Saturday morning, and Adelaide Central Market is heaving. A crowd circles the cheese counters, determined-looking shoppers eye up the best fruit and veg. There’s a swift trade at the bread stalls and a waft of decent coffee across it all. It is the kind of market that every city wishes it had. So who better to ask for tips on where to eat inexpensively and well in Adelaide? We persuaded 10 of the market’s stallholders to share their favourite reasonably priced haunts with us: from cheap Italian to crispy duck to wine-bar small plates. They vary in price range – but each offers good value. Add your own recommendations in the comments.
Parwana Afghan Restaurant: 124B Henley Beach Road, Torrensville – nominated by Karah Hogarth, Pickle in the Middle
Parwana Afghan Restaurant is a family-run restaurant highly regarded for its authentic Afghani dishes. It has bright mosaic tiles on the floor and family photos hung on the walls. Karah Horgath says the “welcoming atmosphere feels like you are walking into someone’s colourful family home”. Cash-only and BYO, enjoy your dinner at one of the big communal tables. The dish Horgath most looks forward to is the kabuli pawlaw ($18), pilaf rice with basmati and candied orange peel and flaked almonds. Other picks include the mantu steamed dumplings ($20) with meat and vegetables, served in a yoghurt sauce, and the eggplant banjan borani ($14).
Eros Kafe: 275 Rundle Street – nominated by Peter Pessios, Central Market Flowers
It was the first street in Adelaide to introduce alfresco dining and now Rundle Street is filled with tables. Customers at Eros Kafe can sit outside or head indoors where the blue wallpapered walls are decorated with framed vintage Greek advertisements for cigarettes, coffee and ouzo. Peter Pessios recommends the morning offerings as “totally different from a regular breakfast”. The cafe offers Australian and Greek flavours, with bacon and eggs ($12.90) sitting alongside yaourti ($12.90), yoghurt with poached figs and crushed walnut, or tiropita ($8.90), filo pastry cheese with fig and tomato relish. The cafe is also known for its meze platters served from mid-afternoon. Try the dolmathes ($12.90), kataifi prawns ($17.50), and octopus tis skaras ($16.90).
Loveon Cafe & Deli: 39 Gladstone Road, Mile End – nominated by Paul Noakes, Gourmet to Go
“You don’t have to go into the city to get to a decent cafe,” says Paul Noakes. Loveon Cafe & Deli sits in a old milk bar right in the heart of Mile End, just to the west of Adelaide city. The orange coffee machine is striking and customers can choose from a big, welcoming rustic centre bench for communal dining or small tables around the perimeter of the room. Paul is a regular for their “excellent coffee”.
“The atmosphere is really good. It’s relaxed and child-friendly,” he says. A favourite for brunch, you’ll find fresh juice ($6) and good coffee (from $2.90) of course, and breakfast staples such as mushrooms on toast ($12) and pancakes ($10.50). Lunch offerings tend to be sandwiches and wraps ($9.90), including grilled tilapia with caramelised onion and chipotle mayo, or pastrami on rye.
SunMi’s Sushi: Adelaide Central Market – nominated by Bill Howison, House of Organics & Sustainably Grown Produce
Tucked away in the Grote Street corner of Central Market is SunMi’s Sushi. You can eat at the small counter bench, but most customers move to the collection of odd tables collected under murals from local street artists. SunMi’s serves good sushi (from $3.30) and a variety of Korean foods, including kimchi chigae ($7.50) and spicy seafood noodle soup ($7.90) but their specialty, and a favourite of Bill Howison, is hot stone bibimbap ($12): a dish of steamed rice, pickled vegetables, kimchi noodles, spring onion, braised beef and fried egg. Howison discovered the dish after “reading about Singapore taxi driver food. It comes in big bowls, and they used to eat it while driving, and exchange dirty bowls for full ones – a real Singapore taxi driver culture.”
NanYang Cafe: Renaissance Arcade - nominated by Lucinna Chua, the Asian Grocer
Tucked away at the back of Renaissance Arcade in Adelaide’s main shopping strip, is NanYang Cafe, selling traditional hawker food. The basic, cash-only cafe is a popular lunch spot, particularly with city workers and university students, with lines stretching out the door. Order first, and then find a seat over the two floors. Lucinna Chua visits during busy shopping days: the cafe’s wonton noodles ($8.60) are her “comfort food” she says. Other favourites from the menu are chicken laksa ($8.60) and roast duck ($9.10).
Cantina Sociale: 108 Sturt Street, Adelaide – nominated by Jen Pedder, Say Cheese
Adelaide has a sprinkling of intimate wine bars, with Cantina Sociale one of the more unique spots. It’s also Jen Pedder’s local. The small corner shop has a rustic feel, with plaster giving way to brick, and exposed globes lighting the space. On the back wall, you’ll find the bar’s centrepiece: the wine barrels from which staff will pour you a glass of wine. (From $9 a glass). Pedder is a fan of the “cool and interesting wine varieties”. To go with your Lagrein, Montepulciano or Nero d’avola, there is a concise list of tapas. Try mussels ($12), duck liver pâté with beetroot jelly ($10), or – aptly for Pedder – some cheese (individual servings $5). The selection changes weekly: past offerings have included espresso cheese – an American-style moist parmesan with freshly ground espresso beans rubbed on the outside – and, naturally, the Spanish sheep’s milk cheese manchego.
Lucia’s Pizzeria & Spaghetti Bar: Adelaide Central Market – nominated by Lee Bugeja, Stall 69
Lucia’s Pizzeria & Spaghetti Bar, established in 1957, is an Adelaide institution. It’s maintained its decor for decades: an old black-and-white tiled floor, small orange coffee tables, wood panelling, and big glass windows looking out over the market. The bar is known for its great coffee (from $3.40), and is particularly popular on Saturday mornings for those in search of the full egg and bacon breakfast ($12). Pasta fan Lee Bugeja is a regular at lunch and Friday nights, when his favourite meal is pasta with bolognese ($12.50). “It’s great because they use veal and beef mince,” he says, “and with that you get a really good flavour.”
Parisis: 138 King William Road, Hyde Park – nominated by Jo Dunn, Something Wild
The Hyde Park strip of King William road is home to a thriving cafe culture – and Jo Dunn calls Parisis, which serves modern Italian cuisine, “the best restaurant in Adelaide”. The room’s main feature is a large wood-fired pizza oven, but most customers choose the outdoor courtyard where you sit in a cast-iron cage, under modern chandeliers. Parisis is not the cheapest place in Adelaide to grab a pizza, but at $17 for a napolitana ranging to $32 for a pollo gambero, it’s good value for the quality. It’s always worth saving a spot for desert: Dunn recommends you finish with the chocolate mousse ($13.50).
Feliciano: 57 Gilbert Street, Adelaide – nominated by Ross Savvas of Con’s Fine Foods
At the southern end of the city, away from the city’s restaurant strips, is Feliciano. With its small handful of white-clothed tables, open kitchen and exposed brick walls, it looks like any other recently renovated eatery. But chef Dominic Pelosi’s ethos is certainly not standard. With no set menu Pelosi chooses what to cook based on mood and available ingredients. There are no set hours, instead you’ll have to phone ahead on (08) 8410 0222 (there is also no website). Feliciano won’t be to everyone’s taste, but Ross Savvas is a big fan of Pelosi’s “old-school Italian cooking” and the feeling that you’re just being welcomed into someone’s kitchen. The baked pasta is, “absolutely delicious, in those old aluminum trays, like grandma used to use,” he promises.
BBQ City Restaurant: 84 Gouger Street, Adelaide – nominated by Frank Turtur, Vegas Poultry
In the heart of Adelaide’s Chinatown district, looking out over Gouger Street, BBQ City’s window display of crispy-skin ducks and barbecue ribs lives up to the restaurant’ name. Inside, the focus is all on the food: park yourself on a pink vinyl chair around one of the plastic tables. Frank Turtur visits weekly with several other market traders. “The mixed platters are great: with pork, chicken, and a really nice duck,” he says ($15 small/$22 large). Add bean curd ($12) and fried rice ($8).
