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An abandoned primary school is the setting for a cosy diner bringing the flavours of Malta together with Barossa’s famous wines – scrawled daily on the original blackboard.
Staguni is one part of the grand plans for the old Marananga Primary School, which is set to become a new food and arts precinct for the Barossa. The restaurant sits in the original 1922 brick schoolhouse and links to the past are everywhere: in the original blackboard, now used to scrawl the day’s wines by the glass; the hand-written menus on lined paper, seemingly ripped out of a primary school notebook; and an old-school lidded desk that greets guests at the entrance. The outside makes its way in, too, in the gum-tree coloured walls and leucadendron sprigs from Clare’s backyard that garnish each table.
It’s intimate and personal, and Falzon’s menu draws on the chef’s Maltese heritage. Dishes include crusty Maltese bread with olive oil, tomato and capers, plus fresh seafood and hyperlocal vegetables. Flavours like garlic, labneh, mint, sumac and harissa draw on the archipelago’s neighbours like Sicily, North Africa and the Middle East. Other highlights on the evolving and super-seasonal menu (Staguni is “seasons” in Maltese) include Clare’s spin on vitello tonnato – sliced seared beef and white-anchovy mayo topped with toasted sunflower seeds and sweet currants. There’s also a signature tortilla de patata served with roasted garlic aïoli, and nannygai and crunchy summer greens in a beautiful buttery sauce.
Those wines by the glass spotlight Staguni’s small-scale Barossan neighbours like Rasa Wines, Rieslingfreak, Sven Joschke and Whistler, while the approachable and evolving bottle list (hand-scribed and selected by jack-of-all-trades Clare) goes further afield to the King and Tamar Valleys in Australia, Veneto in Italy (an aromatic, acidic Soave with volcanic minerality) and Beaujolais (a silky, fruity gamay that delivers raspberries and strawberries). Perhaps most astounding – in 2025 – is that most bottles sit under the $85 mark.
Cocktails keep things fresh and fruity with an Old School Shake-up (Seppeltsfield Road gin, rhubarb, sake and lemon), a Staguni Paloma (tequila, lime, soda, and grapefruit sourced from a neighbour’s backyard orchard) and the Marananga Slowdown (a vodka and passionfruit Martini with vanilla, cinnamon and prosecco). Refreshingly, the non-alcs are just as tasty (and half the price) so designated drivers aren’t getting the short straw. Go for the popular pineapple and sage lemonade (pineapple sage syrup with lime, soda and a dash of almond syrup) or Verdita Tonic (with pineapple, coriander, agave, lime and spice) before buckling up for the drive back to the city.
