Adelaide just became the first Australian city to get the red guide’s verdict, and 11 South Australian restaurants walked out with a star.

Michelin awards 11 stars to South Australian restaurants at the Adelaide Convention Centre on Wednesday, 14 October 2026, the first time the guide has rated a restaurant anywhere in Australia. The room is silent as Anvers Restaurant is announced as the state’s first one-Michelin-star restaurant, then breaks like the pop of fireworks as Connor Bishop walks down the aisle to claim the first Michelin star awarded in Australia. 

It’s the sound of people who spent years saying they didn’t need a tyre company’s approval and who clearly wanted it anyway. 11 restaurants receive stars. 16 Bib Gourmands and 50 Michelin Selected made the guide’s wider selection. 

See the winners below.

The South Australian restaurants awarded Michelin Stars

A quick guide to the ratings: One star means Michelin considers a restaurant worth a stop; two means it’s worth a detour; three means it’s worth a special journey. The distinction is about the cooking, not the thread count of the tablecloths or how many sommeliers are hovering nearby.

Two stars

• Magill Estate Restaurant – Adelaide – 2 stars – Farm-to-table

One star

• Restaurant Botanic – Adelaide – 1 star – Modern Australian
• Maxwell Restaurant – McLaren Vale – Bib Gourmand – Modern Australian
• LVN Restaurant at Bird in Hand – Adelaide Hills – Bib Gourmand – Modern Australian
• Hentley Farm – Barossa Valley – 1 star – Farm-to-table
• Anvers – Adelaide Hills – 1 star – Modern Australian
• Arkhé – Adelaide – 1 star – Open-fire cooking
• Aurora at Ila – Adelaide – 1 star – Contemporary Australian
• Esmay – Adelaide – 1 star – Modern Australian
• Restaurant Aptos – Adelaide Hills – 1 star – Immersive Australian
• Skillogalee Barrel House – Clare Valley – 1 star – Modern Australian

The South Australian restaurants awarded Bib Gourmands

Not every worthwhile Michelin inclusion comes with a star. The Bib Gourmand recognises restaurants that serve good food at a more accessible price, acknowledging places where the cooking punches above the bill.

• Africola – Adelaide – Bib Gourmand – South African
• Antidote Kitchen – Bib Gourmand – Fusion
• Bar Torino – Adelaide – Bib Gourmand  – Italian
• Bistro Francais – Adelaide – Bib Gourmand – French
• Fino Seppeltsfield – Barossa Valley – Bib Gourmand – Modern Australian
• Golden Boy – Adelaide – Bib Gourmand – Thai
• Gondola Gondola – Adelaide – Bib Gourmand – Southeast Asian
• La Popular Taquería – Adelaide – Bib Gourmand – Mexican
• Noi Vietnamese Eatery – Adelaide – Bib Gourmand – Vietnamese
• Pantry on Prospect – Adelaide – Bib Gourmand – Modern Australian
• Part Time Lover – Adelaide – Modern Australian
• Parwana Afghan Kitchen – Adelaide – Bib Gourmand – Afghan
• Stamps – Adelaide – Bib Gourmand – Modern Australian
• Sunny’s Pizza – Adelaide – Bib Gourmand – Italian/American
• The Salopian Inn – McLaren Vale – Bib Gourmand – Modern Australian
• Tirage on Kangaroo Island – Kingscote – Bib Gourmand – Modern Australian

South Australia’s recipients of Michelin Guide special awards

Mindful Voices
Nicola Palmer and Warrick Duthy – Penobscot – Modern Australian

Young Chef Award
Shakaan Abillion – Shöbösho – Japanese

Service Award
Melissa Pisanelli – Allegra Dining Room – Mediterranean

Sommelier Award
 Maxime Martin – Hardy’s Verandah

What is the Michelin Guide, and why is it only just reaching Australia?

The guide began in 1900 as a free handbook from the Michelin tyre company, written to get French drivers out on the road and wearing down their rubber. Michelin introduced its Star system in the 1920s, establishing the framework that would eventually become one of the most influential (and debated) measures of restaurant quality in the world.

Today, a Michelin Star can be a powerful commercial asset. It can attract international travellers, fill reservations months ahead, and give a restaurant a level of recognition that would otherwise take years to build. In some cities, the guide has helped shape entire dining scenes, influencing where visitors eat and which chefs become household names among food obsessives.

South Australia is the second place in Oceania to go through this. Michelin released its inaugural New Zealand selection in Auckland on 30 June 2026, awarding stars to 15 restaurants and recognising 110 in total across Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington, and Queenstown.

Booking platform First Table says page views for Michelin-recognised restaurants on its site jumped 146 per cent the day the guide came out and stayed about 70 per cent higher through the following week. “They were hunting for anything with a Michelin name attached, and they were booking within minutes," says First Table CEO Alex Cappy. Essence in Queenstown, New Zealand’s only two-star restaurant, has hired seven staff. Logan Brown in Wellington has added a waiter and reopened on Tuesdays, so it trades six days a week for the first time since Covid.

The reason it took until 2026 to reach Australia is mostly commercial. Michelin doesn’t expand into a new place on a whim. In most recent launches, a tourism body has helped fund the guide’s arrival. That’s not a secret, but it should make you think. A government paying for the guide that is supposed to judge its restaurants independently doesn’t prove the results are tainted. Michelin insists inspectors decide alone. It does mean the guide’s arrival is also a tourism strategy, and any honest story has to say so.

Australia already has its own system: the Good Food Guide hats, Gourmet Traveller’s rankings, and a deeply opinionated local food media. Many chefs here built reputations without Michelin and will tell you they didn’t need it. Either way, the stars are officially here. Whether Australia’s other food capitals will welcome Michelin into their orbit—and whether the guide has ambitions beyond South Australia—is the next question.

How the winners are chosen

Michelin inspectors dine anonymously and pay their own bills, judging the food on five things: the quality of the ingredients, the cooking, how the flavours work together, the chef’s personality on the plate, and consistency. In other words, a fancy dining room won’t save you if the food isn’t up to scratch. Restaurants can’t put themselves forward for stars, and the guide won’t tell you everywhere its inspectors have been. We have to take its word for who’s worth the trip.

The full list of inclusions in the South Australian Michelin Guide

Here’s every restaurant included in the inaugural South Australian selection, organised by award so you can find somewhere to book, save for later or plan a trip around.

Michelin Stars

• Magill Estate Restaurant – Adelaide – 2 stars – Farm-to-table
• Restaurant Botanic – Adelaide – 1 star – Modern Australian
• Maxwell Restaurant – McLaren Vale – Bib Gourmand – Modern Australian
• LVN Restaurant at Bird in Hand – Adelaide Hills – Bib Gourmand – Modern Australian
• Hentley Farm – Barossa Valley – 1 star – Farm-to-table
• Anvers – Adelaide Hills – 1 star – Modern Australian
• Arkhé – Adelaide – 1 star – Open-fire cooking
• Aurora at Ila – Adelaide – 1 star – Contemporary Australian
• Esmay – Adelaide – 1 star – Modern Australian
• Restaurant Aptos – Adelaide Hills – 1 star – Immersive Australian
• Skillogalee Barrel House – Clare Valley – 1 star – Modern Australian

Bib Gourmands

• Africola – Adelaide – Bib Gourmand – South African
• Antidote Kitchen 
• Bar Torino
• Bistro Francais
• Fino Seppeltsfield – Barossa Valley – Bib Gourmand – Modern Australian
• Golden Boy
• Gondola Gondola
• La Popular Taquería
• Noi Vietnamese Eatery
• Pantry on Prospect
• Part Time Lover
• Parwana Afghan Kitchen – Adelaide – Bib Gourmand – Afghanistan
• Stamps
• Sunny’s Pizza
• The Salopian Inn
• Tirage on Kangaroo Island

Michelin Selected

• Agapi
• Allegra Dining Room
• Anchovy Bandit
• Chianti
• Clover and Stone
• Coriole Vineyards
• D’Arry’s Verandah
• Elementary by Kirby
• fermentAsian
• Fino Vino
• Fugazzi
• Hardy’s Verandah
• Herringbone
• Huami
• Kiin
• Latteria
• Leigh Street Wine Room
• Little Wolf Osteria
• Low & Slow American BBQ
• Luma
• Magill Estate Kitchen
• Mayura Wagyu Steakhouse
• Mt Lofty Ranges Vineyard
• Ode Bistro
• Ong Vietnamese Kitchen
• Orleana
• Orso
• Osteria Oggi
• Pastel Wine Bar
• Patch Kitchen & Garden
• Pearl
• Penobscot
• Pike & Joyce
• Press* Food & Wine
• Shobosho
• Slate Restaurant
• Soi 28
• St Hugo
• Star of Greece
• Station Road
• Sunset Food and Wine
• Tarantino’s
• Thai Room
• The Crafers Hotel Bistro
• The Fresh Fish Place
• The Kitchen
• The Lane Vineyard
• Thelma
• Woolshed Restaurant
• Yakisan

Other awards

• Mindful Voices – Nicola Palmer and Warrick Duthy – Penobscot – Modern Australian
• Young Chef Award – Shakaan Abillion – Shöbösho – Japanese
• Service Award – Melissa Pisanelli – Allegra Dining Room – Mediterranean
• Sommelier Award – Maxime Martin – Hardy’s Verandah