Escape South Australia
Take to the skies for the experience — and meal — of a lifetime
Australia’s most pampered cows are fed chocolates as part of their diet. To prove the point, chef Mark Wright digs deep into an industrial-sized pile of cattle feed and pulls out handfuls of what look like oversized M&Ms.
“Kids love getting in here and playing Richie Rich on treasure hunts for chocolates,” he says.
“We buy Cadbury chocolates by the Bdouble truck.”
We’re about to dine on arguably Australia’s best beef, at the newly crowned Best Tourism Restaurant in South Australia, on the doorstep of one of the nation’s best wine regions, on a day jaunt with the newest arm of Australia’s second-oldest air transport company (after Qantas). Phew.
Adelaide-based Rossair has branched out into tourism with the launch of Rossair Travel, offering day trips — or longer — to places a little out of reach for a quick trip by car.
Although there are loads of wonderful places within a day’s return drive from Adelaide, including the Barossa, Clare and McLaren Vale wine districts, Rossair has seized the opportunity to offer luxury packages to destinations such as the Coonawarra, Kangaroo Island, Flinders Ranges, Riverland and West Coast.
A day jaunt to the Coonawarra begins with morning refreshments in Rossair’s lounge at Adelaide Airport then a stroll to the eightpassenger, twin-engine Cessna Conquest — no queues, no hassles.
Being an aviation nerd I sit in the co-pilot seat next to pilot Rob Nicholson both for the view and to check out his excellent skills.
The view taking off over Adelaide of the beaches, then the coastline heading to the Limestone Coast and the fertile farmland occasionally hidden by fairy floss clouds, makes the 45-minute trip an unfolding panorama.
As the vineyards of the Coonawarra on their famous terra rossa soils come into sight we land on a small airstrip and taxi up to a waiting mini-van — screaming fans aside, this must be a little of what it feels like to be a rock star.
Rossair has agreements with top-end accommodation partners in places like Kangaroo Island where guests may want to stay overnight. In the Coonawarra they have teamed with Punters Vineyard Retreat, a luxurious four-bedroom escape on a secluded block surrounded by vineyards and gnarled old gums. They also take guests to Hollick Wines for a tasting, then a gourmet lunch with matching wines in the Upstairs at Hollick restaurant, with its sweeping views over the vineyard. We don’t stay overnight, but we do squeeze in two lunches on a trip when indulgence is the order of the day.
With our private plane on standby it was too easy to bundle back in and fly the short hop to Millicent, where chauffeured Mercedes limousines wait to whisk us to Mayura Station.
Famed for its Wagyu beef with its highly marbled fat — thin veins of unsaturated fat which give the meat its ‘melt in the mouth’ flavour, not the chewy variety of fat — Mayura is also renowned for its The Tasting Room restaurant.
Chef Mark Wright takes us to the yards to show us the cattle and explain how two thousand years as beasts of burden in their native Japan helped the breed develop the trademark fat veins as energy stores.
The smell of cattle and feed is strong, the
discovery of chocolates hidden in their feed is startling. Mark explains each beast eats 12kg of grain feed per day, including 2kg of the special treat mix.
“It helps lift the amount of marbling and gives a distinct flavour,” he says.
He also dispels a persistent myth about people massaging Wagyu cows to further tenderise the meat, saying it is more likely people are oiling up the beasts’ hides for aesthetic appearance, a bit like touching up car tyres with tyre black.
Then it is into the restaurant where seats at the open kitchen counter allow us to chat with the chef. It is a bit like being in a TV cooking show as first we tuck into oh-so-thinly sliced carpaccio served on a coloured plate with dainty adornments so it looks a little like an impressionist watercolour. Next we sample divine Wagyu beef already slow cooked for 48 hours. Then the main event — chunks of Wagyu cooked on a hibachi with touches such as citrus and edible flowers. Guests even get to select personalised steak knives.
Mayura Station has won multiple national awards for its Wagyu beef but as always the proof is in the taste test, especially for guests who have paid to fly in for a feed. Wagyu is graded from O to 9 based on the marbled fat flecks visible in the ribeye, with 9 being the top. The beef we are served is so good it is rated 9 Plus. “It is off the charts,” Mark grins.
It is a sublime meal matched with superb wines in a great setting with bushland views. Arguably the best beef in Australia, in the reigning Best Tourism Restaurant in SA, matched to some of the best cabernets in the land.
Not the cheapest day out, but one that will live on in the memory banks long after the credit card bill is paid.