Images: Tread Lightly Willunga
A new underground cellar has opened its doors on the Fleurieu Peninsula, featuring local and seasonal food – and it’s looking to be the ultimate date night dinner spot.
Fresh off opening their doors earlier this month, Tread Lightly Willunga has got the town talking, and many are already calling it their ‘new local’.
Step downstairs into the cellar and think the opposite of dark and gloomy. Tread Lightly Willunga is an intimate, cosy restaurant serving delicious dishes and unique cocktails.
With a selection of Australian wines, some produced just next door in McLaren Vale, the bottles don’t travel far before landing on your table. It’s not just the wine that’s local; Tread Lightly Willunga prides itself on local and seasonal produce.
The menu includes snacks, smaller plates and larger plates, encouraging a relaxed, communal way of eating. Snacks set the tone with simple, well-chosen staples such as local olives, house almonds, pickles and focaccia, alongside hand-cut triple-cooked chips that signal comfort done properly.
Smaller plates showcase dishes like grilled mussel skewers with fermented chilli sambal, radish hash browns paired with green bean kimchi and cured egg yolk, and scallop crudo with green tomato, lime kosho and dill vinaigrette, highlighting a balance of freshness, acidity and umami. Grilled sourdough flatbreads with sprouted lentil hummus and native za’atar sit alongside richer options such as cheese curd with XO, heirloom tomatoes and chilli crisp, and house-made black pudding with toasted focaccia.
The larger plates lean into bold, considered combinations. A beetroot tarte tatin with zucchini baba ganoush, squash and walnut dressing offers a vegetable-forward centrepiece, while confit rabbit leg with grilled rabbit sheftalia, toasted barley salsa and rainbow chard delivers depth and comfort. For another plant-based alternative, the hibachi lion’s mane mushroom steak with caramelised onion, chimichurri and mushroom crisp stands confidently as a hero dish rather than an afterthought.
Sweet tooths are not forgotten, with a cherry sorbet featuring fennel pollen crème diplomate and fresh cherries keeping things light, and a passionfruit tart with lemon thyme meringue and fig leaf providing a more indulgent finish.
Tread Lightly Willunga operates on a first-in, best-dressed, walk-ins-only basis, except that groups of five or more are asked to message via Instagram.
Tread Lightly Willunga
Where: 29 High Street, Willunga
For more information, click here.
