 Adelaide Hills riesling, for instance, are forever-friends with the sweet sea flavours of a pair of grilled scallops encircled by dobs of a red pepper puree. The wildcard here is a fried disc of morcilla (blood sausage) in which the spicing is more prominent than its divisive main ingredient. Try it before you eek, please.

Asparagus, almonds, grapes at Pike & Joyce. Picure: Supplied

Overlapping sheets of raw beef are finished with segments of charred shallot, a black garlic mayo and fried saltbush leaves that need to be administered with care to avoid overwhelming the carpaccio. Extra seasoning on the meat would also help.

Slender asparagus spreads are lightly charred and laid neatly side-by-side on a bed of almond cream. They are topped with extra asparagus, this time chopped into tiny lozenges, broad beans, flaked almonds and lightly pickled red and white grapes. A fresh chardonnay with a hint of nuttiness from the oak covers it nicely.

Chicken raised in nearby apple orchards is boned out and rolled inside a neat skin wrapper that browns and crisps while cooking over charcoal, the breast meat kept plump and moist I guess by some earlier brining. It is plonked on a medley including pearl barley grains, shredded kale, lemon and currants, all in a perky harissa-spiked sauce.

The final plate has deconstructed elements of a hit parade of desserts with shards of meringue, lemon curd and a whipped cream cheese, as well as berries, nectarine and apricots. Depending on the DIY components you select, it can be pavlova, lemon meringue pie or strawberry cheesecake.

All of which my aunt makes exceptionally well, by the way. And, on reflection, there is an uncomplicated, approachable, ingredient-led way of putting things together at Pike & Joyce that is the hallmark of good home cooking.