Dining room with a view: South Australia’s best waterfront restaurants
Dinner by a gently rolling river or the glinting ocean at sunset is one of life’s great pleasures. SA is blessed with stunning waterfront eateries – here are five of the best.
Food & Wine
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With more than 60km of coastline in the greater metro area, Adelaide has plenty of beachfront hangouts that are prime real estate when the setting sun turns Gulf St Vincent into a shimmering gold lake and streaks the sky overhead with neon pink and orange threads.
But venture away from the suburban beaches and you’ll discover that Adelaide’s best waterfront dining also includes a tried and tested native food pioneer on the Torrens and a more recent innovator nestled in the dunes near the Murray Mouth.
STAR OF GREECE
Anyone who describes the panorama of Turkish blue waters lapping at a storm-damaged jetty ringed by limestone cliffs as a “million dollar view” is selling this iconic spot short. It’d be a bargain at ten times that price. But if you come for the view, it’s worth staying for the deceptively simple modern Australian menu that hones in on local produce and includes a good smattering of seafood (there’s a reason the local squid and KI whiting are always popular). You’ll need to book ahead in summer, but if you fancy a spontaneous beach trip you can enjoy the same clifftop views at the adjoining fish & chip kiosk.
Address: 1 Esplanade, Port Willunga
RED OCHRE BAR AND GRILL
Sandwiched between the North Adelaide Golf Course and the River Torrens, this Adelaide stalwart has been championing native ingredients since long before it was trendy. A recent refurbishment has seen the addition of several David Bromley artworks and the menu has been tweaked so that sustainable proteins like wallaby shanks and kangaroo fillets sit alongside lighter fare, such as mountain pepper leaf gnocchi and eucalyptus smoked pumpkin with fried saltbush and wattle seed chevre. And new cocktails like the tart Davidson’s plum whiskey sour and punchy river mint mai tai mean that even the bar is getting in on the action these days.
Address: War Memorial Drive, North Adelaide
Red Ochre Bar and Grill website
KUTI SHACK
Hidden in the tall sand dunes just metres from Goolwa Beach, this cute restaurant in a shed makes no secret of its hero ingredient. Ngarrindjeri traditional owners have been harvesting pipis from the surrounding beaches for more than 10,000 years, and one bite of the pipis doused in flavour-packed XO sauce will make you wonder why the rest of the country has been so slow to catch on. Other hyperlocal seafood options like mullet and mulloway feature heavily alongside foraged samphire and saltbush, while dishes using by-products like crispy fried ocean jacket cheeks and carp belly tenders further bolster this place’s sustainability credentials.
Address: Main Beach Carpark, Beach Rd, Goolwa Beach
SEAMORE’S
Sitting somewhere between an Italian diner and an old school Aussie surf club (with a dash of disco), this popular spot overlooking Henley Square knows how to party year round. The menu includes hearty pizza and pasta options alongside shared plates and fried treats like gruyere and smoked trout croquettes, and there’s room for three spritzes and a range of tiki-inspired cocktails on the breezy drinks list. During the day the sea green leather booths match the colour of the water outside and the mirror ball above the dancefloor ensures the party keeps going long after food service has finished.
Address: 255 Esplanade, Henley Beach
Seamore’s Restaurant & Bar website
SEAFIRE
Going to the beach doesn’t have to mean eating seafood, as this steakhouse on Glenelg’s Marina Pier proves. Sure, you can find fresh oysters or lobster Newburg on the menu, but the main attraction is the selection of thick, juicy steaks that are dry aged in-house for 45 days. They range in size from a 220g eye fillet up to a monster kilo-plus tomahawk that can feed several people. And if deciding between them proves impossible, there’s also a steak flight that pairs three prime cuts with equally-premium wines.
Address: Shop 2, Holdfast Shores, Marina Pier, Glenelg
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