Pull up a chair: Sparrow Kitchen and Bar.
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Good Food Guide contributor Marina Goldsworthy reveals Adelaide's best dining experiences.
Like any classical city of Europe, the culinary heart of Adelaide is based around its central market. Once the domain of Eastern European smallgoods producers and Italian providores, the market district has evolved to also embrace the foods of South East Asia and China.
South Australians have long had a love affair with laksa, the ultra spicy coconut milk noodle soup and the best around the markets can be found in the in the Market Plaza Food Court, on the market's western corridor or the in Moonta Street. Slurp along with students, shoppers and legal types from the nearby courts area. (Grote Street) and (Gouger Street) specialise in Chinese BBQ meats, while excellent South Indian curry, dosa and desserts make around the corner a unique detour.
Many of Adelaide's fine diners still have their roots firmly based in Italy and France, due in part to the influence of the wine regions surrounding the city. One exception is young gun chef Adam Liston at in the city centre. Liston pushes cross cultural boundaries with dishes like hand shelled blue swimmer crab congee, with yabby essence, garlic emulsion and young chives. At Street level is the excellent and down the unassuming stairway is the clubby, stylish main restaurant.
At in North Adelaide, chef Ayhan Erkoc serves a menu richly influenced by classic cooking styles of France while paying homage to the molecular tricks of the Spanish masters. The restaurant has an elegant mod French salon feel; try Erkoc's green asparagus, sous vide egg, rye bread and morels.
Nearby at less formal chef Matthew Goodlet presides over a casual, largely Mediterranean influenced menu based around a large wood oven and fire engine red Berkel meat slicer. Tapas style dishes offer duck doughnuts and porcini salt or gorgonzola arancini. Larger courses feature wood oven braises such as pork tail with pedro ximenez.
In a town where the diners definitely know their Barossa shiraz from their Adelaide Hills savvy blanc, a wine list needs to be as smart as the menu. At in fashionable Hyde Park, any offering on the wine list below $100 can be had by the half bottle, for half the price. Young chef French bistro meets tapas menu features many small serves with highlights of terrines, rillettes, confits, and charcuterie. The 6-hour braised sticky lamb with macaroni cheese is a sweet, sour unctuous revelation.
The boulevards of Adelaide's square mile are awash with cafes and bars spilling out on to wide city pavements adding to the European ambiance of the city. (Hutt Street), with its street side dining area, has long been a favourite for stylish Italian food and ambience, breakfast, lunch and dinner. Fresh local seafood features and the house made pasta is always a standout - try it with local blue swimmer crab, tomatoes, chilli and basil.
Similarly, with the stylish white vespa out front also offers sophisticated Italian fare and exemplary service.
For excellent coffee and the best gelati in town, head to any one of the red and white cafes spread across Adelaide CBD and inner suburbs - they're reminiscent of hip Roman espresso bars, with great casual lunching and on-the-run snacking.
The close proximity of Adelaide to South Australia's wine regions means that within 30 minutes of leaving the city, you can be seated at a fine winery restaurant. At s slick new cellar door and bistro this means a glass of cold pinot gris and a plate of rillettes on the deck taking in glorious 180 degree views. Also in the hills, veteran chef Le Tu Thai is celebrating more than ten years behind the stoves at . A table on the deck by the slowly turning water wheel is a unique Adelaide Hills experience.
To the south, spend an afternoon in McLaren Vale gazing over vines and distant ranges while enjoying superb regional food at Seasonally changing menus feature their signature dishes of lobster medallion with blue swimmer crab, prawn ravioli and lobster bisque.
Also in the Fleurieu Peninsula, chef David Swain and co-owner, front of house star Sharon Romeo have created , a truly regional restaurant relying on seasonally changing local produce largely sourced from producers who sell at the Willunga Farmers Market next door. Their menu is ever changing but might include simple charcoal grilled local fish, house made pork and fennel sausages or pan seared duck breast with beetroot confit and French lentils. A hang-out for local wine folk, Fino's list is interesting, quirky and ever changing.
No trip to South Australia is complete without a sojourn to the Barossa, where many cellar doors offer traditional platters of locally smoked meats, breads and pickles. Drop into the s Angaston store for more picnic fare, or stop for lunch and dinner nearby at , set next door to the old winery sheds where the Saturday morning farmers market comes to life. The garden of Tanunda's well regarded also is a pleasing dining spot, Lyndoch's unusually designed is a real secret, and the elite Appellation is the pinnacle of regional dishes with one of the district's and state's great wine lists.
The Lane, Hanhdorf
Open for lunch 7 days
Appellation, Marananga
Open for dinner 7 days
Chianti Classico, Adelaide
Open 7 days
Sparrow Kitchen & Bar, Adelaide
Open 7 days
The Manse, North Adelaide
Open for dinner Monday to Saturday
Lunch Fridays
d'Arry's Verandah, McLaren Vale
Lunch 7 days
Fino, Willunga
Open 6 days
The Pot Food & Wine, Hyde Park
Open 6 days
Vintners Bar and Grill, Angaston
Open 7 days
Tonic, Lyndoch
Open 6 days
1918, Tanunda
Open 7 days
Auge, Adelaide
Open 6 days
Petaluma's Bridgewater Mill, Bridgewater
Open Thursday to Monday
The Wine Underground, Adelaide
Open for dinner Tuesday to Saturday
Hong Fat Restaurant, Adelaide
Open 7 days
Barbeque City, Adelaide
Open 7 days
Chinatown Café, Adelaide
Lunch 7 days
Dinner Fridays
Maya Masala Restaurant, Adelaide
Open 6 days
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