Occupying an iconic corner in Adelaide’s East End, Exchange Coffee has long been at the front of the pack in the city’s specialty coffee scene. Come for Market Lane coffee brewed every which way, produce-driven brunch dishes and a signature sandwich worthy of its cult status.

A little corner of France in the East End. Hey Jupiter has been throwing down champagne breakfasts and Bloody Marys for more than a decade.

One of Adelaide’s buzziest cafes holds a lush garden and a shipping-container-turned-eatery. When the weather’s fine, it's hard to beat a spritz on the deck.

The “accidentally nostalgic” menu features slow-cooked sarsaparilla pork with apple slaw, a sous vide chicken roll, and an inspired spin on the ham-and-cheese toastie (with Hawaiian pizza DNA).

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.

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.

Coffee Branch helped kickstart the city’s modern cafe scene and is still going strong. No slow food, long lunches or fancy brewing gear here. Just great coffee and a straight-shooting menu geared towards takeaway.

One of the standard-setters for Adelaide’s specialty coffee scene lives in a spacious warehouse serving photogenic breakfasts to go with your single-origin brews.

Pastries from Italy and beyond, made fresh every morning. The sfogliatelle – a strudel-like Italian number – is unmissable, equal only to the house croissant.

At this Hutt Street patisserie, you'll find miso cookies, plum and rose Danishes and chai blondies. Plus, there's quiche with freshly-foraged porcini mushrooms, flourless brownies and whisky-and-almond knots.

This cafe-bar hybrid is in a restored octagonal kiosk on North Terrace. It was the first food and beverage joint for Adelaide’s innovation precinct Lot Fourteen. The brunchy menu here, by the owner-chef of Fine & Fettle, is Asian-inspired takes on brekkie staples.

This cafe in the former Paddy's Lantern site opened in October 2020. The interior’s had a refit and a new kitchen installed, but the trusty Synesso espresso machine that served Paddy’s so well for over a decade remains. Come for the “barista’s breakfast” (a potent coffee trio); handmade dumplings; a croissant with soft-shell crab and scrambled eggs; and halal bao buns with “beef bacon” and egg.

Callum Dinnison lives just a two-minute drive from his cafe, Mister Pigeon. That's probably for the best, because many of his possessions have ended up at Mister Pigeon. To furnish the cafe, Dinnison pilfered his own place. No wonder it feels so homey. The end result is a community-focused cafe with comfy couches, a book exchange and excellent toasties. It's a relaxed spot that feels miles away from its inner-city surrounds.

A small, relaxed city hang serving sandos and pastries with a Filipino twist.

Pop by the cafe that gained more than half a million social media followers for prosciutto and mozzarella sangas, cinnamon scrolls – baked fresh every 30 minutes – and coffee.