Dining out: 10 Adelaide restaurants to try
Add these Adelaide restaurants to your top places to visit – or revisit – for a dining experience with something special.
PARC Brasserie & Bar
The menu at PARC Brasserie and Bar, at the Pullman Hotel on Hindmarsh Square, has a European influence with a focus on seasonal dishes and the finest local produce, from Coffin Bay oysters, chargrilled SA squid to parmesan gnocchi. The braised beef cheek falls apart and is melt in your mouth tender, and the pommes frites (French fries) are among the best in Adelaide. If you like your dining with a side of the theatrical, book for a Wednesday night when restaurant manager Clement Demarais will personally flambe up crepe suzette to finish your meal. Otherwise — round out your meal with a true chocolate indulgence of the Louis XV — layered chocolate, upon chocolate. The wine list is evenly divided between local and European offerings, with a strong focus on gin and whisky.
PARC Brasserie & Bar
Taprobane
This Unley Road-based creation of chef Umesh Dhanushka and his wife Shreeni Randeniya is an authentic taste of his homeland, right down to the fittings, furnishings and decorations, many made to order, sourced from Sri Lanka. The menu covers all of the cuisine’s greatest hits from curries to biryani, street food and snacks. It’s hard to go past the hoppers — crisp-edged, lacy crepes, fried in a special pan so they come out bowl-like; some have eggs in the bottom, or break them up to scoop up the fiery sambal. Or the banana leaf parcel known as lamprais (made popular by Adelaide’s 2024 MasterChef Top 3 finalist Savindri Perera), filled to the brim with a grilled chicken leg, curries, sambal and other surprises.
Fino Vino
The Flinders Street, city sibling to the regional champion has successfully retained its winning formula of turning the simplest things into something quite beautiful. The latest offering from the award-winning pair behind Fino Willunga and Fino at Seppeltsfield, David Swain and Sharon Romeo stay true to their aims of sourcing as much local produce as possible and to make everything from scratch, including the charcuterie that hangs curing on one side. An absolute must-try are the mushrooms with smoked skordalia leek and hazelnuts or Brussel sprouts which will convert the haters. From a la carte, to a range of tasting menus for a leisurely experience to a three-course express lunch menu, there’s options for all.
Fino Vino / Photograph South Australian Tourism Commission
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STH
Pronounced South, and so named for its location on King William Road in the inner southern suburbs, its largely local wine list and the southern Italian heritage of its owner, Mark Zito, it’s a little slice of European heaven. The sophisticated, yet cosily crafted interior, feels rather like a first-class train carriage and fittingly begins the journey promised on the menu. Be taken on quite a trip through its modern Australian and Asian fusion fare — start with beef carpaccio with cherry tomatoes, Manchego cheese, olives and caramelised bacon, and steak lovers will drool over the melt-in-your mouth scotch fillet, green pea puree, asparagus, confit leek, chimichurri and jus.
STH
Makan
Ben Liew and Karl Tang’s passion project is tucked upstairs off Flinders Street. Tang looks after the wine list and it’s a rather interesting mix of local and international labels. Meanwhile, Liew has had a lot of fun in the kitchen experimenting with Thai, Japanese, Chinese, and even European on the same plate. Try the prawn donut, you won’t be able to stop at one. It’s their take on the usually sweet doughnut stick sold by Chinese street vendors. This savoury version is fried, filled with a prawn toast-like mousse, fried again and then cut into small cylinders, with tom yum sauce and lime.
Makan
Thai Room
This is the fourth opening from young hospo dynamo Kyra Wang (city diners Von Thai and Golden Rooster, and high tea and mocktail bar Mirra). It’s semi-fine dining, in an intimate yet opulent space on Victoria Square. The menu is tailored for a long lunch or dinner — small tapas-style dishes such as seaflower (flower-shaped dumplings filled with scallops, prawn, figs and squid, with red curry sauce and topped with caviar). Wang’s personal passion for wine, evident in all her ventures, is on show again here with a focus on riesling and pinot gris to match the menu, but she loves shiraz so there’s also an extensive offering of reds.
Thai Room
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ShoSho
This King William Road suburban izakaya is the younger sibling of city favourite Shobosho. Chefs Adam Liston and Yumi Nagaya’s touches are notable on the menu — with salmon sashimi with ponzu and wasabi, and udon noodles with blue swimmer crab and crab dashi butter. But the star of ShoSho’s menu is tempura — veggies and seafood — including green beans with grated cured egg yolk or onion rings with caramelised French onion dip. Drinks wise, there’s wine for every budget along with Japanese beer, sake and umeshu.
Sho Sho
Sathu
Expect a fusion of flavours at Sathu cafe in North Adelaide as owner Kate Pattarapongkasame melds her Thai heritage with other cuisines to create mouth-watering cafe fare. Kate and her husband Boyd used to own UR Caffé just down the road from this current site — the location may have moved but the quality remains the same. Expect schiacciata (Tuscan bread) and sandwiches with an Asian twist, and schiacciata made by local bakery Rustico. The name Sathu is the combination of “SA” for South Australia and “TH” signifying Kate’s Thai heritage and the “U” is for unity, Kate says. Sathu is also a Thai word meaning good/thank you. “We are Thai people who called South Australia home,” Kate says.
Sathu
Anchovy Bandit
Named after an old Quentin Tarantino screen play, the small, dark and stylish bar and pizzeria in the Prospect Road cinema complex puts its own twist on Italian and other cocktail classics and on some of its pizzas — think mushroom with Japanese seasoning shio koji, provolone and chives. Drawing inspiration from its cinematic title and location, you can enjoy Trust the Chef tasting menus — short film (two course $55) or Director’s Cut (four course $75) or select your own from the extensive range of snacks and small plates, pasta and pizzas.
Anchovy Bandit / Photograph Lewis Potter
Arkhé
Sit at the counter if you can and watch the symphony of Adelaide’s first open-flame restaurant unfold; the fire powering massive furnace-like ovens, grills and a cauldron deep fryer, while the precision preparation of unusual ingredients goes on in the well-run kitchen. Co-owner and Michelin-starred chef Jake Kellie has brought to The Parade in Norwood, his own spin on the high-end barbecue experience he delivered in Singapore. While the degustation menu is the ultimate carefully curated experience starting at $180 a head, there’s also bar snacks including SA’s famous Smoky Bay oysters and sourdough crumpets topped with taramasalata and salmon roe.
Arkhé
The article originally featured in the 2024 issue of SALIFE Food+Wine+Travel magazine.
