The Enchanted Fig Tree | SA Weekend restaurant review
Trust us, this is a dining experience completely different to any other in South Australia. But will you take the drive – and boat?
SA Weekend
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Twigs are snapping, boughs bending and leaves shaking. Whatever creature is moving through the darkness towards us is big enough, bold enough and hungry enough to be making quite a racket.
Kangaroos hunting for figs … they won’t come any closer, we are told with a measure of assurance. Then there is a gasp from a nearby table as a huge brushtail possum scrambles along a branch overhead. Uh oh.
Unscheduled encounters with wildlife are among the reasons Kangaroo Island continues to be named among the world’s great destinations, most recently by Time magazine. And a starlit dinner under the canopy of The Enchanted Fig Tree on the island’s north coast more than delivers on this reputation.
The tree is a natural wonder in itself. Planted on farmland at Snelling Beach by the property’s first owner more than a century ago, it has grown to a mesmerising network of giant trunks, twisting boughs and oversized leaves creating a dome that could cover two buses.
Current custodian Nick Hannaford and his company Gastronomo have used this setting as the centrepiece of a dining experience that goes way beyond the parameters of a normal restaurant (and a normal restaurant review). It’s a history lesson, a piece of theatre, a feast for every one of the senses.
The night begins in an old shearing shed, where we are told the story of Hannaford’s grandparents, Sir James and Lady (Prue) Holden. While setting up the carmaker in post-war Adelaide, they came to the island, fell for this property and bought it for their holidays.
Lady Holden and her daughter Belinda, both gifted entertainers, converted the shed to host dinner parties with friends and the gorgeous colonial furniture and other features they chose are still there so we too can share in a little of the spirit of their hospitality.
The cooking this night is handled by Barossa-based chef Alana Brabin and her affinity for the bush and cooking over fire is a natural fit.
Appetisers are passed around that reflect the land and its history: young abalone with a native juniper vinaigrette, skewers of glazed kangaroo, and a wattleseed scone with dollops of charred apricot jam and crème fraiche for a touch of high society.
Then it’s time to follow a runway of lights that leads across Lady Holden’s croquet greens, and then through an archway deep into the tree’s canopy.
The tangle of trunks and dense foliage of the tree make it more akin to a mangrove than a Moreton Bay and clearings in the undergrowth have been turned into a series of small dining chambers, illuminated by fairy lights, lanterns and faux-candles (and the odd phone torch).
That way we can appreciate the perfectly crimped serrated edges of a trio of ravioli, their bellies swollen with a prawn and chive filling. They sit on a slick of bush tomato and prawn shell oil, as well as a sprinkle of toasted breadcrumbs spiked with lemon myrtle.
The Japanese influence of a “summer salad” of cold smoked ocean trout, tomato, pickled daikon, nori and the fish’s crisp skin is an unexpected thematic detour but the lighter touch and balance of textures is welcome.
Lamb leg and shoulder is rubbed with dried saltbush powder, before grilling slowly over coals. Smoky, crisp-skinned chunks of the meat fall apart effortlessly to scoop up with a combination of pearl couscous, labneh and a fistful of mixed herbs and leaves.
Given the season, figs are a must, and, as well as fresh fruit left on the table, they are poached with whey to create a compote that comes with meringue and thickened cream.
Put the Enchanted Fig Tree to the top of the list of reasons to plan a trip to this amazing island where, earlier in the day, just up the coast at Stokes Bay, we had been swimming beside a pair of frolicking dolphins. Like dinner, it is a complete surprise and an experience we will long remember: nature in all its splendour.
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