Penny's Hill - The Kitchen Door

Delicious, inventive food. I was fortunate enough to attend a function here and it was fantastic. I can't wait to go back.

I am a huge fan of Penny's Hill wines so every time I visit the restaurant my overall satisfaction is already half fulfilled. Unfortunately, it sometimes only stays half fulfilled.

Last time we visited was as a group of 6 and we all shared the Morsel Selection. In some ways it was a blessing in disguise and in others an unfortunate let down. It must be said that my disappointment is mainly my own fault, I had overlooked the Shared part of the meals description thinking that it meant that all at the table had to have it (which is the rules we were told). One in all in. What I didn't expect was that all the morsels came out on a 'Shared' communal dish. As I said, my fault, as in hindsight it seems obvious. Anyway, the experience wasn't quite what you would expect for $52 each. Notwithstanding some of the flavours, it felt like eating at home and made one poor guest essentially the host dividing up the meals between us.

The blessing in disguise was that the meals we were initially considering in the standard entree and main format were part of the Selection and were the most disappointing. Luckily we didn't only have them to base our afternoon (and opinion) on. Several of the other dishes were delicious and redeemed the bland.

On previous visits we have gone for the standard format with the more routine dishes and been satisfied. The oysters and steaks have been consistently nice and marry up to their fantastic wines just the way you want them to.

The location, the wine and the atmosphere are all fantastic and because of this we will certainly be returning, we will just be a little more traditional in our choices of food. A great place for a convivial lunch in McLaren Vale.

You should revisit. The new name is The Kitchen Door. Head Chef Ben Sommariva has totally revamped previous efforts. I recommend eating there again and revising your site. Cheers!