PROFILED BY DE GROOTS MEDIAWhen a seven-foot bushranger greets you for dinner, you know you are in for something different. But there’s no need to be intimidated – he’s the strong, silent, metal type. His partner in crime is the very real and friendly chef Kerry. She and her partner Peter turned their love of Australia’s favourite outlaw into a restaurant, attracting devotees of the “Kelly cult”. Gangs of bikies blow in to pay their respects; and camera-wielding tourists have awarded it a medal in the SA Tourism awards. A mural of sunburnt orange blazes like Kelly’s rifles, and this makes for a worthwhile visit in itself, but the food too is worthy of a place in your tucker box.
Chef Kerry was once a shearer’s cook, though with her cooking I don’t know how any sheep ever got shorn. Most meals are gluten free. Dunk your vegemite damper into Ned’s kangaroo tail “soup of yesterday”. Although Stringy Bark Creek chook (thankfully) does not live up to its name, you won’t be disappointed if you “steak out” the game grill with it’s spread of roo, emu, buffalo, camel and wallaby. Seafood takes the form of yabbies in Kerry’s award-winning garlic sauce; while croc is served on paper bark. Desserts looked better than a poke in the eye with a burnt stick, but I was as stuffed as the oyster-filled carpetbag steak and was unable to eat any more. I was also hoping for a Ned Kelly shaving brush but unfortunately the merchandise cabinet had sold out. Oh well.
Roz Taylor, November 2007
