Featuring: Harvest Kitchen, Uraidla Hotel, Crafers Hotel…

SOME wineries add on a food component almost as an afterthought. After all, it keeps people in place for longer if they have a plate of food in front of them, even if it’s just a regional platter. Others, and Calabria Wines in the Barossa is one of them, take their food much more seriously, to the extent that its restaurant is just as much a reason for a visit as its wines.
Perhaps that’s to be expected, given the winery’s Italian origins more than 75 years ago at Griffith in the Riverina, where it is still based. Its owner Bill Calabria began his Barossa expansion in 2010 with the purchase of the original Hahn vineyard, which includes 12 rows of vines planted in 1914.
By now dedicated to reviving old shiraz vineyards in the Barossa, he then bought two more – with a cellar door tasting room and restaurant, the Harvest Kitchen, overlooking the largest of them with elevated views right across the valley.
Just as Bill Calabria has taken his wines seriously (even though, famously, he’s a teetotaller), made by celebrated winemaker Emma Norbiato, so too he has pulled no punches in making sure Harvest Kitchen’s food offering matches the quality of his wine.
The restaurant is owned and run by a team who first came together 10 years ago at the Appellation, the award-winning restaurant at The Louise at Marananga, on the other side of the Valley. Head chef Jamie Wall and sous chef Charanjit ‘Sunny’ Chawla worked at Appellation under the highly regarded chef Mark McNamara, and his influence shines through in the strong regional focus of their dishes. Wall buys nearly all of his produce from growers he personally knows, straight from the farm.
There’s a vast open deck with one of the best restaurant views in the Barossa, where the emphasis is on shared dishes, decorative platters such as a baked parmesan custard with roasted Jerusalem artichokes and caramelised walnuts, or beef carpaccio with parsnip crisps, shavings of watermelon radish and a sprinkle of greens.
The braised, pulled Hutton Vale lamb with beetroot labne, yellow beetroot chips and nasturtium leaves is packed with flavour, while the charred squid and octopus with Romesco sauce and crunchy leek ribbons is as pretty a dish as you’ll ever see. This is sophisticated but very approachable and authentic cooking, and it’s easy to see why the “feed me” menu alternative is its most popular option. Harvest Kitchen, 284 Magnolia Road, Vine Vale. Open for lunch daily, dinner Saturday. Phone 0428 690 888.
It’s around seven years since the Crafers Hotel was given a new lease on life when investors Julie and Ed Peter, and hoteliers Brett and Sarah Matthews bought the historic Adelaide Hills pub that dates from 1839.

It also marked the start of what has become a substantial hotel, restaurant and winery empire that now includes two other Hills pubs, the Uraidla Hotel and Stanley Bridge Tavern, but it’s the Crafers that remains the jewel in the crown, having been named the Australian Hotels Association’s best hotel in Australia in 2018 as well as having the best pub wine list – thanks to its access to Ed Peter’s very substantial private cellar, in much the same way that Dunkeld’s Royal Mail Hotel is supported by lawyer Allan Myers famed cellar.
Beyond the front bar, comfy leather chairs and open fire, the Crafers opens out into two dining rooms, the larger of which has a lofty conservatory feel and overlooks both kitchen and two wine rooms, the second of which is smaller, much more private and contains treasures that make it possible to pair a $24 chicken schnitzel with a bottle of 2018 Dom de Comte Liger-Belair at $13,100 should such a whim overcome you.
In all, the Crafers has access to around 10,000 bottles under 2500 labels, curated by sommelier Kieran Noell. In fact, having a dedicated sommelier has become a mark of all the pubs in this group, which clearly takes its wine offering seriously but without pretension. There’s plenty to be found at $50 or less – and the beer list, which includes those from the Uraidla Hotel’s own brewery, is possibly the best in South Australia with 16 craft beers on tap and nearly 60 more in can or bottle.
The Crafers food menu has always had a strong French bias, which is continued most capably under current head chef Jamie Laing, who previously ran the kitchen at popular Hills restaurant Maximillian’s. There are very well-prepared pub classics, including Le Burger with a Waygu beef patty, and excellent (sustainable) fish and chips.
But given the rarity of competently cooked French fare in any pub it’s hard to ignore the chopped, richly-flavoured steak tartare or baked Camembert basted with honey and chilli oil, and you might then be tempted by a classic steak frites or special boeuf, sliced rare scotch fillet with caramelised shallots and a bordelaise sauce.
The real star of the show however, to be consumed with the best bottle of burgundy you can afford, is the duo de canard – a confit duck leg with crunchy croquette filled with shredded duck, orange zest, dates, dried cherries rehydrated in cognac and chicken liver parfait, sitting on swede puree, kale and poached rhubarb. It’s a fabulous dish that’s packed with flavour. Crafers Hotel, 8 Main Street, Crafers. Open for breakfast weekends, lunch and dinner daily. Phone (08) 8339 2050.