Images by Duy Dash
After nearly two decades building one of Asia’s most celebrated restaurants, internationally acclaimed chef Ryan Clift had his pick of where to return to Australia.
It wasn’t Sydney.
It wasn’t Melbourne.
Instead, the chef behind Singapore’s iconic Tippling Club is relocating permanently to the Clare Valley, where he’ll lead a new restaurant at Skillogalee Estate from 2027.
For Clift, the decision had little to do with prestige, and everything to do with what he believes is happening in South Australia’s food scene.
“I’d much rather come to Adelaide than not,” he said.
“The food quality is better. I think it’s grossly under-marketed, or underrated, I don’t know which one it is.
“But the quality of the produce here, the calibre of some of the restaurants and the quality of the people doing them is really surpassing what is Melbourne and Sydney.”
Coming from a chef whose career spans more than three decades across Europe, Australia and Asia, it’s a significant endorsement.
Clift trained under culinary legends including Marco Pierre White, Peter Gordon and Emmanuel Renaut before spending eight years as Executive Chef at Melbourne’s Vue de Monde. In 2008, he opened Singapore’s Tippling Club, a restaurant that would become one of Asia’s most influential dining destinations, appearing repeatedly on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants and Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants lists.
Now, after 17 years abroad, he’s returning to Australia for what he describes as a very different kind of project.
Rather than taking over an existing venue, Clift will help shape a purpose-built restaurant from the ground up as part of Skillogalee Estate’s major redevelopment, while living on the property with his partner Chloé.
“It’s every chef’s dream to have a restaurant built from the ground up,” he said.
“I don’t know many people who’ve been able to walk into an empty field and say, ‘I’m going to put the kitchen here, and the cellar here.’
“Normally you walk into an old building and everything is about compromise.”
That opportunity was one of the major reasons he accepted the role.
The couple will relocate permanently to the Clare Valley, becoming part of the local community rather than commuting between projects.
“We’re moving here full time,” Clift said.
“My focus is Skillogalee. There’s too much resting on this. There’s too much involved.”
For Skillogalee owner Simon Clausen, the partnership has been years in the making.
“I’ve been eating at Ryan’s restaurants for well over 15 years,” Clausen said.
“When the opportunity came up to work together, it wasn’t something I’d ever expected, but it was certainly something I wanted to explore. What became clear very quickly was that we shared exactly the same philosophy. We both wanted to respect everything people already loved about Skillogalee while thoughtfully building for the future.”
While many diners will associate Clift with the theatrical, avant-garde style that made Tippling Club internationally famous, he says guests shouldn’t expect molecular gastronomy for the sake of it.
Instead, the new restaurant will focus on exceptional South Australian produce.
“Over the last five years we really removed the base of that style of cooking,” he said.
“It’s more about what it tastes like.
“I’ve always been a produce-driven chef.
“If anything, we’ll be going a little bit more elegant. Less wacky, less in your face. Very produce-led, very service-driven.”
That philosophy will extend beyond the restaurant kitchen.
Across the road from the restaurant site, the estate is already preparing land for an extensive kitchen garden. Clift says the property will eventually include orchards, vegetables, chickens and produce grown specifically for the restaurant, allowing the menus to evolve with the seasons.
“The produce was just frustrating overseas,” he said.
“They pulled a cabbage out (in Clare) the other day and I got emotional.
“I was looking at it thinking, ‘Do you realise what I can do with that cabbage?’
“I couldn’t even get cabbages like that in Singapore.”
Food and wine will be developed together, with Clift working alongside Skillogalee’s long-time winemaker Kerri “KT” Thompson.
He says the goal isn’t simply to create another fine dining destination, but a restaurant that genuinely belongs to the estate.
“We’re not setting out to chase recognition,” he said.
“Recognition comes from consistently doing good work.
“For us, it’s about creating a restaurant that’s connected to the estate, celebrates South Australian produce and works naturally with the wines.”
The new restaurant will sit alongside the restored 1850s stone cottage, which will continue operating as Skillogalee’s cellar door and casual dining space. Together they’ll form part of a broader redevelopment of the estate, with the restaurant expected to open in April 2027.
