Mietta's Review
Built in the middle of the original Penfold vineyard, Magill Estate is the company's eponymously named showcase restaurant. And very showy it is too, looking over the old vines of Magill to the lights of Adelaide. Under the direction of new chef, Jerome Tremoulet in early 2005, the kitchens at Magill now go some way towards fulfilling the restaurant's promise though at prices that Adelaide find it hard to stomach (mains $38-$44). The service smacks a little of hotel style training. As one would expect, the wine knowledge is excellent. This is a very special experience that is priced more for Sydney than the bush (sorry, Adelaide).
Other Published Opinions
Gourmet Traveller 2012 Australian Restaurant Guide Score: Two Stars "A new chef, new menu direction and sweeping refurbishment plans have stated the owners' ambition to again fly high with this revered dining room. Chef Jock Zonfrillo's assured confidence has prompted the introduction of tasting menus exclusively"
Gourmet Traveller 2011 Australian Restaurant Guide "Continuing change in the kitchen has put Magill Estate under heavy scrutiny. As we go to print, former sous chef Shannon Fleming is at the stoves while the owners consider their future plans"
The Adelaide Food Guide 2010 Score: **** "Magill Estate is heading onwards and upwards as chef Luke Stepsys settles into its fine dining traditions while still pushing culinary boundaries with dishes derived from molecular, deconstructionist and neo-nouvelle trends"
Adelaide Advertiser Tony Love, 30-09-2009 Score: 17.5/20 "An elite, fine-dining experience with ultra-modern, adventurous and occasionally quirky cooking, though always with huge amounts of work in each dish that, on inspection, offers good comparative value at this level. The Penfolds wine list ranges from entry-level bottles to the rarest, gilt-edged experience, enhanced by an impressive room with a view."
Gourmet Traveller 2010 Australian Restaurant Guide Score: ** "A new chef and kitchen brigade have brought fresh optimism to Magill Estate, introducing a bold splash of the exotic to a previously constrained menu. Tasmanian Luke Stepsys has technical precision to support his ambition, whether it's conjuring an intensely flavoured white tomato cloud with parmesan foam, or offsetting rare tuna under a sourdough skin with braised oxtail"
Gourmet Traveller 2009 Australian Restaurant Guide Score: * "As you'd expect, it's all about the wine. You can smell ferments in the adjacent winery as you arrive and vineyards fill the foreground view from the restaurant's full-length windows"
Gourmet Traveller 2008 Australian Restaurant Guide "With long views over vines and city to the distant sea, this handsome dining room has lost none of its cachet"
Gourmet Traveller 2007 Australian Restaurant Guide Score: ** "This sleek, modernist dining room - set at the front of Penfolds' classic winery where Grange is made - overlooks old vines, the city skyline and distant gulf waters, and is a mecca for wine boffins seeking Penfolds rarities, including an $85 glass of the big G."
Adelaide Advertiser 2006 "One of Adelaide's most auspicious settings: historic winery buildings on the slopes of the Mt Lofty Ranges and a million-dollar view skimming west over Adelaide's skyline to the waters of Gulf St Vincent."
Gourmet Traveller 2006 Australian Restaurant Guide * "Among old bluestone winery buildings, with rolling vineyards in the foreground, the Penfolds owned Magill Estate is the supreme showcase for the label's wines. ... New French chef Jerome Tremoulet has set about exploring the best local produce for a menu that's traditional, but enlivened with Mod Oz touches."
Gourmet Traveller 2005 Australian Restaurant Guide ** "Housed in a sleek and modern pavilion above the vineyard, Magill Estate offers an unrivalled perspective on Adelaide. No expense has been spared in a fit-out featuring clean metallic and sassafras-timber surfaces. Low table-lighting helps maintain intimacy. Prices might turn locals' heads, but are in keeping with the fine-dining offerings."
Adelaide Advertiser score 14.5/20 Tony Love 29/6/05 "The Magill Estate Restaurant is luxurious from the opening of the door to the pouring of the wine and the curiosity of the cheese trolley. But the kitchen's offerings are well shy of all of these, the menu restrained, the dishes lacking greatness. It's a wine buff experience more than a complete package and difficult to justify such food prices."
The Weekend Australian, 21-22/2/04, Terry Plane,'the view outside is matched by the ambience within...tasteful decor and waiters gliding silently between tables...a list of just about every Penfolds wine and a floor crew that has service down to a fine balence between friendliness and formality...There's much to like about Magill Estate.it's just such a pity about the food.It's holding the place back..'
Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Guide Australia 2004, 2 Red Stars, Excellent wine list,'a remarkably relaxed place...cooking continues to mature in style, the waiters are effective and the view over the city from this rather palatial pavilion is sensational, with old Penfolds shiraz vines right out the front...The wine list has rare range and depth...The menu tends to be meat focused...terrific'
Sydney Morning Herald, Good Living,12/11/02