Adelaide’s best side potatoes

CityMag has searched all of Adelaide to find the best side potatoes on offer. See the full list.

Apr 29, 2025, updated Apr 29, 2025

You might be reading this and thinking: Has CityMag completely run out of things to rank in Adelaide? Nope. And we’re also sure this latest ‘Best of’ is one of our very best, too.

The humble spud is a core part of the dining table, both at home and in restaurants. It’s the best sidekick to fish, goes great with a hunk of steak, and is suitable for plant-based dieters. It’s also one of the most cost-of-living-crisis-core dishes we could think of. But, ironically, in our quest to find the best side potatoes in Adelaide, we ended up eating at some of the city’s most expensive restaurants. Go figure.

In any case, this team of tater-touters ventured near and far to sample the starchy veg. We ate potatoes fried, boiled and baked. Some were covered in sauce, others in salt, herbs and even wakame. We were hit with waves of nostalgia for Sunday roasts and overseas trips bygone.

Consideration was given to each side serving’s crunch factor, its pillowyness, how salty it was, the subjective ‘tastiness’ factor, whether we’d post a photo of the dish on Instagram, and the enjoyability of the dining location.

Glory to the great spud, and happy eating, Adelaide.

Mum’s Sunday roast

$12 from Sofia, Hutt Street

These are mum’s potatoes. From the very first bite, we were taken back to Sundays with a roast in the oven and potatoes ready on the table. Were they the thrice-baked (or even just once-fried) potatoes we were initially anticipating? No, not really. Did they nearly chip our teeth from the crunch? No, not exactly. But, is our mum like…Nigella Lawson or something? Absolutely not. And this is what we were left with, and we are not at all mad (happy, even, considering one anonymous CityMag reporter was left doing a happy tater-dance). We assume these were boiled, or potentially oven-baked, as they melted in our mouths. What they lacked in crunch, they made up for in punch and boomed with flavour from the first nibble. The dressing – a garlic, parsley, drizzled in olive oil concoction – was chimichurri-like, and the one small plate of side potatoes left us fork fighting for its juice.

This picture: Claudia Dichiera.

Mr. Reliable

$12 from Fino Vino, Flinders Street

Nothing is as it seems at Fino Vino. On a 33-degree day, we thought we’d start off with the drink of summer – a negroni (extra points if you know why) – but were shocked when we were given a slice of watermelon. Yes, we were warned this was an “eating cocktail” and for Heston Blumenthal to “eat (his) heart out”, but we just didn’t expect this (tasty, nonetheless). The next spanner was the inclusion of raw whiting instead of the cooked whiting we were presuming, then we were told all the dishes we had picked to order were entrée size and would not feed a hungry quartet. Damn! It wasn’t until we saw the trusty, God-sent potatoes, made with garlic and wakame, that we could see the light again. The heavens seemed to part ways as the waiter placed the bowls on our table. Suddenly, everything made sense at Fino Vino. The crunchy potato exterior had insides that melted in our mouths. It was all worth it for you, Mr. Reliable.

This picture: Claudia Dichiera.

The life changer

$17 from Trak, Greenhill Road

Trak is known for its tendency to refresh the menu regularly, but these potatoes are one life-changing item we never want to see leave the page. Covered in generous-but-not-overwhelming amounts of rosemary, these delightfully crunchy taters were the perfect accompaniment to the main we picked: pan-fried barramundi doused in a healthy dose of garlic and herb butter. They went down even better with a gorgeous lunchtime drop of Taittinger. Each mouthful of potato was a delight, and we were happy to pay the $17 considering how much you get – Trak don’t hold back! Simple, hearty and delicious is how we’d describe these salty spuds. Make sure you save the little crunchy nibs for last – they’re the best bit in the bowl.

This picture: Claudia Dichiera.

Venetian fish and chips

$14 from Osteria Polpo, East Terrace

Of all the potatoes we tasted (and we are nothing if not rigorous in our pursuit of the best bites), these were the most hot-chip-like in taste. The interior and old-school feel of Osteria Polpo, tucked away on East Terrace and overlooking the parklands, aided the nostalgia we felt as we tucked into these spuds, glistening with generous salt flakes. Though not the crunchiest of the bunch, underneath the crisp exterior was a melt-in-your-mouth fluff that took us right back to getting the best fat chip at the bottom of the bag on a hot summer day. Aided by the Venetian-style menu and the serving size of the limoncello spritz (impressively fish bowl-like), we mentally drifted down a gondola in our minds with the best bits of Venice (and none of the temperamental smells of the real thing).

This picture: Claudia Dichiera.

Brava!

$10.50 from Udaberri, Leigh Street

Udaberri’s ‘side potatoes’ are best enjoyed as a meal unto themselves. These reviewers enjoyed a couple of bowls of the perfectly cooked taters at the window facing Leigh Street on a truly gorgeous summer afternoon and were instantly transported to Madrid, a glass of chilled red in hand. Unlike some of the other potatoes on this list, Udaberri’s are a take on patatas bravas – Spanish fried potatoes covered in a delicious sauce, typically made out of paprika and tomato paste. But even if we were to review the potatoes on their own, they’re cooked as well as any other we devoured and the sauce takes this mini-meal to the next level. There’s a perfect balance achieved between the sauce and the tater, but eat ‘em while they’re hot, lest they get too soggy.

This picture: Jayde Vandborg.

A sight for Sora eyes

$15 from Sora, Pirie Street

We were lucky to snag a table at the Pirie Street rooftop venue, walking in without a booking on a sunny day that showed off the best of the open-air restaurant and bar. The menu, crafted by executive chef Adam Liston, has plenty of noteworthy plates to share and ‘gram, and the twice-cooked chat potatoes should be a side that sits humbly in the background of your table pictures. One of the crunchiest on the list, these spuds were the perfect pick-me-up after a busy morning in the newsroom. The potatoes were served with a welcomed pot of smoked mayonnaise, mayonnaise being this writer’s preferred sauce to pair with a chippy (I will not be accepting criticism for this). But even as the token mayo lover, the potatoes are so tasty on their own that sauce wasn’t absolutely required. We also owe a shoutout to the signature potato cake that acted as a bed for a wagyu or tuna tartare (a gem we discovered thanks to the Adelaide experience of knowing your waitress). Though it was ineligible for this list as it was not a side potato but more an appetiser, we walked away knowing one thing for sure: Sora knows their way around a spud.

This picture: Helen Karakulak.

This article first appeared in The Festival Edition of CityMag, released in February of 2025.