First Look: Alanna Sapwell-Stone’s Esmay Puts Down Roots in a Historic Adelaide Pub

“This is going to be my last thing in hospitality,” says Alanna Sapwell-Stone.

Sapwell-Stone’s career has taken her around the country. She was the head chef at Josh Niland’s seminal seafood restaurant Saint Peter and led the team at Brisbane’s Arc Dining, until it closed in Covid. Shortly after Arc’s closure she developed Esmay, a pop-up concept, which she named after her 1972 Volkswagen. Sapwell-Stone and Esmay toured the country, starting in Noosa and then heading to Canberra’s Bar Rochford, Sydney’s Ezra, and Hearth in Perth.

Alongside chef-husband Matt Stone, she moved to the Northern Rivers and took up the head chef role at The Eltham, turning the humble pub into a destination diner.

Esmay never came to Adelaide back in 2020, but the state that laughs last laughs loudest. As soon as she finished up at The Eltham last year, Blanco Horner (Restaurant Botanic, The Botanic Lodge) reached out and asked her to move to Adelaide. She agreed, and now Esmay has a permanent home in Adelaide’s 146-year-old Hackney Hotel.

“I’m 40 this year and I’ve been thinking ‘What do I really want to do? What’s my legacy?’ And this is exactly what I’ve been craving; just good old-school hospitality, good food, and a beautiful experience for everyone.”

The Hackney Hotel – which has been buried beneath scaffolding for almost four years – is affectionately remembered by Adelaide locals for its carpeted front bar, dingy games room and pints and parmies, but this marks a new chapter for the venue. Although Sapwell-Stone’s CV includes a killer pub (“I loved doing the pub thing at The Eltham [but] I couldn’t wait for the opportunity to notch it up a little bit.”), Esmay isn’t serving pub grub.

“We don’t want people coming in and thinking that they’re going to have a pub meal,” she says. “It’s more like Country Women’s Association food but elevated. It has that historic feel, but it doesn’t feel like a pub anymore.”

Esmay is the whole package. Every detail, from lighting to garnishes, is perfectly complementary. The fit-out comes courtesy of Emma Aronsten of EDA Interiors, who, together with Sapwell-Stone, worked to maximise the natural light in the 40-seater space to create a restaurant that feels cosy and intimate all year round. There are earth-toned tiles of various sizes and textures, sand-coloured marble counter tops and two dramatic ceiling rose-inspired chandeliers. The original fireplace and stained-glass windows, which feature a cheeky ape hiding among leafy vines, remain. The flatware includes silver serving platters and duck-shaped, vintage-look decanters that wouldn’t be out of place in your grandma’s crockery cabinet.

“I can’t wait for people to see it,” says Sapwell-Stone. “It’s such a special space.”

Equally special is the menu, which the chef describes as “nanna kind of food. I want everything to be delicious, and not just put something fancy on the menu for my own ego.” 

The opening menu includes Jersey curd with peaches and rose; a beautifully-layered tomato and red pepper terrine served with chunks of mud crab flesh and a meat-filled crab claw, all in a pool of bright red vinegar (which is “popping off on Instagram”); breaded King George Whiting with saltbush garlic sauce; and venison with a “naughty” bone marrow sauce.

A set seven-course set menu is available whenever the kitchen’s open. It includes emu pastrami doughnuts; oysters with finger lime and seaweed garum; the Jersey curd dish; and the perfectly picturesque crab dishes. 

Whether you order a-la-carte or get the set, don’t expect each visit to Esmay to be the same. New additions find their way onto the menu almost weekly (“the printers hate me”). The chef’s recommendation is to return regularly with mates (big groups are seated upstairs in what she calls the “party room”) so you can “try it all”.

“I have this three-to-one ratio with my food,” says Sapwell-Stone. “Generally, if I put something that people haven’t had before, whether it’s emu or ’roo, I always make sure that it’s sandwiched between two things they’re comfortable with.” It’s an accommodation she makes for diners like her dad, who is a “well-done steak guy”. “He’s had the emu and he’s like, ‘Oh, it’s not bad!’.”

Being part of the Blanco Horner team gives the chef license to forage the Adelaide Botanic Garden for ingredients she’s never come across before, like wild celery seeds. “I picked them and they were really bitter, but I made a vinegar out of them and it’s super floral and almost like rose geranium”. She uses it to add depth of flavour to the mud crab dish.

The drinks list is curated by Travis Tausend and Nicole Sharrad (Brae, Attica). “Travis’s wine knowledge is just out of this world, and Nicole, she’s been amazing” says Sapwell-Stone. “Plus Matty [Stone], who’s been an absolute superglue super husband.” His passion for winemaking was behind their move from the Northern Rivers to Adelaide.

Beyond wine, the cocktail list includes the Paris Texas made with tequila, grapefruit and muntries, and the Dizzy Sour with Benedictine and citrus. A Sgroppino featuring rockmelon sorbet, inspired by a childhood treat, is the perfect encapsulation of what Sapwell-Stone is serving up at Esmay: elevated nostalgia.

“I’ve landed on my feet here. We’ve created a really special experience.”

Esmay

95 Hackney Road, Hackney

(08) 7077 0070

Hours:

Thu 5.30pm–10pm

Fri & Sat midday–3pm, 5.30pm–10pm

Sun midday–3pm

esmay.com.au

@esmay_adl