adelaide CBD restaurants
Jumbo Burger
Restaurant
The Oklahoma smashburger reigns supreme at this all-day diner in the city. It’s also serving daily breakfasts and drinks including mezcal Negronis and South Australian wines.
Two-Bit Villains
Restaurant
This soda bar and diner dishes up fully vegetarian burgers and hot dogs. They taste like the real deal, too. The patties – made with soy mince or black beans – aren't a like-for-like beef replacement, but the whole thing adds up to something greater than the sum of its parts. Trust us, you won't even miss meat-based burgers.
Fair Seafood
Restaurant
The team behind Stirling’s fave fish’n’chipper is behind this 100 per cent traceable seafood shop and eatery in the Central Market. Come for dry-aged sashimi and wines, and leave with fresh fish to cook at home.
Aurora
Restaurant
This socially sustainable restaurant at Adelaide’s multi-level Light precinct is helmed by a top chef with Michelin star cred. Come for dishes influenced by global cuisines and native Australian produce.
Belles Hot Chicken Adelaide
Restaurant
The Melbourne-bred chain is bringing its Nashville-hot tenders, chicken sandwiches and boozy slushies to South Australia – for good this time.
Restaurant Botanic
Restaurant
Crocodile-fat tortilla. Emu fillet smoked in paperback. Sea urchin tongues. Restaurant Botanic serves one of the most exciting tasting menus in the country, driven by produce from the surrounding 51-hectare gardens. Executive chef Jamie Musgrave is at the peak of his powers here.
The Botanic Lodge
Restaurant
Garden-green pasties served on tuckshop bags. White-bread tommy ruff sangas. Golden Gaytime semifreddo. The casual sibling to one of Australia’s best restaurants serves your favourite childhood treats, all grown up.
Niña
Restaurant
Spanish food is designed to be shared, and this sophisticated diner encourages just that. Bring your crew for charred octopus, mussels with tarragon aioli, and a show-stopping Basque cheesecake.
Lucia’s Pizza & Spaghetti Bar
Restaurant
In the ’50s, pizza was something most Australians had only seen in foreign magazines. Lucia's changed that when it opened in 1957, introducing locals to the Italian staple. It serves the same pizza and pasta that’s been around for decades. We hope it never changes.
Midnight Spaghetti
Restaurant
Home-style Italian food and Euro-kitsch above one of Adelaide’s favourite pubs.
Motherlode
Restaurant
You’ve eaten chicken nuggets. But not like at this American style diner and bar, where nuggs might be marinated in laksa or tossed in parmesan spice “dust”. Plus, there’s beer on tap, natural wines and cocktails.
Aces
Restaurant
The modern Aces is a two-storey bar and diner with an Italy-meets-Chinatown menu and one of Adelaide’s best chefs at the helm.
La Louisiane
Restaurant
Descend to the basement of a heritage city space to find this moody, late-night brasserie from the Nola and Shotgun Willies teams. It’s serving up French fare, live jazz and one of the best Martinis in town – but it’s here for a good time, not a long time.
Soi 38
Restaurant
In the old Pirie Street Subway, this hawker-turned-restaurant continues its vision of regional Thai cooking in a sleek, modern space. Come for elevated takes of classic curries, grilled meats inspired by the country's north, and plenty of fiery wok drama.
Asian Gourmet
Restaurant
Run by a husband and wife duo since 1985, this Malaysian favourite has a special place in the hearts of market-goers and laksa fans alike. Come on Friday for the special Sarawak soup and taste the difference.
Longplay Bistro
Restaurant
With a European menu and a record collection that’s off the charts, this vinyl-spinning bistro is another solid effort from the Clever Little Tailor gang.
Fugazzi Bar & Dining Room
Restaurant
It’s all about decadent dining at this New York-Style Italian Restaurant. Riffs on traditional dishes include “Roman Vegemite” soldiers, lasagne pizza and steak frites with Italian bearnaise. Settle into one of the intimate booths or get a ringside seat at the striking marble bar.
Ying Chow
Restaurant
Great food and unpredictable service are the hallmarks of this Adelaide classic.
A Prayer for the Wild at Heart
Restaurant
This unpretentious brasserie will take you from breakfast right through to dinner. Expect a menu spanning flat iron steaks with cafe de Paris butter, and ricotta and truffle gnudi. Plus, afternoon snacks and special reserve wines from France and beyond.
Paper Tiger
Restaurant
A lively Southeast Asian restaurant by a former Rockpool pastry chef – need we say more? Come for creative Malaysian and Indonesian dishes, and one very eye-catching dessert. Plus, a vinyl-spinning bar upstairs.
Kiin
Restaurant
Kiin’s Ben Bertei is one of the country’s most exciting chefs. Taste the cuisine-crossing menu at his buzzing restaurant and you’ll understand why. Dishes include burrata with green nam jim and roti, and a Thai red curry cheeseburger.
Sean’s Kitchen
Restaurant
After 30 years in the game, star chef Sean Connolly put this gem together. Equal parts simple and sophisticated, it’s a place where you can order a side of caviar alongside your burger and chips.
La Boca Bar & Grill
Restaurant
The smell of the parrilla grill – and top-quality steaks sizzling on it – hits you as you enter this lively Argentinian restaurant, where house-made sangria flows freely.
A Hereford Beefstouw
Restaurant
This Scandinavian steakhouse offers about a dozen different cuts from Hereford cows. Dry-aged beef is hung for at least 45 days in-house and 700-gram rib eye steaks are carved from the bone at your table.
Etica
Restaurant
The standard-setter for Neapolitan pizza in Adelaide. The rest of the selection – including antipasto, pasta and desserts – is tight and considered. The same goes for the wine list of Italian and South Australian drops.
Sunny's Pizza
Restaurant
You'll ask yourself the following when you enter this neon-lit gem: is Sunny’s a pizza joint that also happens to feel like a house party? Or is it a bar with DJs and primo pizza? Happily, the answer is “yes” to both.
Peel St
Restaurant
Perusing Peel Street’s giant blackboard menu feels like an Adelaide rite of passage. On it you’ll find dishes mixing Asian and Middle Eastern influences, with a dash of laneway attitude. Sit at the bar, order well and enjoy the hum of the space.
Herringbone
Restaurant
On a leafy Adelaide corner is one the city’s benchmark diners. Quentin Whittle’s borderless menu looks to Asia and the Middle East for cues – but everything’s done in a way that feels effortless. This is casual, modern Australian dining at its best.
Fino Vino
Restaurant
Fino at Seppeltsfield is a Barossa icon, so expectations were high for its first urban outpost. Good news: this charming 70-seat wine bar and restaurant delivers. The food is simple and elegant, with next to nothing wasted. A 100-strong wine list is backed up by a range of sherries.
Press Food & Wine
Restaurant
Set inside an old printing house, this influential eatery was among the city’s first to champion nose-to-tail cooking back when it was a novel concept. Local and ethical produce is still the focus, as is a dedication to SA wines and sharp service. An elegant dining room ties it all together.
Golden Boy
Restaurant
Don't let the name or the fun atmosphere fool you. When you try Golden Boy’s energetic modern takes on Thai cuisine (and cocktails to match), you’ll know this place isn’t messing around. Go for the Tuk Tuk menu – you won’t regret it.
Daughter in Law Adelaide
Restaurant
At this colourful pan-Indian restaurant, you'll find Melbourne chef and restaurateur Jessi Singh's takes on self-described "unauthentic" Indian cuisine. There are naan pizzas, tandoor-fired dishes, Indian-inspired cocktails and a roving champagne and whisky trolley.
Minimono
Restaurant
One of Adelaide's most prolific restaurateurs is behind this compact yet sophisticated ramen and curry bar. Roll in big steaming bowls of 12-hour pork tonkotsu, soupless tantanmen and several original styles of ramen.
House of George
Restaurant
The second iteration of East Terrace taverna Yiasou George is as fun as ever. But this time around, one of Adelaide's best chefs is turning out Ritz crackers topped with café de Vardon butter, smoked whiting and salmon roe; plus a rotisserie spin on Yiasou George’s signature lamb.
Plus 82 Pocha
Restaurant
Listen to K-pop while you eat fried chicken and kimchi until late.
Shobosho
Restaurant
An Asian-inspired “fire house” from restaurateur Simon Kardachi.
Borsa Pasta Cucina
Restaurant
A traditional bistro dining experience.
Est Pizzeria
Restaurant
Fitting a pizza oven and restaurant into a tiny space would worry most, but not Est Pizzeria. It uses the space it has – and uses it well. If you’re coming with a group, the banquet here makes things nice and easy.
Valentino’s
Restaurant
Fill your plate with a selection of antipasto, pizza al taglio, stuffed eggplant, slow-cooked meatballs, hearty roasts and more, then try to leave room for a strong line-up of Italian pastries, or kick on into evening with cocktails.
Africola
Restaurant
Adelaide meets Africa to create a singular restaurant unlike anything Australia's seen before. Even though Africola’s been at it since 2014, everything – from the signature peri peri chicken to the finely-tuned service – is sharper than ever.
Aunty Meg’s Kitchen
Restaurant
After eight years of serving a taste of her home at events and catering gigs, Meg Barathlall has opened her first bricks and mortar restaurant in the former Kutchi Deli Parwana site. Come for koeksisters (syrupy fried doughnuts), samosas, curry and rice, and roti rolls stuffed with lamb meatballs.
Gunbae Chicken and Beer
Restaurant
Korean fried chicken is all over town, but Gunbae is one of the best. The menu is blissfully simple: chicken (brined for 12 hours before being fried), beer and Korean sides including kimchi pancakes, mandoo salads and rice balls.
Contemporary Japanese Deli
Restaurant
Tucked away in the city’s Dacosta Arcade, this homey Japanese eatery serves some of Adelaide’s best – and most affordable – lunch fare. Think ramens, curries, bento boxes and more, courtesy of a father-and-son team drawing on more than two decades’ experience.
Fung Shing
Restaurant
A late-night favourite for fast and friendly Chinese dishes.
Bread & Bone
Restaurant
This late-night CBD haunt dishes out great burgers, hot dogs and more to hungry revellers stopping by for a feed before bed.
Cheekies Hot Chicken
Restaurant
The hottest chicken here comes coated in a blend of four different chillies, including the infamous Carolina reaper.
2KW
Restaurant
This refined rooftop restaurant and bar is one of Adelaide's best rooftops. For good reason, from up high you can see out over the Governor's garden and the city.
Eleven
Restaurant
This ambitious all-day venue comprises an elegant fine-diner serving degustations, and an open-air cafe and bar serving upmarket snacks and local wines. Find them both inside a handsome courtyard in the city centre.
The Guardsman
Restaurant
This all-day dining hall at the old Adelaide Railway Station is a triple threat. It's a cafe, bar and restaurant that opens early and closes late. Whether you’re a commuter looking for a coffee and a small bite, or you’re from farther afield and want to sit down to a steak and a Martini, you’ll be well catered for here.
Shomen
Restaurant
A hole-in-the-wall ramen shop by the Shobosho crew.
Osteria Oggi
Restaurant
This diner raised the bar for Italian food in Adelaide when it opened in 2015, and it's just as good as ever. Visit for excellent hand-made pasta, hearty share-plates and one of the best cellars in town. It's all set within one of South Australia's most awarded restaurant interiors.
East Taste
Restaurant
Extensive Asian fusion menu served until late - this is one stop worth making in your cab home.
Ballaboosta
Restaurant
Where the Mediterranean meets the Middle East. Starters hew towards the Middle East, while the wood oven in the corner delivers pizzas and house-made pita bread.
Amalfi Pizzeria Ristorante
Restaurant
The menu hasn’t changed in over two decades – no one wants it to. You can find nearly every dish in the Southern Italian culinary canon here, but special marks go to the pizza.
Betty’s Burgers & Concrete Co
Restaurant
A Queensland-born boutique burger chain serving burgers and frozen-custard desserts it calls “concretes”. Despite being a chain, the quality of the burgers has remained consistently excellent – and attractively priced – over the years.
Nordburger
Restaurant
This place has one of Adelaide's best – and most extensive – menu of burgers to choose from. Every burg is very American, and very over-the-top. There's one or two options for vegetarians, but this is really the place for the meat eater in your life.
Fishbank
Restaurant
At this ambitious seafood restaurant from the 2KW team, you'll find everything from fish and chips to beluga caviar, plus a raw bar, an ocean-themed video installation and fish-themed cocktails.
Sho
Restaurant
Flame-licked meat on sticks, plus ramen and dumplings cooked and served by your very own chef. It’s small yakitoriya in Shobosho.
Busan Baby
Restaurant
This spot brings Korean street food to Morphett Street. There’s also spongy, fluffy chiffon cake and that bulgogi beef ramen dish from Parasite.
Part Time Lover
Restaurant
Boozy, casual, fun – this Palm Springs-inspired all-day diner is a chill hangout for grown-ups.
Plus 82 Gogi
Restaurant
“Shake shake rice”, spicy noodle salad and marinated meats ready for you to grill at this Korean barbeque joint.
Stem
Restaurant
The sprawling concrete jungle has a spacious wine cellar, a private dining room and a whole lot of plants. Plus woodfired pizzas, seasonal cocktails and a menu by an ex-Osteria Oggi chef.
Electra House Level One
Restaurant
Modern Asian dishes in a pastel pink setting.
Nu Thai
Restaurant
A new vision for Thai food in Adelaide.
Star of Siam
Restaurant
A Thai restaurant that’s been doing it right since the ‘80s.
Levant Eatery Pirie Street
Restaurant
Get your fix of Eastern-Mediterranean street food at this second, city location.
Sestra
Restaurant
A Serbian restaurant where you’ll find grilled-meat platters, fresh seafood and plenty of Mediterranean flavour.
May Q
Restaurant
This restaurant’s line-up of Korean classics is bolstered by a sizable collection of sojus to enjoy with your meal.
Adelaide Pho
Restaurant
One of the city’s oldest Vietnamese restaurants.
Uncle
Restaurant
Hainanese chicken rice – with complimentary prawn crackers while you wait.
Maison Clement
Restaurant
A French-Australian patisserie and cafe from a talented pastry chef.
Bai Long Store
Restaurant
This ambitious modern-Asian restaurant and store challenges its neighbours on the ailing Hutt Street strip.
Ban Ban
Restaurant
Korean fried chicken worth getting your hands dirty for.
Lantern by Nu
Restaurant
Chef Nu Suandokmai is trading in refined, upscale dining for Thai home cooking.
The Golden Wattle
Restaurant
An approachable, comfy, old-school pub with restaurant-quality food.
Akimitsu
Restaurant
Japan’s award-winning tempura restaurant.
Ragi’s Spicery
Restaurant
A two-level modern-Indian restaurant, bar and spice shop in one.
Poke Me
Restaurant
The Hawaiian dish is turning Japanese.
Revolución Mexicana
Restaurant
Traditional Mexican food in the heart of the city.
Hut & Soul
Restaurant
Malaysian, Indonesian and Singaporean fare united under one roof.
Gondola Gondola
Restaurant
An authentic homage to South East Asian street food culture.
Shiki
Restaurant
This high-class teppanyaki spot has flown the flag for Japanese food since the late-’80s.
Honki Tonki
Restaurant
Noodles, dumplings and Hong Kong-style egg waffles by the Sit Lo team.
Go in Hot Pot Train
Restaurant
A sushi train for delivering … soup?
Yen Linh CBD
Restaurant
Vietnamese classics in the city centre.
Hide ’n Seek Thai
Restaurant
Some of the best chicken wings in town.
Little NNQ
Restaurant
This lively spot brings sophistication to Vietnamese street fare.
Sushi Planet
Restaurant
A sleek and contemporary Japanese dining experience.
Pirie & Co
Restaurant
A wine bar and live music venue in one.
Casablabla
Restaurant
Watch a bongo or belly dancing show while you snack on multicultural tapas.
Mandoo
Restaurant
Kimchi in a dumpling? It’s here.
Ryo’s Noodles
Restaurant
Habit-forming ramen in stylish surrounds.
Thea Tea Shop
Restaurant
Taiwanese food for vegetarians and vegans.
Mother Vine
Restaurant
A wine bar from some of the industry’s best.
Vietnamese Laundry
Restaurant
Puts the street back into street food.
Antica Pizzeria CBD
Restaurant
Fresh pasta and one-metre pizzas in a polished setting.
Mexican Society
Restaurant
Accomplished fusion from the restaurateur behind Hispanic Mechanic.
Thanh Thanh
Restaurant
A contender for the best pho in town.
Sushi Bar Genki
Restaurant
Fresh sushi from a true master of the craft.
Sit Lo
Restaurant
Modern Vietnamese with no MSG.
Pizza e Mozzarella Bar
Restaurant
Forget fryers and pans. These Southern Italian dishes are cooked solely in brick ovens.
Faraja
Restaurant
A restaurant as multi-cultural as Australia itself.
Coal Cellar Grill
Restaurant
The Hilton Hotel’s luxurious dining room is equal parts classic and modern.
Cheesy St
Restaurant
The cheesiest, most adult toasties in town – and on wheels.
Madame Hanoi
Restaurant
Combine French technique with Vietnamese flavour and you get more than just bánh mì. Madame Hanoi is proof.
