Adelaide’s best restaurants and cafes of 2025
If you’re in town for the Ashes test cricket or a spot of Christmas shopping and want to know the best Adelaide spots to eat, we’ve got you covered. Here are CityMag’s top new restaurants and cafes of 2025 and what to order at each.
Bora
Located in the former Cooks Pantry spot on Jetty Street, Grange, is Bora – a cafe boasting a range of breakfast classics and lunch staples with a Brazilian twist. Expect items such as Bora’s version of a BLT, acai bowls, breakfast tacos and more. Owner David William opened the beachside spot in March and has since hosted hungry locals and state-wide events, like Adelaide’s inaugural Brazilian festival, Alma Brazil.
What we’re ordering: the BELT – a BLT with a bit extra: bacon, eggs, lettuce and tomato with Dijon and pecorino.
Bora is located at 6-8 Jetty Street, Grange, and open weekdays from 6am ’til 3pm and weekends 7am ’til 3pm.
Cosmo’s
For laid-back, themed dining before a show or sporting game, look no further than Cosmo’s. This New York-style pizza bar inside Hindley Street Music Hall is for Seinfeld fans. Co-owner Josh Bartolo took his first plunge in restaurant ownership after a career in management in locations like Wing It Sports Bar and collaborated with Taco Cartel food truck owner Josh O’Shaunessy to bring this one to life. The menu focuses on quality ingredients with nods to the show – like a marble rye starter bread baked in the Adelaide Hills.
What we’re ordering: a mushroom pizza with the Jackie Chiles to drink (a violet gin sour, lemon juice, egg white and sugar syrup).
Cosmo’s Pizza is located at 149 Hindley Street, Adelaide, and is open Wednesday to Thursday from 12pm ‘til 2:30pm and 5pm ‘til 9:30pm. Open Fridays from 12 – 2:30pm and 4pm ‘til late. Open Saturdays, 5pm til late.
Honeydripper
The Frome Street multi-level bar is a self-proclaimed “home of music aficionados’. Co-owners Raf Thomson, Sean Howard, Josh McIlhanney and Alex Johnston set up the space as a HI-FI listening bar, with a rare collection of vinyls and baseball card-style cocktail list. In the mornings, they sling coffees, bagels and matcha – perfect for your pre-work pick-me-up. You’ll find bagel fillings like a rueben and trending drinks like a guava matcha with Yakult foam and Mont Blanc coffee with orange zest and nutmeg.
What we’re ordering: the eavesdrop, a cocktail with guava, passionfruit, fig leaf, and fizz.
Honeydripper is located at 11 Frome Street, Adelaide, is open from Wednesday to Friday from 5pm until late, then Saturday and Sunday from 3pm until late.
Mensa
Just a stone’s throw from the city in Kent Town, Mensa is a modern Italian trattoria next door to gelato giant Messina. The trio of co-owners Eugenio Maiale, Claudio Ferraro, Zoran Pavlovic all have long-ties to Adelaide’s hospitality scene and it shows. Expect traditional and amplified Italian dishes, like pasta fritta with nduja honey and mascarpone to start, followed by a range of house-made fresh pastas like parpadelle with wild rabbit or a taste of the sea in the blue swimmer crab rigatoni. And we would never go to Mensa without staying for the dolce (dessert) menu.
What we’re ordering: Pan di spagna – like an Italian trifle, complete with a soft sponge and torched merengue.
Mensa is located at 44 The Parade W, Kent Town, and is open Wednesdays from 3pm ’til 10:30pm and Thursday to Saturday 11:30am – 10:30pm.
Nowhere Bar
What was formerly the Olivia Hotel is now Nowhere Bar, where patrons can expect art-filled walls designed by Divide Agency, bite-sized snacks, a local wine list and a community spot on Hutt Street. The bar, named after a Talking Heads hit, has a welcoming and 80s feel with its bright coloured wallpaper and crayon-painted walls.
What we’re ordering: east side gin sour to sip and olives and foccacia to share.
Nowhere Bar is located at 170 Hutt Street, Adelaide, and is open on Thursday and Friday from 4pm until 12am, then Saturday and Sunday from 12pm until 12am.
Pinco italo
This year saw the humble sando outlast the burger trend, at least in the heart of the city where Pinco Deli co-founders Saba Maghsoudi and Elijah Makris opened their third Pinco location in Exchange Place. Saba and Elijah launched the first Pinco Deli on Glen-Osmond Road in 2022 and were behind burger joint Jumbo Smash, which opened in the same location as Pinco Italo in Exchange Place last year before going back to their sandwich roots. Beyond the sando lineup, the menu features Italian staples like a baked alla vodka pasta topped with fresh stracciatella and a choice of crispy eggplant parmigiano or chicken cotoletta in brown butter topped with salty capers.
What we’re ordering: pappardelle doused in ragu bianco with basil and fennel.
Pinco Italo is open at 50 Exchange Place in Adelaide’s CBD, Monday–Friday for lunch, Thursday–Saturday for dinner.
Shmochi
The Shibui team, best known for their food truck that serves quirky desserts and the viral mochi donut, opened a store in St Peters in May, so you can get your sugar fix all year round. They offer ice cream flavours dedicated to the team’s nostalgic memories, like ube cookies and cream, which is lilac with purple biscuit chunks spread throughout. Other flavours include Earl Grey and strawberry, which tastes like tea in ice cream form.There’s also a durian birthday cake flavour, based on the smelly tropical king of fruits.
What we’re ordering: strawberry matcha ice cream and mochi donuts
Shmochi is open from Wednesday to Sunday from 12pm until 10pm. It’s located at 199 Payneham Road, St Peters.
Septimus
Septimus owner Ian Coker is a collector and his east end venue highlights just that, with high-fidelity sounds, rare wines from his cellar and curated cheese pairings to go with each drop. Septimus – Latin for ‘seventh born’ – has a “seven cheese and wine pairing” as a core item on the menu. There is also a range of South Australian and French wines by the glass or bottle along with light snacks like olives, nuts and bread ready to order.
What we’re ordering: a glass of Rieslingfrieak No. 7 – a dessert wine. Sweet from the very first sip.
Septimus House of Cheese and Wine is located at 220 Grenfell Street and open Mondays and Tuesdays from 4pm ’til 9pm, Wednesdays to Thursday 4pm ’til 11pm. It’s open FridayS from 3pm ’til 1am and Saturdays from 2pm ’til 1am.
Tarantino’s
The New York Italian restaurant showcasing pastas, steaks and more took over the former House of George spot in July. Since then, the 70s-style eatery by the Big Easy Group has become a go-to Instagrammable spot in the city’s east end. Named for the director Quentin Tarantino, this venue hopes to marry the two other Big Easy concepts, the French bistro La Louisiane and pizzeria and pasta bar Anchovy Bandit, into one.
What we’re ordering: cassarecce pasta: with pork and fennel sausage, nduja, cavolo nero, parmigiano – why mess with a classic.
Tarantino’s is located at 30 Vardon Avenue, Adelaide, and is open from Wednesday until Sunday from 5pm until late.
Yakisan
Yakisan is a Japanese restaurant with a focus on fire and raw fish by Adam Liston and Nate Scutter, chefs known for Adelaide rooftop SORA and Leigh Street favourite Shōbōsho. The name translates to Mr Grill, and Liston believed in it so much, he tattooed ‘Yakisan’ on his forehead. Yakisan is located on the second floor of 88 O’Connell – North Adelaide’s newest apartment tower.
What we’re ordering: spit roast honey soy chicken
Yakisan is located at 88 O’Connell Street, North Adelaide, and is open Mondays and Wendesdays for dinner from 5pm and Thursdays to Sundays for lunch 12pm – 2pm and dinner from 5pm.
Yuko dō
If you, like most of Adelaide, have a Japanese-inspired brunch craving, look no further than Yuku dō. The Hindley Street spot opened in March, and owner Anjelin Lim said Japanese food was all about quality ingredients, so you can expect that in spades. Find sandos with fillings like pork katsu, egg and strawberries and cream, along with other traditional Japanese menu items like onigiri.
What we’re ordering: The tonkatsu (pork) sando
Yuku dō is located at 252 Hindley Street, Adelaide and is open from Monday to Friday from 7am until 3pm, then Saturday and Sunday from 8:30am until 3pm.
