Leonards Mill

“We are a regional restaurant that aims to source as much local produce from the Southern Fleurieu region as possible. True paddock-to-plate is knowing where our food comes from and how it is cared for. We love showing our diners that pigs’ ears are delicious, and that fruit and vegetables don’t have to look perfect.”

Tartare is our signature dish. It features on every menu and so it should, with the freshest beef, lamb and venison sourced from within twenty kilometres of the restaurant. Our current lamb tartare comes from a family-run farm only eighteen kilometres from the restaurant, this served with local Deep Creek pickled blackberries, karkalla from our kitchen garden and a preserved lime aioli from our own limes.

Second Valley Beef, comes from a farm seven-hundred metres from the restaurant and the cut will change depending on where we are at, as we buy in whole animals. The secondary cuts are smoked or cooked for twenty-four hours and then pressed so that we waste nothing, served with Fleurieu carrots, nasturtiums and a green peppercorn jus.

The owners of Leonards Mill, Hayley Pember-Calvert and Iain Calvert, are in love with the Fleurieu Peninsula’s legion of small-scale producers. And why wouldn’t they be, when they’ve even seen one beef producer in the paddock brushing his favourite cows? (Here’s looking at you, Grant Pember of Second Valley Farm.)

Chef Konny Putkin and his small kitchen team, pick fresh vegetables and herbs from Leonards Mill’s own permaculture kitchen garden. Constantly learning what local produce is available and what will grow in the microclimate of Second Valley. Buying in whole local animals, everything is used even the bone marrow in the fluffy gnocchi, reducing wastage and paying respect to the animal.

Add wines sourced from only family-owned boutique wineries in Southern Fleurieu, McLaren Vale, or Adelaide Hills, and you know exactly where you are with every bite and every sip.

"Expect a warm welcome at the restored 170-year-old flour mill, where you can sit on the lawn, expansive deck, or inside the three-level venue." –Gourmet Traveller