Orana

The food here is an adventure into Australian bush tucker at its most sublime. There is no doubting the care, attention & passion that has gone into creating each delicately balanced & exciting morsel. The service is attentive albeit stilted with youthful inexperience.
The reason I couldn’t award 5 stars was the wine package which just didn’t meet a similar standard. On the one hand the Blanc de Blanc was the perfect accompaniment to the 15 appetisers. The wild fermented Grenache is an inspired choice to go with the kangaroo. the Chenin Blanc was limp & almost vermentino like in its lack of life. The 1^st sticky to go with the 1^st dessert was unctuous & gorgeous. The final Riesling with the set buttermilk was disastrous & left the palate in a war with itself at the end of the meal. We should have been offered an alternative after making it very clear to the sommelier how wrong it was but we were given a toss away line instead. The wine serves were barely legal, with the hosts idea of a glass being the size of an average tasting at a wine cellar door. For $ 300 we expected a generous host.
My advice to diners is to bye a bottle of Blanc de Blanc to share then a bottle of soft red, or white depending on your palate, followed by a bottle of sticky to cover both desserts.

Superb dining experience of native Australian foods. I’m one who wants to know what’s on the menu so I felt proud of myself for indulging in a surprise menu. I surrendered to many foods I normally wouldn’t eat and was very happy I did.

It doesn’t get any more exclusive, expensive, elegant or exciting than Orana. I’m a very experienced, adventurous international diner, hooked on degustation menus… and yet…
I never imagined there were so many tastes I had yet to experience.
Orana’s Jock Zonfrillo’s imagination is unsurpassed in the way he sources obscure Australian native plants and extracts from them flavours which have the senses thrilling.
He has a stupendously well-​informed and devoted staff so the spirit of dining in the close quarters of Orana is one of being tucked into a very caring team world. The eight course degustation is preceded by a parade of snacks and nibbles, all presented with immense pride and lots of information. And the swooning begins.
Instead of the wine accompaniments, I asked for just a glass of interesting white — and was guided by the sommelier to an American Semillon which was so vivid in its flavours that that phrase «party in the mouth» came to mind. It was heavenly and, like everything else, a new thrill.
And out came the delicacies, one after another, a voyage of tastes and textures, delicacies foraged freshly in the Adelaide Hills or brought from the hinterland of Queensland or from Kangaroo Island — finishing with a dessert featuring strawberry eucalyptus which grows only in some remote area like the Atherton Tablelands. Who knew there was such a thing or such a bliss on the tongue?
The menu is constantly changing, according to seasons and the inventions of Zonfrillo.
It is not a cheap experience. It is a major treat. It was what I chose for my birthday treat and I am now working on what special event I can conjure up as a reason to return.

Easy a 5 star — brilliant food and great friendly relaxed service. We had about 20 different dishes in the tasting menu — many of which were very new and without a prior taste reference point — so lots of new and genuinely wonderful taste experiences. All dishes were lovely to look at on the plate. My favourite was a 10 – 12 hour baked beetroot heart with a magnificent goats curd dip. Devine AND I don’t like beetroot! Get along, book well in advance and enjoy.

Wow. One of the finest dining experiences I’ve had anywhere. It’s certainly not cheap, but you get what you pay for.
The restaurant is small and cosy — probably seats about 25 at maximum capacity. Best to save this place for an intimate occasion with only a few others. The atmosphere is relaxed and friendly. Often at these kinds of «fine-​dining» establishments I feel a little uncomfortable and stiff, but that wasn’t the case at Orana thanks to the unpretentious décor and personable staff.
There’s a set degustation menu, which consists of about 10 «snacks» and then 7 or 8 courses. Each dish is small but satisfying, and there is an emphasis on fresh local native food (for example, the salad was made with ingredients foraged that day from the Adelaide Hills). The food was stunning — inventive, fresh and balanced. Highlights included the prawns served with fermented and dehydrated native plums and a sorbet made with green ants that was surprisingly tangy and refreshing.
They have a good selection of wines, but I’d suggest splashing out for the matched wines. Each selection they made to pair with a course was delicious and complemented the food well. As an added bonus, they offered matching juices for each course for my partner who does not drink. Some of the concoctions they made for her were delicious. These guys know what they’re doing — just trust them to make the choices for you and go along for the ride.
I can’t recommend this place highly enough. The staff are friendly, approachable and incredibly knowledgable, and the food and wine is incredible. I don’t think I’ve ever left a dinner feeling so satisfied. Perfect for a special night out.

AMAZING. Last time I was this wowed by a meal was in San Sebastián. This was fresh, foraged, intriguing fare that surprised at each turn. And it wasn’t about trickery or chefy foams or gels or liquid nitrogen just really unusual native ingredients imaginatively matched with local meats and cheese. Can’t recommend highly enough!