South Australia dining: Getting the indigenous food experience at Adelaide's Orana restaurant

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South Australia is spoiled for choice when it comes to superb local produce and fine dining experiences, both in Adelaide itself and surrounding regional areas.

One restaurant that has built an enviable reputation for both its delicious and beautifully crafted food and its innovative use of indigenous ingredients is Orana in the Adelaide CBD.

The menu at Orana is a confluence of indigenous produce and classical technique and is the brainchild of Scottish expat Jock Zonfrillo, who after arriving in Australia in the mid–90s has made it his mission to prove that native ingredients have a place in Australian gastronomy and a role in defining a national cuisine.

Sit down at a table at Orana and you embark on an immersive dining experience featuring many unfamiliar native ingredients. The result of Zonfrillo spending extended time with indigenous communities throughout Australia, hearing the stories and learning of a peoples respect and connection to everything in the bountiful landscape that surrounds them.

Jock explains: "Our food is based around two things really; the seasons, and we stick to the Aboriginal six-season calendar rather than the traditional four, and also my experience being out in communities."

"Whether it is a traditional type of food that I've come across that ties in with a dreaming story or cooking techniques that have been passed on. Then we meld this knowledge with classical French technical techniques. I'm a bit of a mongrel really."