Page one of Ondeen’s lunch menu gets straight to the point, listing the number of kilometres between the restaurant and the patch of land or water from which ingredients came. Among them Hidden Valley Eggs (12 kilometres), Laucke Flour (34 kilometres) and Section28 Artisan Cheeses (13 kilometres).
Some are merely metres away. Pine needles used to marinate green olives were plucked from trees visible across the paddocks and lake framing the exquisitely renovated 1850s homestead. Ingredients are 95 per cent South Australian and the team, led by culinary director Kane Pollard and head chef Julian Peek, utilises every part of each plant and animal.
Their approach is minimalistic; served fresh or cooked briefly over charcoal. Creativity is born from restriction such as this. Case in point, baby Roma tomatoes are blanched, peeled and plunged in olive brine from the aforementioned olives before being seasoned with native pepper and olive oil.
The red bounty appears again; smoked, dehydrated and used to season whipped goat’s cheese, best scooped with garden herb focaccia and crudités. Dietary restrictions are met with a smile, even the “no gluten, dairy, or sugar” doozy. Hummus made from Yorke Peninsula chickpeas and hemp seed tahini is a hit, as is the bite-sized terrine; a medley of ham hock, sauce gribiche and diced pickled onion wrapped in
a vine leaf from the onsite vineyard.
Show-stealing raw nannygai topped with sliced overripe strawberries and foraged fennel pollen is presented like a vibrant red bushfire moon. Fresh ricotta gnudi in buttermilk is also a thing of beauty; each small cheese dumpling arrives draped with a single yellow zucchini blossom, while fresh zucchini briefly grilled over hibachi adds satisfying crunch. Larger plates span lamb on the bone and fish of the week (Fair Seafood, 259 kilometres away) over charcoal.
Beverages are also Hills-focused and the recent addition of a dedicated Wine Room is a nice touch. Here, small boutique producers Artis, Jericho, Silver Lining and Turon Wines can be tasted prior to or following lunch.
The standing ovation is best saved for ultra-smooth honey malt crème caramel, made with the best hyper local milk, cream and eggs Pollard can get his hands on. The toffee is arrested with whisky and flamed off before setting in the bottom of the dish. On top, a wedge of fresh honeycomb and a dash of salt.
There’s something profound about savouring the dessert while watching bees pollinate the garden surrounding the rabbit warren of dining spaces. It speaks to the connection Pollard, Peek and his team are fostering at this thoughtful addition to the Adelaide Hills.
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