By Jen Barwick
As the temperature drops and the wood fires start roaring in the adjacent Maxwell Wines cellar door, Tom Boden, chef at Ellen Street restaurant, draws on his British origins for inspiration.
Originally from Winchester in England, Tom’s been at Ellen Street in McLaren Vale for just over 12 months and admits the Brit in him enjoys the chance to add beautiful and tender slow-cooked and braised dishes to the menu.
“Braised and slow-cooked secondary cuts of meat are a particular favourite… I enjoy taking the time to really bring out their worth,” Tom said.
But, for Tom, early winter in McLaren Vale really means a plethora of amazing vegetables.
“At this time of year, there’s an abundance of vegetable options grown locally, with the autumn rains and cooler weather, there’s a lot going on,” he said.
“I’m using a lot of curly kale at the moment, it’s good for so many things. I can deep fry it and make crunchy kale chips, drop it into the slow-cooked stews or just folding in some melted butter and cheese works extremely well.”
Tom sources most of his vegetable from Willunga-based wholesaler Scoop.
“It’s owned by Rachel McMillan and she sources a lot of her produce through local producers, and of course they all work seasonally, so that dictates really heavily on what I’m using in the restaurant,” he said.
Tom’s also not afraid to source his own produce, in particular foraging for pine mushrooms in the nearby Kuipto Forest or delving into Maxwell Wines’ Limestone Cave for its own mushroom loot.
Ellen Street chef Tom Boden in the Maxwell mushroom cave
“If I can’t find the pine mushrooms myself, I can get them from Rachel who has a team of foragers searching in other areas nearby,” he said.
Mushrooms are clearly a favourite at Ellen Street. Maxwell Wines’ hand-carved 50 metre limestone cave, found behind the restaurant and winery, has recently returned to its original intent – as a mushroom dwelling.
Maxwell legend has it that the original property owner, known as ‘FP Shister’ was inspired by a trip to Paris when he saw mushrooms growing in the underground quarries below the city. Upon his return in 1916, he spent many months carving out his tunnel, with a mission to grow his own mushrooms in the cool, dark and damp recesses of the limestone hill.
Maxwell Wines’ 50 metre limestone cave was hand carved in 1916 – 99 years ago
Almost 100 years later, growing on top of old barrels and treated sawdust, are again a variety of mushrooms – namely, portobello, shitake and oyster.
Special requests will see guests tour the limestone cave, given a quick taste of the cave-dwelling delights and then later, whilst sitting overlooking stunning McLaren Vale vistas of vineyards and rolling hills, and with glass of wine in hand, they’re served Tom Boden-style, in all its seasonal glory.