CityMag talks to the co-owners and new head chef of a landmark Adelaide Hills pub about backing community and values during a cost-of-living crisis.

The Scenic Hotel ethos began with two of six co-owners, Jay Marinis and Alistair Wells, wanting to create “a sustainable hospitality business”.

“The idea was creating a different pub space which ties in our values,” Alistair says.

Creating a sustainable pub was “the only way to do it”, particularly when sourcing produce.

“It was always a point of difference for us, even though that was the only way we were ever going to do it,” Alistair says.

“I think in today’s climate, geographically and climactically, it’s just the only way forward to be able to offer things that you’re proud of and stand behind.

“In our own way, that was the only way we could think of doing this type of endeavour.”

The Scenic view

The business formed four years ago and opened smack bang in the middle of the pandemic. Alistair says The Scenic Hotel team worked through adversity during COVID and will continue to do so in this cost-of-living crisis. Despite the hardships, the team didn’t cut corners on their values.

“Going forward, as it’s like for every hospitality business around Australia at the moment, cost of living pressures are real and affect the business constantly,” Alistair says.

“Again, like the COVID scenario, it wasn’t something that was going to stop us or, for us to change or flip any of the ideas that we had at the outset.

“I think it’s extremely important to stick with the ideas that you have when buying into any type of venture, especially through adversity, because there’s no point in having a mission statement if as soon as it gets hard you just start selling frozen chicken nuggets.”

Alistair says The Scenic Hotel is fortunate because its Adelaide Hills location is close to many sustainable food suppliers.

“What we’re able to do here, which is not able to be done in most cities, is locality to this amazing food and wine that is around us and is so close,” he says.

“For anyone to not be using these supply chains that exist 200 metres down the road is insane.

“It’s an amazing place to put food on a plate when you can have people just drop some lemons off from down the road.”

The baked radishes looking so colourful

New head chef Ben Edwards says the sustainability aspect is “perfectly aligned with where [he] would like to go with the food”.

“It really allows us [to have] a proper direct link to what we’re getting our veggies from and who’s farming them and who’s working the land there,” Ben says.

“You know, we see them, they drink at the pub here, we bump into them regularly and it’s really in line with that community aspect of the hotel – to be supporting local farmers, and they are supporting us and to really be on board with what each other are doing.”

Some of these local producers range from Presqil from Forest Range, Smith Gully Orchards for fruit – Ben says “[owner] Bob’s a regular at the pub” – Sheoak Baker and more.

Ben took up his role in April and says there won’t be “a whole lot of changes in terms of the ethos and how we’re going about sourcing our produce and committing to small-scale agriculture within a short radius of the pub”.

“Our menu is driven by what plants are growing and have in abundance… and have as a resource for the following season, not only to support them and but also to keep our menu dynamic and interesting,” he says.

“[It’s] in line with the cycle of life and the seasonality of food and being a kitchen and a business, we have a responsibility to make sure we’re committed to that.

“So we change the menu almost daily and it really is our farmers that drive what we put on the menu, and we try and be versatile with what we’re able to do with that stuff.”

What’s on the current menu is a mix of pub classics (done in a Scenic way) and creative choices.  The menu classics range from a beef cheeseburger, chicken or kangaroo loin schnitzel, and barramundi whereas the creative choices include baked radishes with vadouvan butter and curry leaf along with snapper collar and celariac remoulade.

The Scenic Hotel is located at Old Norton Summit Road, Norton Summit and is open from Wednesday to Saturday from 12pm until late, then Sunday from 12pm until 9pm.

Connect with the business on Instagram for more.

The snapper collar