London restaurant launches fundraising initiatives for Australian bushfire relief

Australian-owned restaurant Wander in London’s Stoke Newington has launched several fundraising initiatives to support the Adelaide Hills Wine Region Relief Fund.

With parts of Australia ravaged by recent bushfires, Australian chef-owner Alexis Noble is running a charity raffle and week-long ‘Australia Day’ menu 22-26 January in aid of the region, where it is reported as much as a third of its vineyard production may have been wiped out.

The £35 menu will feature ‘Aussie classics’ such as 'chicken parmy', meat pie, salt and pepper squid, and pavlova, as well as an Adelaide Hills wine flight for an extra £30. All wine flight proceeds will go towards the appeal via Wander’s Crowdfunder. And throughout January, £1 from each glass and £5 from each bottle sold from Adelaide Hills producers will be donated.

On Wander’s Crowdfunder page meanwhile, a raffle has also been set up with prizes donated by some of London’s Australian-run hospitality businesses. For every £10 donated, a 'raffle ticket' is allocated, giving donors the chance to win prizes including a £100 voucher for Levan restaurant in Peckham; copies of Lodestars Anthology magazine; plates from La La Land; and a meal and wine flight for two at Wander.

The raffle finishes on 27 January and all raffle proceeds will be donated to the official Adelaide Hills Wine Region Go Fund Me page.

Growers, producers and wineries in the region, many of which are small, independent businesses, have been hit by the well-reported fires, some of them losing vineyards, buildings, equipment, machinery and bottled wine.

Although the full impact of the bushfires is as yet unclear, at this stage it is known that businesses affected include Vinteloper, Tilbrook Estate, Emmeline Wines, New Era Vineyards, Golding Wines, Henschke, Anderson Hill Wines, Simon Tolley Wines, Bird in Hand Wine, Riposte Wines, Nine Fingers Wine, and Elderslie.

Donations can be made and more information found here.