{"id":77013,"date":"2026-08-21T03:24:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T03:24:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/77013\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T03:24:06","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T03:24:06","slug":"kane-pollards-topiary-is-closing-and-the-chefs-next-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/77013\/","title":{"rendered":"Kane Pollard\u2019s Topiary Is Closing \u2013 And the Chef\u2019s Next Move"},"content":{"rendered":"

Newman\u2019s Nursery, a garden centre in the verdant Tea Tree Gully foothills, is the home of Topiary<\/a>, which for 15 years has been one of Adelaide\u2019s most underrated dining destinations.<\/p>\n

Run by star chef and Tasting Australia food curator Kane Pollard<\/a> and his wife and business partner Adele Pollard, the restaurant occupies a 140-year-old cottage and its sandstone courtyard, where you feel a world away from the city sitting beneath the wisteria-wrapped arbour.<\/p>\n

As Broadsheet writer and Topiary<\/a> lover Tomas Telegramma has explained<\/a>, it\u2019s a restaurant which has flown more under the radar than it should.<\/p>\n

Now the Pollards are calling time on Topiary.<\/p>\n

Pollard shares two clear reasons why now was the time to wrap up. Firstly, the lease is up. Secondly, running a restaurant for 15 years straight is \u201creally bloody hard\u201d.<\/p>\n

For all this time, Topiary has been a family business in every sense.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor first 10 years, [Adele and I] ran it with father-in-law and mother-in-law. The first seven to 10 years were possible because we just had that extra layer of support in each other. [My mother- and father-in-law] stepped back and retired about five years ago, and Adele and I have continued it from there,\u201d says Pollard.<\/p>\n

In those 15 years the Pollards have welcomed two daughters, Isla and Maisey, who grew up with the venue. Many regulars have also become like family for the Pollards.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got regulars that come in every week, like Ken and Faye, who come in every single Friday. They\u2019ve knitted the kids\u2019 jumpers over the years, and Ken\u2019s come up and helped me build Isla\u2019s cubby house. They\u2019ve been coming in every Friday for 15 years, without skipping one,\u201d says Pollard.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got so many customers like that. We\u2019ve got Nigel who comes every single day of the week to say g\u2019day and have a cup of tea. That consistent support from community has been huge for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you haven\u2019t made it yet, now is the time to head up for a garden-to-table breakfast menu that\u2019s among Adelaide\u2019s best; a reasonably priced \u00e0 la carte lunch menu which balances fine-dining flourishes with sourdough pizzas; or Pollard\u2019s fancy Graze set menu, which is a steal at $85 per person.<\/p>\n

To give everyone a chance to say goodbye, Topiary will open for Saturday dinners in September, as well as for its daily breakfast and lunch service. The menu over Topiary\u2019s final months will be one of its best.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had a chat to the team, and one of the first things we did was write a big, long list of the dishes that meant the most to them. It\u2019ll essentially be a 50\/50 split of new seasonal stuff \u2013 [and] every couple of weeks, we\u2019ll change our menu, so there will still be new dishes for people to experience \u2013 and continuing to bring back some dishes that we\u2019ve done in the past that have been favourites in one way or another.\u201d<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t mistake this move for Pollard\u2019s retirement.<\/p>\n

\u201cNext year will be focusing on my role with Tasting Australia, and then really hitting the ground running with Place, which I\u2019m so bloody excited about. It\u2019s been a passion project for a while,\u201d he says of the nomadic dining series he launched in 2023<\/a>, which he\u2019ll be able to devote more time to in 2027.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not stepping out of the industry by any means. I still love cooking both in the commercial kitchen and at home every day. It\u2019s in my blood and that\u2019s not going to change. I\u2019m keen to keep on cooking and continuing the creativity, but bricks and mortar won\u2019t play a part in that for a little while.\u201d<\/p>\n

An exact closing date has not yet been confirmed for Topiary, but the Pollards will share one on Instagram<\/a> soon.<\/p>\n

@topiary_dining<\/a><\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Tomas Telegramma.<\/p>\n