Adelaide, SA

SOUTH AUSTRALIA South Australia’s capital is in the grip of a restaurant revolution, writes Jo McKay.

The food-focused city that flies under the radar

The iTinerary looks something like this: brunch close to the CBD; we’re thinking blue swimmer crab and scrambled eggs with toast, chilli and herbs at an urban café. Then perhaps a stroll through the city’s green spaces with a coffee (the beans are roasted nearby, naturally). Next, a cosy lunch of campanelle with pork sausage, chilli, fennel and spinach at a slick pasta bar. Afterwards, it’s on to wine-sampling, cocktails and hobnobbing in the laneways before settling in for a 20-course dégustation that showcases native fare. The following day? Perusing organic produce at the markets; a lazy lunch with a tasting menu featuring locally foraged ingredients and verdant views; and maybe a digestive nap at your five-star before hitting a rooftop for champagne. To finish? A Japanese-inspired feast of smoky Wagyu, katsu sandwiches and delectable chicken hearts that ticks the “contemporary cool” box.

So, where are we? You might not have guessed Adelaide. Yet you can have all these food experiences in South Australia’s capital. It’s a city that’s increasingly defined by inventive restaurants and cafés, by epicurean variety and quality, and by small, fashionable bars serving craft liquors and boutique wines. In short, it’s booming.

Why? Well, partly because Adelaide is close to so many excellent producers. “There are very few places in the world with so many microclimates and regions within a stone’s throw,” says chef Simon Bryant. “The raw ingredients we’re working with are amazing. It’s a privilege to live here, to cook here and to show it off.”

The former executive chef at the Hilton Adelaide, Bryant is now creative director of Tasting Australia (tastingaustralia.com.au), the state’s food and wine festival, which, as a solid barometer of the city’s culinary appeal, drew 12,000 more visitors to the Adelaide hub this year than in 2016.

Paul Baker, who heads Botanic Gardens Restaurant (botanicgardensrestaurant.com.au), moved to Adelaide four years ago. “I grew up in kitchens in Sydney where we were getting the best truffles from overseas, the best asparagus from overseas... We’ve got the same quality here.”

Sensational food is in Adelaide’s DNA. In the 1970s and ’80s, it experienced a dining boom, with chefs such as Cheong Liew, Phillip Searle, Tim Pak Poy and Christine Manfield working the pans. But there was a chunk of time when Adelaide didn’t have much culinary kudos. Simon Kardachi, one of the city’s eminent restaurateurs with a suite of eateries to his name – including Osteria Oggi (osteriaoggi.com.au), Press Food & Wine (pressfood andwine.com.au) and newcomer Shōbōsho (shobosho. com.au) – says the ’90s and noughties saw a profusion of “generic pizza-pasta cafés, order-at-the-counter services, that damaged the restaurant market for five or six years”.

Adelaide’s “big country town” reputation has also sometimes worked against it. But as Jock Zonfrillo, chef-owner of Restaurant Orana (restaurantorana.com) and Bistro Blackwood (restaurant blackwood.com), points out, “The reality is, with a population of 1.3 million people, it’s bigger than Copenhagen and other cities around the world. Adelaide hasn’t been a country town for more than a decade...”

Social and political changes have cemented Adelaide’s status as a gastronomic destination. The small-bar legislation passed in 2013 made it financially feasible for chefs and restaurateurs to open more experimental venues. At last count, there were 86 small bars, which is significant considering that most are in an area no larger than a square kilometre. The $527 million redevelopment of Adelaide Oval has also changed the city, explains Kardachi. “Putting 50,000 people 500 metres from the city, once a week, changes retail, small bars, restaurants, hotels, accommodation, everything.”

“The CBD has exploded,” adds Baker. “Now there’s diversity; you can rattle off lists of great places.” There are so many food-focused enclaves to explore: the east and west ends; Gouger Street, Chinatown and the markets; Waymouth Street; Gilbert Street; and suburbs such as Hyde Park, Unley, Bowden and Croydon.

Zonfrillo also cites state initiatives – such as the government’s support of his Orana Foundation (which promotes native wild foods and supports Indigenous communities) and Tesla co-founder Elon Musk’s planned giant lithium-ion battery – as contributing factors to Adelaide’s resurgence. These, he says, are proof of the city’s inherently progressive nature, a forward-thinking attitude that appeals to creative types. “Adelaide attracts people who aren’t afraid to do something they believe in. They’re producing amazing things. It’s inspiring.”