Luxury Escapes Guide to the Adelaide Hills

The recently opened Sidewood Estate cellar door and restaurant is as much a feast for the eyes as it is for the tastebuds. The beautifully designed space mixes heritage architecture with modern furnishings and design touches, set amongst towering gums and carefully curated gardens. Here, you can enjoy a tasting of its award-winning wines, or stay a little longer with a meal at the restaurant. Chef Ali Seedsman, who’s well known in these parts, has crafted a too-hard-to-decide Ausrtalaisan menu with delights the likes of steamed prawn cakes and tamarind lemongrass lamb ribs. While the menu changes, you’ll not be disappointed.

If you’ve sipped enough wine for the day, why not migrate your tastebuds to the spirit realm. Applewood Distillery is an award-winning Hills distiller that supports local farmers and native ingredients in its products. Not only will you find a variety of gins featuring a smattering of different native ingredients, but there’s also limoncello made using local lemons, amaro, outback liqueur and coffee liqueur. Take a gin flight through the range, taste a couple of your choosing, or even take a distillery tour. There’s also a cocktail menu (and some non-alcoholic, too, to keep your driver happy) if you’d prefer to sit and sip on your own accord.

Set amongst rolling vineyards and bushland as far as the eye can see, Goldings Wines is home to some of the Hills most popular wines. Sample cool-climate drops in its tasting room, or head to the Market Kitchen (open for lunch Thursday to Sunday) to sample local produce prepared on their casual, ever-changing a la carte menu. While some of Goldings’ surrounds were burnt in the recent bushfires this award-winning cellar door is still fully operational and worth the visit, and what better time to support them than now?

Mostly inhabited by farmers and producers, Piccadilly is a series of undulated valleys and hillscapes. Nestled on a corner side (that you might just miss, so be careful), is the heartiest of cafes you ever did stumble across. Cakes, muffins and all sorts of baked treats are towered on trays and in pretty glass displays dotted about the countertop. This is a local’s den, and you’ll feel the warmth the minute you walk in. Sit inside and soak it all in or take in the crisp air outside in their courtyard. Must try — the milk tart, and if you’re lucky, the chicken pot pie in winter.

Housed in an old church, Lost in a Forest is pizza heaven. The building and surrounds look as though they’re straight out of a picture book, and step inside and you’ll be even more enveloped in the story. There’s intriguing artwork on the walls and couches scattered about the cosy space, complete with a woodfire, and outside — a charming courtyard amongst the leafy streetscape and hills behind. The pizzas here are well known in these parts, with favourites the likes of the Banh Mi and the Jesus Fish ensuring people return time and time again. Pair it with some local vino and you’ve found a match made in heaven (you’re in a church, after all).

The Crafers Hotel is another pub favourite in the Adelaide Hills, but take the term ‘pub’ fairly loosely, as this is as much a beautiful restaurant as it is an ode to traditional heritage pubs of the region. Lovingly restored, the beloved Crafers Hotel building now houses a restaurant and bar area, all exquisitely styled. The menu is French style, so while you can still find Aussie staples like schnitzel, you can also indulge in steak frites, escargots and chicken liver pate. The beverage list offers a great collection of local drops, too.