It recently made headlines when Adelaide cooking sensation Emma McCaskill announced she would be arriving at suburban institution The Pot Food & Wine. It makes a sharp change for Emma, who formerly manned the kitchens of the suave Magill Estate with partner and co-head chef Scott Huggins. Departing last December, it was believed that Emma was on the hunt for her own establishment – that was until the arrival of the news of her new appointment in the casual kitchen.

While The Pot may not be hers in entirety (rather it is the eatery that started the Simon Kardachi hospitality empire 18 years ago) it will be Emma’s in both name and nature, with the restaurant renamed The Pot by Emma McCaskill and showcasing a menu in which she has clearly made her mark.

The cuisine draws inspiration from near and far, which makes sense considering the multicultural food background Emma herself experienced. “Im very lucky to have grown up around Indian food,” she says. “My grandparents are Anglo-Indian and whenever we would have family gatherings, we would always end up congregating in the kitchen. When I was little, I would always be in awe of watching my Nanna make parathas. I loved the connection of making them with her – learning the process of folding and kneading the dough then sitting down and eating them with her.”

What she has designed for The Pot is exactly what she would have served at her own venture, with “delicious food with minimal formality” on tap. Even the space was what she imagined for her own eatery, which made the venture one impossible to pass. “An opportunity to work with Simon Kadarchi and The Pot arose and it was very similar to what I was looking for when looking for my own space. I liked the bones of the space, the history of the restaurant and Simon Kadarchi and I shared the same vision. It made sense to take on the opportunity,” she explains. “I wanted to find a solid business operator to work with,” she continues of what she found in Simon.

But it’s not a project that would be made possible without ready collaboration from both ends, with the new take on The Pot one that sees both chef and owner sharing the same end goal. “Its very much a partnership – we bring very different experiences to the working relationship and we share a vision for what The Pot can and should be,” says Emma.