(From left): Elephant Hill Winery’s cellar door manager Calista Wood, general manager Simon Swa and chef Ben Cruse.
(From left): Elephant Hill Winery’s cellar door manager Calista Wood, general manager Simon Swa and chef Ben Cruse.
OPINION
Did you know you can make delicious crackers from beer waste?
Well, let me tell you Elephant Hill Winery’s chef Ben Cruse can, and he does it perfectly.
He uses leftover grains from Brave Brewing and Giant Brewing to make crackers which are served with his dish burrata alongsideromesco and olive oil. The dish is part of Elephant’s Hill’s new menu.
Cruse has done an extraordinary job of inventing a menu with dishes that not only taste amazing and look good but are created to ensure waste is minimal, if present at all. Elephant Hill general manager Simon Swa said Ben had travelled the world and worked everywhere from food trucks to Michelin Star restaurants. Locals will also know him as the owner of the former Black Bird Cafe.
“This menu is his travel on a plate sprinkled with modern, [eastern] and Asian flavours,” Swa said. “He lives on a lifestyle block and is very conscious about sustainability and ensuring food is sourced from producers and growers as close to us as possible. For instance, we use Yolky Dokey eggs from just down the road.” The menu is designed to be shared, although you can of course keep the food all to yourself.
“We encourage groups of people to come and get involved with the food. Have some fun, taste the wine and enjoy the food together.”
“I like seeing people sitting down having fun and getting in with their hands.
“Waste is a big thing in our industry, so I’m tackling that by using as much of it as I can. At the moment I have a big pot on the boil in the kitchen with scraps in it. It will boil down to a vegemite consistency and be used to enhance flavour.”
He said he loved salt and honey and was “pretty nerdy, really”.
“I love to read books about food and have a lot of cookbooks. I wake up in the night thinking about what I can do next.”
Elephant Hill’s new menu, created by chef Ben Cruse, is designed around sharing with friends, having fun and getting in with your hands.
Swa says people might not think the menu goes with “a flashy place like this”.
“However, if you dig underneath, you will find that our philosophy is all about sustainability in the kitchen, vineyard and winery. For instance, all the wastewater from the winery is repurposed. It doesn’t go into the council works or out to the ocean.”
The menu will change with the season, but for now expect plates of hot smoked lemon and fennel salmon, organic beef tartare, Sichuan fried mushrooms (incredible), chili-glazed soft-shell crab tacos and sesame, ginger and soy braised beef rib.
There’s more, but those are the dishes I tried. I had help eating them. The food looked so good I couldn’t wait to dig in, it was full of flavour and I loved the pickles, which were refreshing and tasty.
I also had dessert. All I’m going to say about that is: yum. Go try it.
If I really had to pick a favourite, it would be the mushrooms. They were stunning and, even better, from Te Mata Mushrooms, which is back selling mushrooms at its original site in Brookvale Road Havelock North.
The other bonus about Elephant Hill is that it’s open on Mondays. Restaurant hours are Monday to Sunday 11am=5pm, with dinner service plans under way. The Wine Bar will be open from 5pm-8pm on Fridays from August 16.
* Linda Hall’s lunch was courtesy of Elephant Hill.
