‘Australia’s Hottest Chef’ Clayton Wells Takes Magill Estate for Dinner

The dinner will include a set menu developed by all three chefs and aims to showcase the best in South Australian produce and dining. The eight-course degustation will be paired with Penfolds wines through the night.

Wells has worked in a long line of prestigious restaurants including Quay and Tetsuya’s in Sydney, Copenhagen’s Noma, London’s Viajante and New York’s Momofuku. He was recently named ‘Australia’s Hottest Chef of 2016’ by The Australian for Automata’s approach to modern dining.

In the collaborative dinner with Magill Estate Wells aims to draw on the contemporary and international styles that have informed Automata’s dining. “I’ll definitely be bringing influences from my restaurant Automata with me,” Wells tells The Adelaide Review.

“I’m looking forward to getting into the kitchen with Scott and Emma,” he says. “I love what they’re doing and it’ll be fun to put a menu together with them.”

While the Magill Estate chefs haven’t collaborated with Wells before, McCaskill did work with him at Tetsuya’s seven years ago. “We are all very excited to cook together again and have Automata at Magill Estate Restaurant,” McCaskill and Huggins say.

The Magill Estate chefs say that their goal at their acclaimed eatery has always been to highlight South Australia’s dining strengths, particularly in the growing contemporary food scene.

“Restaurants we collaborate with have a similar dining ethos to us. We want to introduce our industry friends to the uniqueness of South Australia.”

Wells says he’s still working with Huggins and McCaskill on exactly what the menu will include, but wants to stay true to South Australian produce.

“I’ll definitely be using some local SA produce,” he says. “Haven’t quite worked out what yet, but am chatting to Emma and Scott about interesting produce we can use.”

With the dinner being held at the very start of summer, diners should expect a menu replete with fresh, seasonal produce and expertly matched wines according to the Magill Estate chefs.

“Our menus will be drafted in accordance to the best produce available during the start of summer. Penfolds wines will be matched by our winemakers in a very hands-on approach, making sure both the wine and the dishes are in perfect harmony.”

Automata Dinner at Magill Estate
Magill Estate Restaurant
Wednesday, December 7, 6:30pm
Tickets $350pp. Bookings can be made via phone (+61 8 8301 5551) or by email (magillestaterestaurant@penfolds.com)