15 restaurants that shaped SA and Adelaide’s dining scene over the past 50 years
From the Adelaide legends of the 60s, 70s and 80s, to national icon Maggie Beer and Jock Zonfrillo’s revolution, we celebrate 15 restaurants that changed the state.
Food & Wine
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Delicate shavings of pickled kohlrabi are twisted into cones, then arranged on a dome of burrata foam. They become mini pools for lemon myrtle dressing, and are decorated with vibrant purple pickled quandong and wood sorrel leaves.
The dish, a signature of the late Jock Zonfrillo at his former Adelaide restaurant, Orana, is one that sticks out in this writer’s mind. Of course, there were many others.
Damper cooked on coals, served with lamb fat butter and eucalyptus. KI marron, dressed with finger lime pearls and aniseed myrtle leaves. Set buttermilk seasoned with vinegar and salt flakes in a pool of strawberry juice and strawberry gum oil.
Jock Zonfrillo’s Orana, a celebration of Indigenous Australian ingredients, was a world-class dining experience Adelaide had never seen before when it opened in 2013.
“It will challenge your perceptions and your vocabulary, like travelling to an exotic, far-off land,” SA Weekend food reviewer Simon Wilkinson described in his 2014 review.
The 24-seat diner closed in 2020 in the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, with Zonfrillo leaving town to pursue a new role as MasterChef Australia judge.
But Orana was, and always will be, one of the great influential and unforgettable restaurants of South Australia.
In light of Zonfrillo’s death, we pay tribute to Orana and other restaurants that helped shaped the state’s food scape.
Readers might remember Neddy’s, Cheong Liew’s first restaurant that paved the way for “Asian fusion” through the 70s. Or, his later work at Adelaide Hilton’s Grange Hotel, where his signature Four Dances of the Sea remains one of the most talked-about dishes of SA dining history.
There was the bastion of fine dining, Chloe’s in Kent Town; the cult Italian of La Trattoria; Ann Oliver’s Mistress Augustine’s; Maggie Beer’s Pheasant Farm Restaurant and many more.
While post-war migration introduced new flavours to our shores, the “great catalyst” of new venues through the 70s and 80s was a changing in licensing laws spurred by then-premier (and foodie), Don Dunstan. State Library of SA’s Mark Gilbert, who co-curated current exhibition ‘Sweet and Savoury: menus from the collections of the State Library’, said: “Laws up to that time were convoluted; it might mean that a restaurant couldn’t serve alcohol where a hotel could”.
“Don Dunstan … was determined to make the licensing laws more workable, and this allowed him also to push our hospitality and wine industry to attract tourists,” Mr Gilbert said.
From Deccas Place to Duncan Welgemoed’s Africola, here are 15 restaurants that changed Adelaide:
DECCAS PLACE (1965-1985)
93 Melbourne St, North Adelaide
Hungarian migrant Balazs Varga opened “one of South Australia’s original restaurants to the stars”, Deccas Place, in 1965, seven years after arriving in Australia. He served food influenced by his homeland as well as Indonesia, Spain and Italy – and locals relished the diversity. In its 20 years, high-profile guests included Hollywood actor Marlene Dietrich, former prime ministers Sir William “Billy” McMahon and Bob Hawke, pianist Liberace, opera star Tito Gobbi and tennis player John Newcombe. It was also among the first to introduce a designated non-smoking room.
CHESSER CELLAR (1964-2012)
29 Chesser St, Adelaide
Inspired by London’s sophisticated post-war gentlemen’s clubs, Chesser Cellar opened in 1964 under its original owners, becoming well known for its fine wine cellar and old-fashioned British cuisine before Primo Caon bought the venue in 1990. The venue prided itself on the “old world of fine dining”, hosting a swath of businessmen, lawyers and government officials.
The historic venue reopened as The Henry Austin under a Renew Adelaide-backed project in 2016, but lasted little more than a year.
NEDDY’S (1975-1988); THE GRANGE (1995-2009)
170 Hutt St, Adelaide; 233 Victoria Sq, Adelaide
SA food icon Cheong Liew paved the way for “Asian fusion” cuisine at his first restaurant, Neddy’s, where he combined his Chinese and Malaysian heritage with Australian and European flavours. But it was at The Grange, within Hilton Adelaide, where he earned widespread acclaim, not least for his signature Four Dances of the Sea dish. It comprised four preparations of seafood: snook, olive-fried octopus, squid ink noodles with raw cuttlefish and spiced prawn sushi. “The four dances is a very multicultural thing,” Liew described in 2014. “To benefit this we learn all the different styles of cooking techniques and eating experiences.”
Cheong Liew is teaming up with Hardy’s Verandah Restaurant head chef Jin Choi for a six-course dinner on June 15 – more information and bookings here.
POSSUMS (1981-1985)
145 O’Connell St, North Adelaide
Respected chef Phillip Searle and partner Barry Ross opened Possums in the height of the gastronomic era, trailblazing a path for contemporary Australian cuisine. Menus currently on display at the State Library of SA list dishes such as quail filled with shortbreads, grilled brioche with beef marrow and truffles and pot-au-feu of snapper, bream, prawn, Moreton Bay bugs and oyster. The pair moved to Sydney to follow their culinary pursuits.
MISTRESS AUGUSTINE’S (1981-1992)
161 O’Connell St (later 145 O’Connell St), North Adelaide
Ann Oliver left her career as a scientific illustrator and graphic artist to open a cafe – a move described as crazy by friends. It soon evolved into a restaurant, serving up dishes such as bone marrow with grilled brains and liver in port sauce. Mistress Augustine’s became a dining destination, with Oliver named The Advertiser Food Guide’s Chef of the Year in 1989. She partly credits her success to the support of Phillip Searle and Barry Ross, who ran the nearby Possums. Mistress Augustine’s moved into the Possums space at 145 O’Connell St in 1985.
MEZES (1981-1994)
287 Rundle St, Adelaide
Zeffie Kathreptis and her son, Tony, opened Mezes as a cafe, serving up hot ham and cheese rolls, chicken schnitzels and the like, but the favourites were always Zeffie’s home-style Greek dishes such as moussaka, postitso and yemista. Her other son, Elias (Lew) then became involved with a fresh focus on the family’s Mediterranean offerings, helping build Mezes into highly praised restaurant.
PHEASANT FARM RESTAURANT (1979-1993)
Pheasant Farm Rd, Nuriootpa
Self-taught cook Maggie Beer opened a humble farmshop on her property in 1979 as a means to sell her pheasants, cooked in different ways (including her now-famed pate), but before the year’s end it had evolved into a restaurant. She writes on her website: “At first a ‘able d’ hote’ menu … was set each day with no choices, serving pate and pickles; roasted quail, then pheasant then dessert for a whole $7.50 per head.” The restaurant drew a loyal clientele as well as industry recognition, including the Australian Gourmet Traveller Restaurant of the Year in 1991.
LA TRATTORIA (1975-now)
346 King William St, Adelaide
Antonio Parisi and his family first opened Marcellina’s pizza bar in Hindley St in 1963 before opening the iconic La Trattoria in an old butcher shop in King William St. It became a hallmark for Italian dining – by way of food, atmosphere and decor – and welcomed famous names such as Mick Jagger, Jon Bon Jovi, John Farnham and Eric Bana. Mr Parisi sold the restaurant in 2022.
CHLOE’S RESTAURANT (1986-2019)
36 College Rd, Kent Town
Considered a bastion of fine dining cuisine and polished service, Chloe’s signalled a time when eating out was a special occasion. Owner Nick Papazahariakis, whose debonair appearance and unflustered approach has made him a legend of restaurants here, served prime ministers and counted Sir Donald Bradman as a regular guest. Upon his retirement in 2019, he said: “A lot of people are coming in now for their last meals, saying ‘I proposed to my wife here, you did the wedding, and you did the christening of our children’. It is a lot of history and we love that.”
FINO (2006-2016)
8 Hill St, Willunga
Adelaide diners are known to be fickle, looking for the next shiny new thing. The original Fino restaurant, in Willunga, brought things back to basics. Opened by powerhouse duo, chef David Swain and front-of-house Sharon Romeo, the experience was humble and humbling. The setting: cosy and comfortable. Service, too, made you feel at home (Romeo’s signature approach). Food was sourced locally and cooked without pretension. It was the way many people wanted to eat, and garnered a loyal local following in its 10 years. Swain and Romeo now run city wine bar interpretation Fino Vino, while Fino Seppeltsfield is headed by chef Daniel Murphy.
PRESS* FOOD AND WINE (2011-now)
40 Waymouth St, Adelaide
Did restaurateur Simon Kardachi and co. know when he opened Press* Food and Wine in 2011, the impact it would have on Adelaide’s dining landscape? Perhaps, having already opened successful restaurants The Pot and Melt in Hyde Park, and having poached nose-to-tail cooking pioneer Andrew Davies from the nearby Bistro Dom. Together, the pair created a two-level venue that offered novel, flexible dining. Whether it was for one of the venue’s famed burgers, or a half suckling pig for a group to share, Press* welcomed all. The restaurant changed hands in 2022 and underwent a glamorous facelift.
ORANA (2013-2020)
1/285 Rundle St, Adelaide
Jock Zonfrillo’s Orana hit the headlines well before the restaurant opened its doors. The Scottish-Italian chef made waves when he, along with a core team, left Penfold’s Magill Estate Restaurant to pursue Zonfrillo’s own project – a native Australian restaurant in the heart of Adelaide. It was daring, exciting, and a class above anything else in town. It also introduced to Adelaide the concept of a 20+ course dining experience – many of them snack-size, in what was called the “Alkoopina” part of the experience. It won a slew of awards in its time, including Gourmet Traveller’s Restaurant of the Year. Those who dined at Orana will likely never forget it.
AFRICOLA (2014-now)
4 East Tce, Adelaide
Hot on the heels of Zonfrillo came another firey chef, the South African-born Duncan Welgemoed who set Adelaide’s dining scene ablaze with his daring restaurant Africola. Dishes such as slow-roasted sheep heads, potjie (stew) and boerewors were exciting, if divisive. Welgemoed later softened his approach with more plants on the menu, and the restaurant soon garnered national acclaim. Chicken skin sandwiches with a side of drippings, and whole roasted cauliflower are among the cult-loved dishes. It remains one of the hottest restaurants in town.
PEEL ST RESTAURANT (2013-now)
9 Peel St, Adelaide
Sharing is caring and Adelaide diners are all for it. Peel St brought share-style dining to a new beautiful place, with lofty salads and both veg and protein-based dishes that could easily be portioned between two or more. With Ottolenghi flair, chef Jordan Theodoros introduced an abundance of herbs and spice to the local palate, drawing inspiration from Middle Eastern and Japanese cuisine. Peel St’s banana blossom salad is so popular, the kitchen dares not ever remove it from the otherwise ever-changing menu.
RESTAURANT BOTANIC (2021-NOW)
Plane Tree Dr, Adelaide
Just when we thought fine dining was all but dead, American chef Justin James created a whole new way to eat at Restaurant Botanic. This isn’t fine dining in the traditional sense. His 3.5-hour long degustation, showcasing native ingredients from the surrounding garden, in a polished yet relaxed atmosphere, can be called “experiential dining”. Within 18 months, it was named Restaurant of the Year by Gourmet Traveller. A unique offering not just in South Australia, but Australia.
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