10 places to eat in the Clare Valley
A renowned riesling region, the Clare Valley has so much to offer in a glass, but don’t forget its incredible dining options.
Sevenhill Hotel
Panfried kangaroo loin and sous vide duck signal this is more than a favoured local. The kitchen team has shaped a please-all menu supporting nearby producers, an attitude reflected in the underground cellar where guests can explore the options to go with their meal or takeaway. Classic fare sits well alongside the modern twists, including generous well-priced steaks, house-made schnitzels, and dude-style burgers. Kate Shadiac and Paul Longbottom are nurturing the historic setting, circa 1863, where open fires, warm timbers and old-school service lend an overload of charm. Check the website for the couples’ own recommendations for other Clare Valley gems.
Pinto
Amid the recent growth of a food culture matching the great Clare Valley wines sits the new Pinto, a modern Asian restaurant winning key local approval. Its days begin with brunch-to-lunch and what seems like a regular morning-midday-food menu until you spot the twists. Chicken satays sidle ham and cheese croissants. As do karaage chicken, prawn tempura and bacon with scrambled eggs and fried rice. The dinner selection is mainly for sharing, mostly Southeast Asian style building on modern Australian favourites. A feed-me option makes decisions easy, and bottomless and matching drinks packages are available.
The Rising Sun
Things will surely continue the sleek and slick operations for which the Skillogalee hospitality “dream team” are renowned, now they are at Auburn’s Rising Sun helm. After the change of hands in early 2025, the Sun was closed for refurbishment and time to set up Clare-centric menus and styles. The removal of the poker machines underpins owner Simon Clausen’s mission to return the beautiful old building to a “community meeting place”. His plan is to continue honoring the aim “and create a warm, generous and local experience built on great food, drinks, and great company”. The Valley’s wineries are showcased, alongside a rotating tap of SA-only beers.
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Watervale Hotel
Renowned for one of the Valley’s most sensational makeovers, this beautiful hotel is all about style as well as substance, in spades. Owners Warrick Duthy and chef Nicola Palmer double the package with their nearby farm and gardens, the conduit for fresh food into the Watervale state-of-the-art kitchen. You can wine and dine as usual or take part in a number of special experiences such as the “Penobscot Restaurant”, which is a 10-seat lunch or dinner degustation at the chef’s table in the kitchen. Or, start at 4pm with a fascinating farm tour, complete with wonderful stories about the beginnings of the farm and food scene in the district.
UPPside
Clare-centric food converges with Euro classics in this Penwortham restaurant where the family’s kitchen garden and bio-dynamic farm provide most of the fresh ingredients. A broad menu is built on sustainable practices, an equal penchant of husband-and-wife team, Caity and chef Christian Uppill, down to creating their own soil mixes, worm farming and composting, and using enviro-friendly local suppliers. The traditional menu, with good allergy options, might have you starting with pierogi (Polish dumplings), or a Swiss gruyere fondue, before Dutch stamppot with rookwurst, German schnitzel and spatzle, or Northern Italian-style gnocchi. The wines are from Clare and there’s a local Polish-style vodka, and a house-made limoncello.
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Antidote Kitchen
To meet demand, this popular restaurant has made a shift to open seven days, serving classic Indian food with hints of Australian-fave fusion. Sunny Mehrok and Rupesh Agrawal are keen to promote a sense of community “and make it a place to connect”. So, it is open most of the day and evening. The generous breakfasts and brunches lead into lunch, but they invite you to stop in for coffee, or pop in early for a drink before dinner. Set in the rustic former chaff mill, warmth and atmosphere are built in, even before the inevitable hubbub from guests. At key times, be sure to book.
Magpie & Stump
Events are a big part of the offerings at the Wandong Hotel, affectionately known as the Magpie & Stump. Consider it if you’re looking for a simple place to gather, be it Melbourne Cup, Australia Day, Mother’s Day or Father’s Day, or to join in with one of the many local food-and-wine festival themes. Otherwise, regular happenings such as live music on Sundays are a drawcard, along with the daily classic pub eats by the fire in winter or out on the lawns on sunny days. It’s old pub style, not fancy, not expensive, but a welcoming community place to comfortably congregate.
Slate
Expect things to be special. Every year a Chef’s Hat is awarded to Slate, along with a rich haul of other coveted accolades. Matching the ethos of Pikes Wines, renowned for fine results across the board, the kitchen team puts together a changing feast of finer-dining-style wine-friendly food served in an la carte or feed-me format with the option of drinks to match for $30pp. Kitchen-garden produce is woven into modern Australian dishes, plated like art. It might be tuna sashimi, a spiced fried quail or a truffle risotto and toffee apple, sago, cardamon and pistachio. If food is your thing, mark it as a must.
Bush DeVine
The simple reality is that great wine deserves to be paired with great food. It’s the code of this winery restaurant where chef Thomas Erkelenz leads a team creating a changing menu of seasonal food, inspired by “bush tucker flavours, local produce, foraged finds and our very own Australian native garden”. Thomas loves to forage for interesting food. If you are keen to explore, the promise is that he happily shares where all the best bounty can be found. Set shared plates or a long-lunch degustation are served, with wine-matching highly recommended. Or, for a shorter visit, there are wine and canape flights.
Ragu & Co
Romolo Ponticiello and Sabrina Miklos draw from Italian country life and “vivid memories of long lunches and pots on the stove cooking for hours”. It not only helped them name this restaurant after “the mother of all Italian dishes”, but has driven them to establish a piece of their past in a part of Clare’s character-laden old chaff mill. Devoted to authenticity, each year the pair continue to be awarded Italian accreditation for their efforts. Comfort food in the form of slow-cooked dishes fostered with chef love is at the centre of the menu, along with traditional red-or-white-base pizzas. Leave room for their own version of tiramisu.
This article first appeared in the 2025 issue of SALIFE Food+Wine+Travel magazine.
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