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Amanda Waldron & Philip Scarles
Amanda Waldron and Philip Scarles met in London in 1992, where they were both employed at the same restaurant – Philip as chef, Amanda as front-of-house manager.
Amanda was a former town planner from Broken Hill, NSW who gave up the office to work in the food industry whilst travelling overseas.
Philip’s training was in classical French cuisine and he started his career as a chef at the five star RAC gentleman’s club in Pall Mall, London.
His career also included stints at notable London restaurants Kensington Place and the Terence Conran owned Quaglinos.
Philip returned with Amanda to Australia in 1995 and they worked in Western Australia for the next four years, with stints together at various restaurants in Perth, the Belvoir function centre in the Swan Valley, Cheriton Estate and the Gingin Hotel Restaurant.
The pair moved in 1999 to the Clare Valley, having passed through on a holiday and fallen in love with the area.
Purchsed an old stone schoolhouse and fourteen acres of land in the Valley, began working at Eldredge Vineyards Restaurant where they leased the kitchen to provide winery lunches, gourmet picnic hampers and outside catering.
Menu at Eldredge Vineyards based around locally produced regional foods, seasonal ingredients and a provincial food philosophy as featured on “Postcards” segment.
Began marketing menu items such as marinated local olives, dukkah and chutneys in response to customer demand. The gourmet produce side of the business simply grew steadily from there, including a range of wine jellies utilising Clare Valley wines and a variety of seasonal preserves using locally grown fruits such as quandongs, figs and quinces.
Planted an orchard of 80 fruit trees to eventually supply all the jam-making needs of the business – varieties include apples, pears, plums, nectarines, apricots, cherries, quinces, lemons, oranges, peaches and greengages.
Also produce free range grainfed chickens, ducks, guinea fowl, geese and freerange eggs for use in their menus.
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