The best restaurants in South Australia right now

Chef Alanna Sapwell elevates comfort cooking with finesse in a homely space full of natural sunlight and luminous chandeliers. Despite only opening at the tail end of 2025, the Rueben-like small emu pastrami doughnut is already an iconic menu staple, while desserts riff on nostalgia. Our 2026 South Australia Restaurant of the Year, Esmay is utterly charming and accessible to all.

A long lunch in this atrium dining room overlooking estate vineyards and towering gums feels like a ritual. South African-born chef Kyle Johns steers the multi-course long lunch with gentle confidence, bookended by soul-warming buckwheat dashi and lemon thyme broth, and a bush tea finale. Rustic but polished at every step.

This restaurant hums with energy and convivial chat intermingled with sizzling spice above its charcoal burners. Executive chef Ben Bertei reimagines Thai street food with playful flair, while the wine list favours boutique SA and European producers. Our verdict? Refreshingly fun.

Executive chef Jacob Davey’s tasting menu channels Peramangk and Kaurna land and waters surrounding the Adelaide Hills vineyard setting. His thoughtful three-hour lunch is paired with Bird in Hand wines in the earthy, art-filled dining room. Native ingredients are woven throughout, and sweets feel like a meditation on nature rather than an obligatory finale. Exquisite at every turn.

At this pitch-perfect winery restaurant, German chef Fabian Lehmann’s tasting menu goes where the season takes it. Maxwell’s own wines lead a small international list, a fitting accompaniment to what is a masterclass in balance, texture and technique.

This bar and bistro brings coal-fired energy to the city. The Studio Gram-designed space is a love letter to Dionysus and centres on a long travertine bar over which house-made ouzo and Greek-ish cocktails are served. The menu, inspired by head chef Andy Ferrara’s half-Greek heritage, is best shared. Up-tempo and chaotic in all the best ways.

Few eateries exude genuine soul like Parwana, the colourful and beloved neighbourhood restaurant where the Ayubi family have shared ancestral Afghan recipes since 2009. While there’s no alcohol, BYO is welcomed. This family-run restaurant is an Adelaide must.

Nestled in sand dunes above azure Gulf St Vincent water, Pearl’s ethos is simple: “future friendly” sustainable seafood. While in summer this might swing between flash-fried school prawns with Old Bay spice, pickled tomato and lemon aioli, come winter frutti di mare takes centrestage. Casual yet evocative fare beneath moody Fleurieu Peninsula skies, year-round.

Chef Justin James hosts 14 diners on a 16-course journey through several dining spaces in a former 1868 church. Dishes arrive on bunya nut plates, in kangaroo-fur-encased vessels and in emu eggs; no knives or forks. International and local wine pairings shine, but the creatively crafted non-alcoholic Temperance drinks steal the show. Expect childlike delight.

Since taking the reins at this native-ingredient jewel of the CBD crown, young executive chef Jamie Musgrave seems as comfortable in the Botanic Garden as the birds that call it home. Musgrave honours the Indigenous Aunties and Uncles who supply hard-to-source ingredients, presenting each dish like museum treasures in handmade earthenware, ceramics and glassware.

It’s no easy feat to straddle destination dining and local haunt, but the wholesome Staġuni nails it. Set in a heritage primary school, its small but beguiling menu is handwritten on notepad-style paper, with chef Clare Falzon’s Maltese roots and community-driven ethos evident in generous communal plates that champion local ingredients.

In a rustic, art-packed shanty in the regional town of Aldinga, chef-owner Trinh Richards draws on her Vietnamese heritage, fusing Thailand, Japan and Malaysia with a deft hand, while husband Mike pours local wines and cracking cocktails. But be sure to book ahead – charming experiences like this beget demand.

This is the kind of bistro that feels like a friend. The small room is decked out in reclaimed timber – little fuss, maximum focus on the hyper-local biodynamic Adelaide Hills produce. Chef and co-owner Tom Campbell draws on time in Japanese and European kitchens, where he learned to appreciate simple things grown, crafted and baked with patience.