the guide.

hills

Within easy reach of the city centre, the Adelaide Hills is emerging as a popular destination boasting idyllic views, great wineries and impressive brews,.

WORDS matt preston PHOTOGRAPHY catherine sutherland

Once a slightly daggy weekend destination, restaurants, providores and wineries open where to eat South ’s Adelaide Hills are now during the week, the Hills are on the verge The Mallee Grill becoming decidedly hip. The cool-climate of becoming a seven-day attraction. The public bar and bottle-o have shifted wines, picturesque valley views and It helps that no wine is closer to a into a new extension, leaving the gorgeous Germanic pioneer tradition (which once state capital than this wide ribbon of rolling old verandah’d hotel, with its clean, almost saw cynics dub the town of Hahndorf hills to the east of Adelaide – especially as Georgian lines, as home to the smart dining “Schnitzeldorf” thanks to its socks-with- the Princes Highway whisks you up into room. Here, the occasional white leather sandals tourist crowd) remain. But now, the centre of the Adelaide Hills in minutes. wing-backed chair, pendant lights with but as more city-slickers take to the hills to All these factors add up to make it a classic geometric statement shades, and a huge settle, and more of the region’s acclaimed weekend away or rewarding longer stint. mirror at one end of the room, add drama

58 delicious. Lemon myrtle muffins at The Essence Fine Foods. Clockwise from right: Three Brothers Arms Hotel; relaxed dining at Jimmies; a Chocolate at No. 5 creation; Simone Joyce of Woodside Providore; The Lane Vineyard; oxtail tortellini at Bridgewater Mill; the view from Nepenthe; idyllic Bridgewater Mill.

to the cream-and-white space. Daniel to the service and an unrivalled location in There are three other options at this end Lawrence’s internationalist menu ranges an old working flour mill on a tree-lined of the freeway. Jimmie’s (6 Main St, Crafers, from braised pork belly with prawns and creek. When chef Le Tu Thai’s food fires – (08) 8339 1534) is a relaxed but well-turned black vinegar dressing to gratinated as it does with a dish of butter-tender out pizza restaurant offering some unusual scallops and steaks cooked on the grill. To venison with an intense Armagnac and Middle Eastern-inspired toppings such as finish, share a plate of light, freshly made mushroom sauce and frizz of fried kumara pumpkin with zaatar. For something doughnuts dunked in a silky but robustly – eating here can be the sort of perfect smarter, try Piccadilly Restaurant at Mount flavoured coffee mousse. Stirling Hotel, languid experience you wish for on holiday. Lofty House (74 Summit Rd, Crafers, (08) 52 Mt Barker Rd, Stirling, (08) 8339 2345. The wine list ranks owner Petaluma’s 8339 6777) with Craig Graves’ modern wines alongside benchmark European fine-dining menu and a wine list studded Petaluma’s BRidgewater bottles. Besides their famous Hanlin Hill with local luminaries like Geoff Hardy’s K1 Mill restaurant riesling, try Petaluma’s shiraz viognier, shiraz or the Paracombe sauvignon blanc. For so long the pinnacle of Australian supple chardonnay and almost viscous but For a restaurant with a grand view of regional dining, Bridgewater Mill remains subtly apricot viognier. Mt Barker Rd, the plains, try The Summit at the lookout one of SA’s main attractions. This is thanks Bridgewater, (08) 8339 9200. (Summit Rd, Mt Lofty, (08) 8339 2600). the guide.

The Lane Vineyard The Essence Fine Foods where to eat – pubs This new arrival is burning brightly as This is a laid-back spot for a breakfast Three Brothers Arms Hotel one of the Hills’ most popular lunch spots, of smoked salmon and scrambled egg Shane Ortis used to run a funky restaurant thanks to panoramic views from the baguette, or for owner Susannah’s at the Aldinga beach kiosk on the Fleurieu modern glass box with wide verandahs. fresh-baked apple and lemon myrtle Peninsula. A tree-change has seen him It also helps that they’ve snared one-time muffins. The Essence Fine Foods also move on, with partner Mel Pritchard, to Auge chef Glenn Carr to whip up a menu make take-home meals such as tuna this old English-style pub complete with that ranges from simple assemblies like mornay and lasagne. Shop 7, 49 Mt roaring fires and hand-pumps for pulling black olive tapenade and goat’s curd with Barker Rd, Stirling, (08) 8339 7703. pints of Old Speckled Hen. Like most of the crisp sourdough croutons, or silky pubs up this way, there’s a pool table in the pappardelle with radicchio and Italian Chocolate at No. 5 public bar, but the 120 international and sausage, to a wedge of stylishly unadorned There’s usually something a little twee local bottled beers – and almond, walnut and pine nut tart. To and touristy about chocolate cafes. And Brewing’s trial organic ale on tap – are drink, there’s the vineyard’s own pinot although you’ll find this place popular pretty unique. The wine list is similarly grigio, while their shiraz and cabernet are with the traditional ‘socks-with-sandals’ interesting and well-priced, and the menu pick of the reds. Ravenswood Ln, Hahndorf visitor, owners Sophie and is also a cut above with slick modern dishes Hahndorf, (08) 8388 1250. Peter Zervas have managed to set up a such as Kangaroo Island marron with lime sexy, contemporary cafe in this pretty and ginger butter, or salt-and-pepper soft- where to eat – cafes 1850s stone cottage. Another plus is that shell crab bumping heads with cut-above Organic Market they pay as much attention to the coffee counter meals like a great beef cheek pie. 40 At this organic-retailing pioneer, you’ll as they do to their range of sculptural Venables St, Macclesfield, (08) 8388 9265. find chook, grog and Paris Creek’s local chocolate mousse cakes, or the handmade As well as their fancy Mallee Grill biodynamic butter and yoghurt, plus an chocolates that come in from New York, restaurant (see Where to Eat), The Stirling organic greengrocer and cafe. Here the Melbourne and nearby . Hotel also has a decent bistro menu in its day might start with a smoothie of 5 Main St, Hahndorf, (08) 8388 1835. funky main bar, which offers everything yoghurt, wheatgerm, honey and banana, from meaty duck and fennel sausages on before ramping up to light lunches such B–d Farm Paris Creek a bed of lentils with a rich gravy, to as cauliflower and coriander soup. These serious producers of great yoghurts, chicken or veal parmigiana. 5 Druids Ave, Stirling, (08) 8339 4835. quark (a fresh, white European-style For more traditional counter meals, cheese) and other dairy goodness have you could try the Balhannah Hotel (78 Woodside Providore been champions of biodynamic milk since Main Rd, Balhannah, (08) 8388 4119), the With clean modern lines and an open 1988. Now they’ve opened a little modern Oakbank Hotel (207 Main Rd, Oakbank, fire, Simone Joyce’s popular cafe is a bit of weekend cafe, too. Be sure to check out (08) 8388 4267) or the Stanley Bridge a local gem, not least for a menu that their new range of cheeses, including a Tavern (41 Onkaparinga Valley Rd, leaps from lamb burgers and a rabbit and rather impressive tilsit. Paris Creek Rd, Verdun, (08) 8388 7249), which seem to prune pie with walnut butter beans, to a Meadows, (08) 8388 3339. take monthly turns at being the best bet. neat range of vibrant Sri Lankan dishes The Locavore (49 Mt Barker Rd, made to authentic recipes from Simone’s Bullock’s Wood Oven Eatery Stirling, (08) 8339 4416) offers more of a grandmother. Top picks include the John Bullock’s woodfired oven pumps big city bar experience and such great lampries (meatballs with stock-cooked out some of the best food in the Adelaide drinking snacks as nuggets of ‘popcorn’ rice) seafood curries, preserved-lime-zest Hills. Here, impeccable thin-crust pizzas chicken, or potato chips mixed with chilli raita and a wonderful okra pickle. They’re are topped with largely local produce, sauce and local venison chorizo. also open on the first Friday of every including feta and olive oil from For steins of Bavarian beer, wursts of month for dinner. 69 Onkaparinga Valley the local Ngeringa grove. You’ll also find all denominations and groaning plates of Rd, Woodside, (08) 8389 9510. a deliciously chewy and thick fig and kranskies, head to the German Arms frangipane tart; and just about the best Hotel (69 Main St, Hahndorf, (08) 8388 Ruby’s Organic Café coffee around, which is made (and served) 7013) or the 160-year-old Hahndorf Inn This modern, coeliac-friendly cafe uses with an obsessive care. They do good (35 Main St, Hahndorf, (08) 8388 7063). the skills of local ladies to bake the cakes bread, too, and we also love the long Both do breakfasts for the ravenous. and pulls a decent latte from Fairtrade communal table on the pavement. Yes, For even more meat, try Zorro’s beans. For lunch, try one of the salads or Bullocks is a real gem. It’s a shame they’re Charcoal Grill, (60 Main St, Hahndorf, the popular polenta stack. Shop 3, 29 Mt currently closed on weekends. 46 Gawler (08) 8388 1940), which also spit-roasts Barker Rd, Stirling, (08) 8339 6262. St, Mt Barker, (08) 8391 3331. meat on the street on weekends.

60 delicious. The view from Mt Lofty. Clockwise from below: Shaw and Smith Vineyard; Sam Maitland of Shaw and Smith; chestnuts at Nirvana Organic Produce; The Mallee Grill; their mushroom and spinach tart with Taleggio. the guide. where to drink Ashton Hills Vineyard long, slow process to maintain colour and Shaw and Smith This is a weekend pilgrimage for pinot noir flavour. He’s a believer in using bush Martin Shaw and Michael Hill Smith’s lovers, thanks to Stephen George’s skill ingredients sparingly as an accent; sauv blanc has become an Adelaide Hills with the unforgiving grape. His chardonnay something you realise when you try his icon. At their sleek and very untraditional and riesling are also none-too-shabby. fine but subtle lemongrass-like tea or tasting room, you’ll also discover pinot Tregarthen Rd, Ashton, (08) 8390 1243. Snickerdoodle biscuits made from myrtle noir and riesling (which are cellar door At Adelaide Hills Wine Cellar (35/4 leaves. There’s a small farm shop and tours exclusives) alongside their wonderful M3 Adelaide-Lobethal Rd, Lobethal, (08) 8389 can be booked for groups of six or more. chardonnay and elegant shiraz in tutored 6740), you can taste wines from 16 smaller Beaumont Rd, Verdun, (08) 8388 7360. tastings with matched cheeses. The $14 producers on weekends and holidays. tasting charge is redeemable when you buy Apple Field Orchard Shop six bottles or more. Weekends only. Lot 4, Lobethal Bierhaus You’ll find roadside stalls like this dotted Jones Rd, Balhannah, (08) 8398 0500. Phil Jones and Alistair Turnbull are throughout the region. They all tend to following a dream with this craft brewery, sell eggs, honey and of course both apple Nepenthe built on the site of the town’s original 1851 juice and apples. This one is famous for The Nepenthe sauvignon blanc is much brewery. From Friday to Sunday, ward off its apple pies with a domed, apple-shaped loved by Adelaide’s “yummy mummies”, the famous Hills chill with their oatmeal lid of shortbread-like pastry. Delicious! but you can also visit here to try stout or award-winning porter. In the Onkaparinga Valley Rd, Balhannah. Nepenthe’s soft, rather pretty Charleston kitchen, chef Beverly Millott turns out Visit Nirvana Organic Produce (184 pinot noir and such cellar door-only crowd-pleasing beer food like spicy chicken Longwood Rd, Heathfield, (08) 8339 2519) releases as the pinot gris or the pleasingly wings or a steak sanger with onion rings. for marmalades, jams and chutneys made lean and savoury tempranillo. Jones Rd, 3 Main St, Lobethal, (08) 8389 5570. using biodynamic fruit. You’ll also find Balhannah, (08) 8388 4439. On Thursdays, try Grumpy’s Brewhaus berries, persimmons and nuts for sale in (115 Mt Barker Rd, Verdun, (08) 8188 1133) season, and on winter weekends owner Hahndorf Hill Winery for craft beer and woodfired pizza. Quentin Jones can be found roasting Come to this friendly modern cellar, with chestnuts in Stirling’s main street. valley and vine views, to nab some of the where to shop rather elegant chardonnay or pinot grigio. Woodbake It sells out every year, but the 2008 vintage This is an essential stop, as the woodfired If you want to see where a successful is released this month. Winemaker Larry oven here not only produces sourdough roadside stall can take you, visit this Jacobs also cooks lunch at weekends – bread but also large savoury flans, and a factory outlet. The company behind those perhaps Mt Barker salmon with a crust of lovely range of baked petit fours including little pots of jam served at hotel breakfasts native herbs from Tumbeela, or Hay a fantastic rhubarb tart. 73 Mt Barker Rd, started selling from a stand. Try their rose Valley lamb cutlets. Lot 10, Pains Rd, Stirling, (08) 8339 6757. petal jam, the pickles, or pick your own Hahndorf, (08) 8388 7512. The Lobethal Bakery (Main St, Lobethal, strawberries in season (October to May). (08) 8389 6318) is a bit of an institution Mt Barker Rd, Hahndorf, (08) 8388 7272. Abbey Rock Cellar Door for its traditional German rye breads and Tutored tastings at this little cottage are pretzels. They now have branches on the Woodside Cheese Wrights conducted by the open fire on plump main streets of Stirling and Woodside, too. Kris Lloyd has been producing fantastic Chesterfield sofas. Look out for their Hahndorf is famous for bienenstich (bee- handmade cheeses since 1994. She’s famous impressive 2002 pinot noir and peachy sting cake), and you’ll find a good version for her ashed goat’s cheese but also try the chardonnay. 1 Onkaparinga Valley Rd, of this honey- and almond-crusted gem at vine leaf-wrapped, chardonnay washed- Balhannah, (08) 8398 0192. traditional Otto’s German Cake Shop (cnr rind Vigneron. Kris switches to local cow’s Pine & Main sts, Hahndorf, (08) 8388 7068). milk for the rich, blue-seamed Pompeii; K1 Our favourite, thanks to its lightness and and combines both in Etzy Ketzy, named Geoff Hardy’s K1 is on the way to McLaren creamy filling, comes from Kaffeehaus (51 after her Greek grandfather’s favourite Vale, hidden in a pretty valley with the Main St, Hahndorf, (08) 8388 7521), where saying, meaning “50/50”. Her latest cellar door perched above a lake. Try the they also sell a huge range of coffee beans. creation could be her greatest. Quasimodo single-vineyard shiraz, cab sauvignon, or is an ugly little nugget of aged goat’s cheese Geoff’s swankiest wine, his Tzimmukin – a Tumbeela Native Bushfoods with a wonderfully intense and complex cab shiraz blend using grapes basket-dried On his four acres, Warren Jones grows rind. Pick up some pear and cherry paste as the Italians do for Amarone. Tynan Rd, everything from pepper berries to lemon or honeycomb to accompany your choice. Kuitpo, (08) 8388 3700. and aniseed myrtle, which he dries in a 22 Henry St, Woodside, (08) 8389 7877.

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The beef and Guinness pie at Three Brothers Arms Hotel. Clockwise from left: ruby-hued vine leaves; the Pompeii at Woodside Cheese Wrights; Lavender Cottage; pilsner on tap at Lobethal Bierhaus; divine truffles at Cocolat.

delicious. 63 the guide.

map key 1. Abbey Rock...... 5 Nepenthe...... 5 Adelaide Hills Nirvana Organic Produce...... 10 Country Cottages...... 2 Oakbank Hotel...... 4 Adelaide Hills Wine Cellar...... 1 Organic Market...... 7 2. 3. Apple Field Orchard Shop...... 5 Otto’s German Cake Shop...... 11 Ashton Hills Vineyard...... 2 Piccadilly Restaurant 4. B–D Farm Paris Creek...... 13 at House...... 6 6. Balhannah Hotel...... 5 Ruby’s Organic Café...... 7 5. Beerenberg Farm...... 11 Shaw and Smith...... 5 7. Bird in Hand Olive Oils...... 3 Stanley Bridge Tavern...... 9 9. 8. Bridgewater Mill...... 8 Taste in Hahndorf...... 11 11. Bullock’s Wood Oven Eatery.....12 The Essence Fine Foods...... 7 10. Chocolate at No. 5...... 11 The Lane Vineyard...... 11 Cocolat...... 5 The Locavore...... 7 German Arms Hotel...... 11 The Mallee Grill...... 7 12. Grumpy’s Brewhaus...... 9 The Retreat at Stirling...... 7 Hahndorf Hill Winery ...... 11 The Summit ...... 6 Hahndorf Inn...... 11 Three Brothers Arms Hotel...... 15 Jimmie’s...... 6 Tumbeela Native Bushfoods...... 9 K1 by Geoff Hardy...... 14 Udder Delights Kaffeehaus...... 11 Cheese Cellar...... 11 Lobethal Bakery, Stirling...... 7 Udder Delights Lobethal Bakery, Woodside...... 3 Studio Apartment...... 11 Lobethal Bakery, Lobethal ...... 1 Woodbake...... 7 Lobethal Bierhaus...... 1 Woodside Cheese Wrights...... 3 15. Max Noske & Son...... 11 Woodside Providore...... 3 13. Mount Lofty House...... 6 Zorro’s Charcoal Grill...... 11 14.

Udder Delights Cheese Cellar For meats, wursts and smallgoods with Mount Lofty House Run by this crafty producer of goat’s cheese Teutonic tendencies in Hahndorf, see Max Once one of Australia’s very best country (who recently branched out into cow’s milk Noske & Son (78 Main St, (08) 8388 7294), house hotels, this has been rebuilt to its cheeses), this deli-cafe is the starting point or try Taste in Hahndorf (35 Main St, (08) 1850s splendour after the 1983 bushfires. for the local cheese and wine trail. They do 8388 7388), which also stocks preserves. The views of the Piccadilly Valley are cheese-making classes, too. A must-visit. magnificent and the Piccadilly Restaurant 91a Main St, Hahndorf, (08) 8388 1588. where to stay (see Where to Eat) is an attraction. Choose Adelaide Hills Country cottages from 29 good-sized rooms, from $179 per Cocolat Choose from a stunning collection of five double per night. 74 Summit Rd, Crafers, Handmade chocolates in flavours like Irish beautifully appointed cottages with open (08) 8339 6777, mtloftyhouse.com.au. Cream and creamy Cointreau, port-soaked fires, secluded gardens and rural settings. apricot and dark chocolate truffles, plus Lavender Fields is especially charming, Udder Delights Studio Apartment there are crazy-looking cakes and desserts. while the lakeside Apple Tree Cottage is This is a quirky but quite charming Do you need any more reasons to visit? also lovely. From $240 per double. apartment, just off Hahndorf’s main 83 Main Rd, Balhannah, (08) 8388 4666. Oakwood Rd, Oakbank, (08) 8388 4193, street, where the mezzanine bedroom is ahcc.com.au. reached by a dramatic circular staircase. Bird in Hand Olive Oils From $200 per double per night including Come here for the table olives and a The Retreat at Stirling continental breakfast. See Where to Shop, deliciously buttery, early-picked reserve This two-bedroom apartment with comfy udderdelights.com.au. d. olive oil from groves planted above an beds is the annex to a family home. It has former gold mine 10 years ago. Their access to an indoor pool and isn’t far from Thanks to the South Australian Tourism new-season oils should be available in the freeway. From $260 per double with Commission for assistance with this story. For September. Cnr Pfeiffer and Bird in breakfast. 9 Hoylake Ave, Stirling, (08) more information on the Adelaide Hills region, Hand rds, Woodside, (08) 8389 9488. 8339 4702, the-retreat.com.au. tel: 1300 655 276 or visit: southaustralia.com.

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