Reader’s choice: Eight more restaurants that changed Adelaide’s dining landscape

We’ve previously celebrated 15 restaurants integral in shaping the eating scene in South Australia. Here’s eight more dining dynasties, as voted by you.

In May, we celebrated 15 restaurants that changed Adelaide’s dining scene, from Cheong Liew’s Neddy’s to the late Jock Zonfrillo’s Orana.

Our food-loving readers reminisced over memorable meals and date nights of years gone by, and also suggested other establishments they believed to be remarkable for their time.

Here is the top eight, as suggested by you:

CORK & CLEAVER (1978 – 2021)

2 Bevington Rd, Glenunga

The Glenunga steak and seafood institution closed its doors less than two years ago, with Greek-born Stratos Pouras retiring after more than 50 years in hospitality.

Some readers recalled with fondness Pouras’s old seafood restaurant, Swain’s, on Glen Osmond Rd – the ultimate date night destination.

Cork & Cleaver made a longer lasting impact as one of the state’s best steakhouses, and welcomed big name sports stars as well as politicians and lawyers in its time.

The decor never altered, and most of the menu remained the same over the years.

Restaurateur Stratos Pouras at Cork and Cleaver Restaurant in the 80s.

Stratos Pouras (centre) with his head chef Greg Favretto and manager Jim Boutsis, ahead of the restaurant’s closure in 2021.

JASMIN (1980 – now)

31 Hindmarsh Square, Adelaide

With humble beginnings as a small unlicensed restaurant in a Hindmarsh Square basement has evolved into one of Adelaide’s most beloved restaurants, which has welcomed famous names such as Sir Elton John, Marco Pierre White and Gough Whitlam.

Though, the family-run institution remains humble to its core, still with the involvement of now 92-year-old matriarch Anant Singh-Sandhu (Mrs Singh).

Jasmin elevated our knowledge and understanding of regional Indian cuisine, and before long it became SA’s very favourite “curry house”.

Mrs Singh was declared Adelaide Food Legend at the 2017 Advertiser Food Awards.

Mrs Singh with children Amrik and Sheila at Jasmin. Picture: Matt Turner

AMALFI (1981 – now)

29 Frome St, Adelaide

The Capoccia family established Amalfi and ran it for 20 years like a glorified pizza and pasta parlour.

They sold it around 2000, but the restaurant remained focused as a no-frills Italian diner, serving up thicker-style pizzas and generous pasta portions, as well as other homely Italian fare (think melenzane, and veal).

Terrazzo floors, chunky chairs and tables have not changed and portions have remained generous.

In more than 35 years of trade on Frome St, it has been rare to find the restaurant anything less than packed.

Customers at Amalfi on Frome Street in 2006.

JARMER’S RESTAURANT (1984 – 2004)

297 Kensington Rd, Kensington Park

After turning heads at his restaurant Reilly’s, in Hyde Park, chef Peter Jarmer opened his ambitious Jarmer’s Restaurant in Kensington Park.

It was committed to the art of fine cuisine and carved its name as one of Adelaide’s exceptional restaurants.

Much of the menu was steeped in traditional Austrian and Swiss cooking, and he put game at the fore.

As described by former Advertiser food writer Nigel Hopkins: “Even the escalopes of kangaroo in a pepper and kangaroo sauce were cooked in the manner of a traditional pepper steak”.

Other game items included venison, quail, partridge and pheasant. The Jarmer legacy lives on with Peter’s son, Chris, who now runs Jarmer’s Kitchen in Bowden.

Jarmer's Restaurant in Kensington.

VIETNAM (1984 – now)

73 Addison Rd, Pennington

Before banh mi and pho became a common lunch option across the city and suburbs, Vietnam Restaurant was introducing to Adelaide the iconic spices, fresh herbs and hands-first eating of Vietnamese cuisine.

Husband and wife team Dinh and Thi Ho were among the first boat people to arrive on Australian soil in from a war torn Vietnam in 1975, with nothing but the clothes on their back.

They built a legacy in their Vietnam Restaurant, which continues to be popular to this day.

Dinh Phan with son and chef, Ben Phan, at Vietnam restaurant.

CHIANTI (1985 – now)

160 Hutt St, Adelaide

In the heady days of the 80s, Chianti Classico (as it was then known) was a cheerful trattoria in Light Square, popular among the city lunch crowd.

A move to larger, more polished premises on Hutt St in 2001 was matched by a corresponding shift in dining style, but the warmth of the greeting and unforced hospitality was, if anything, enhanced.

Frank and Maria Favaro, a couple for whom the term legend can be used without exaggeration, have since passed the reins to their children Nick and Jess, who also look after the restaurant’s neighbouring companion, Bar Torino.

Chianti remains a worthy Italian institution, more than three decades on.

Chianti Classico. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

MONA LISA’S BISTRO (1986-late 90s)

160 Hutt St, Adelaide

Described as a “multicultural melting pot of interesting eating”, Mona Lisa’s occupied the space now home to Chianti.

Owners Brigita Turniski (already known for her Cafe Istanbul) and Antony Whiting broadened their eastern European approach with influences from Thailand, Japan, Italy, France and beyond.

Dishes ranged from seared duck livers in a bread case with game and cognac glaze, to grilled octopus with noodles and coriander.

Turniski and Whiting sold the restaurant in 1996, but it continued for some years after.

Mona Lisa's Bistro restaurant in Hutt Street, Adelaide.

RED OCHRE GRILL (1992 – now)

War Memorial Dr, North Adelaide

Before late chef Jock Zonfrillo put indigenous ingredients in the fine dining spotlight at his restaurant Orana, chef Andrew Fielke was experimenting with ingredients like lemon myrtle, quandong and emu at his trailblazing Red Ochre.

Fielke outgrew his original Gouger St spot, moving to Vardon Ave in the East End in the late 90s.

Chef Graeme Cutts serves patron Jo Kendray at Red Ochre Grill.

Menu items ranged from salt and native pepper-leaf squid and stir-fried kangaroo with black beans, oyster mushrooms and bok choy, to roasted yabbies with bunya nut herb crust, and chargrilled emu.

Fielke left the restaurant business in 2001, but the Red Ochre, now on the Torrens riverside under different ownership, is still known for its signature Australian food.