A single, delicate Eyre Peninsula oyster, drizzled in red wine vinegar and nestled on a bed of cracked ice, comes with a story about the family, and their three children, who’ve plucked this bounty from the sea.

Superb food – there are no lowlights here – gives this cellar door restaurant in the Barossa’s western ranges a real tilt at being number one on any gourmand’s tour of South Australia. But the stories and the level of involvement turn the experience up yet another notch.

The passionfruit “egg” dessert inspires wonder at how they did it. Curious? The kitchen staff will not only show you, but let you have a go.

Settle in while savouring the bucolic view of Greenock creek and watching as staff tend the onions roasting on the brazier beyond the window, all the while dunking a trio of salad leaves plucked from the kitchen garden into a bowl of jersey cream flavoured with soy, honey and chives.

It’s billed as a seven-course menu but, with morsels to start, it’s much more, and the inch-round Kitchener buns and licorice ice cream popsicles to finish can be a challenge.

On the journey there’s kingfish with foraged edible flowers; a blue fin tuna mini-steak, just touched by the pan, and bolstered with a chicken liver pate; and kangaroo fillet with macadamia shavings, smoked olive oil and a kangaroo jus.

Matched wines, all from the Hentley collection, are excellent.  A personalised menu bookends a delightful experience which won’t be soon forgotten.