The world has finally woken up to Adelaide’s world-class produce and dining credentials, with it becoming the very first destination in Australia to be featured in the iconic Michelin guide.

South Australians have long known how good their food is and are happy to share with visitors. Use our guide to the best restaurants in Adelaide and start booking a seat at these top dining establishments – whether it’s for modern Asian flavours, Italian fare or boundary-pushing Australian cuisine that heroes what’s in season.

The shortlist

Great for special occasions: Magill Estate
Family-Friendly spot: Osteria Oggi
Best date spot: Herringbone
Best for large groups: ORSO Kensington

Kiin

Criminally underrated perhaps because of its location in the south-eastern corner of the CBD, Kiin is a must visit. Teaming modern Asian flavours with prime South Australian ingredients, a playful cocktail menu and attentive service – a meal here is a guaranteed good time.

Order a few smaller dishes of oysters, a prawn and lychee pop stick or Pork Lincoln squid skewers, followed by the much-ordered Burrata, green ‘nahm jim’, fried shallot and roti, before tucking into mains of curries, crispy fried whole fish and a side of snake beans – or we simply like to leave the decision to the chef.

Don’t miss cocktail happy hour and the specials featuring passionfruit, lychee and other refreshing flavours. Groups can book the semi-private back table for a long and satisfying lunch.

Cuisine: Modern Asian
Average price: $$$
Atmosphere: Vibrant and well-oiled
Location: 73 Angas St, Adelaide

Herringbone

Another Adelaide restaurant hiding out down a wide, tree-lined Adelaide street is Herringbone – taking its responsibility to provide diners with a fine dining experience with warmth and hospitality seriously. From the wooden tables to the tree growing in the back room, the vibe is earthy, welcoming and the opposite of pretentious.

The menu is seasonal to make the most of what Adelaide has to offer. Indulge in local prosciutto, honeydew melon, stracciatella, pear marmalade or yellowfin tuna sashimi paired with goat curd, jalapeño, orange, thyme and horseradish. Leave room for the delectable slow cooked lamb with fat wedge chips. Beware the feed me menu – the servings are generous here and the food hearty.

The wine menu pairs well and of course celebrates all things South Australian. We like to come during the week, have a chat with the waitstaff and treat it like our neighbourhood local.

Cuisine: Seasonal Australian fare with an Italian edge
Average price: $$$
Atmosphere: Friendly earth-to-table
Location: 72-74 Halifax St, Adelaide

Fugazzi Bar & Dining Room

Ask where to go for dinner and the answer will often be Fugazzi. Located on Adelaide’s much-frequented Leigh Street, the restaurant is the result of MasterChef alumni Laura and Max Sharrad.

They bring some old-school New York-Italian swag to the city’s Italian offerings, with a marble bar, velvet booths and a menu that pays homage to the old country but a nod to Australia’s influence on this much-loved food.

South Australia’s seafood features heavily, including ‘Roman Vegemite’ Toast with Anchovy, Butter and Lemon. There’s also pasta with bucatini, Eyre Peninsula Mussels and green chilli verde, wood roasted spatchcock and tiramisu in dessert or cocktail form.

Cuisine: New York Italian
Average price: $$$
Atmosphere: Refined
Location: 27 Leigh Street, Adelaide

OMADA

New kid on the block – OMADA Bar and Grill is a Greek-inspired restaurant with the party vibes from one of the islands back home. Unassuming during the day, the place comes alive at night with people spilling out the doors.

Inside, the carefully curated menu features quality ingredients given the wood oven and coal grill treatment in the open kitchen. The plates of food are made for feasting – plates of lamb, charred seafood, and whole salt baked 800g flathead to mention but a few. There are cocktails, Greek wines and house-made ouzo to wash down some late night bar snacks.

Cuisine: Modern Greek
Average price: $$$
Atmosphere: Bar vibes
Location: 46 Currie Street, Adelaide

Restaurant Botanic

Sitting in the middle of the Adelaide Botanic Garden, Restaurant Botanic makes full use of its lush surroundings. Repeatedly named Australia’s best restaurant, a visit here is as much about the experience as what lands on the plate

There are ingredients and combinations not found elsewhere – mille feuille of emu and its liver with rosella or croc tongue, saltbush and smoked eel. The dishes are presented as mini artworks, usually featuring a garnish or core ingredient from the surrounding gardens.

The wine list balances iconic labels with emerging producers while the cocktails too revolve around what’s grown locally.

This is an unhurried experience – enter the gardens, disappear for a few hours and emerge having experienced something truly outstanding.

Cuisine: Modern Australian with native ingredients
Price: $$$$$
Atmosphere: Artistic elegance
Location: Plane Tree Dr, Adelaide

Osteria Oggi

There are plenty of Italian restaurants in Adelaide, but Osteria Oggi is one we constantly recommend for its curated, modern take on classic Italian dishes.

Generous opening hours make it perfect for lunch, an early dinner or something late. Prop up at the long marble bar or grab a table out back in the piazza-inspired rear room with the pasta drying and the chefs working away.

There are the classics like carbonara or tagliatelle with blue swimmer crab or squid ink Fiori – along with smaller plates and heartier mains like wood grilled zucchini or a 250g sirloin.

The service is spot on – friendly, attentive and they know their stuff. They’ll even whip out a kids’ menu if you ask nicely.

Cuisine: Modern Italian
Price: $$$
Atmosphere: Warm and inviting
Location: 76 Pirie St, Adelaide

ORSO Kensington

Housed in a beautifully restored circa-1885 bluestone building, ORSO is one of Adelaide’s dependably excellent neighbourhood restaurants. We recommend the kitchen bar seats if there are just two of you, or larger groups can book the ORSO Cellar – a private dining room tucked beneath the adjoining Willmott’s Bar.

The menu’s starters include tiger prawn milk buns with marie rose and salmon roe, silky wagyu carpaccio and the Ciao ‘XO’ octopus. From there, the casarecce with pork sausage, wagyu beef and San Marzano is the pasta to order, though the soft polenta with porcini and mushroom ragù is a worthy alternative.

Only time for a drink? The aperitivo happy hour at Willmott’s Front Bar runs Tuesday through Saturday, 4–6pm.

Cuisine: Modern Australia
Price: $$$
Atmosphere: Relaxed
Location: 36 Kensington Road, Rose Park

Parwana Afghan Kitchen

Since opening this labour of love in 2009, the Ayubi family have become much-loved favourites of Adelaide’s hospitality scene.

A large part of that is a menu that packs in plenty of flavour from curries, lamb mince dishes and a banjaan borani – eggplant braised in tomato sauce and finished with tangy yoghurt.

Can’t get to Torrensville? The family also run a popular pop-up at Plant 4 in Bowden where they offer a plate piled up with curries, rice and salad for a token sum.

Cuisine: Afghan
Price: $$
Atmosphere: Warm
Location: 124B Henley Beach Rd, Torrensville

Magill Estate

Located on the Penfolds estate in the foothills of the Mount Lofty Ranges, Magill Estate Restaurant has set the bar for Adelaide fine dining for decades – and it shows no signs of relinquishing that title. Just fifteen minutes from the city yet high enough to command sweeping views across the vineyards, city skyline and the shimmering Gulf St Vincent, it remains one of those rare restaurants that delivers on every front.

Chef Scott Huggins curates a tasting menu that is equal parts theatre and craftsmanship – expect dramatic presentation, opulent touches of caviar and truffle, and his now-legendary signature snack: a crispy deboned chicken wing packed with lobster and scallop meat. The drink pairing makes fitting use of the Penfolds cellars, but it’s the Icon Pairing that truly sets the evening apart, drawing on back vintages pulled from the museum collection that are rarely seen outside these walls.

Cuisine: Modern Australian
Price: $$$$
Atmosphere: Refined
Location: 78 Penfold Road, Magill

Shōbōsho and ShoSho

Fire-led and Japanese-inspired, Shōbōsho is the kind of restaurant that earns its reputation with every single service. A meal at the booths with a group of friends is a good night out. The robata grill does extraordinary things to everything that passes over it, while the more intimate Shō Yakitori is a glowing hibachi grill, binchōtan smoke, skewers brushed with tare and served at their peak alongside raw snacks and dumplings from the main kitchen.

The sibling venue, ShoSho, trades the city energy for something more relaxed. Settled into Hyde Park on King William Road, it takes the izakaya spirit – food made to enjoy with a drink, shared freely across the table – and gives it a neighbourhood feel. The pace is gentler, and it’s very much a space to linger over shared plates and a sake or two.

Cuisine: Japanese Australian
Price: $$$
Atmosphere: Shobosho for a classy bar-like vibe or Shosho for something more relaxed
Location: Leigh Street and Hyde Park