10 places to eat on Yorke Peninsula
Explore stretches of coastline and national parks, or venture to Yorke’s seaside towns to truly experience what country hospitality means.
Palate 2 Palette
The beautiful seaside town of Port Broughton is home to this award-winning restaurant covering all palates with an eclectic menu focused on Australian-Asian fusion. Local seafood, Asian curries and Thai-style kangaroo are heroes, alongside traditional house-made lasagne and pasta dishes. For sharing, delicious indecision might set in when ordering from the 15 tapas options. And the daily specials board offers more Yorke Peninsula flavours. Cool in summer and warmed by a cosy wood fire in winter, it’s a super friendly space where Grant and Helen Rowlands treat their guests like family and friends. Group celebrations are welcome.
Bond Store
A paddle of beers or gins with matching aromatics and mixers is already a very good thing. Here you have the added advantage of the microbrewery and distillery in the background of a cracker restaurant. Choose bar-style snacks or a beautiful meal to go with the tastings and ongoing drink choices. It’s popular because the Bond Store team has made it all-at-once fun and interesting on the food and drink spectrum. The constantly changing sharing menu is largely driven by the kitchen’s “Parrilla” charcoal grill. Seafood and steak to the fore, with some Asian fusion in the mix.
Barley Stacks Wines
There are a number of ways to traverse the Yorke Peninsula and several roads lead to this winery, which is a less common style of outing in this region. The family friendly cellar door is open every day for tasting wines and casual dining. Locally crafted beers, seltzers and spirits also are available, as is a good range of pizzas and platters. There is a dedicated corner for the kids to play, indoor and outdoor games and pets are welcome. Check the website for events featuring a range of interests including music, arts, and cooking classes for pizza lovers.
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The Smelter
Success is so evident here – for good reason. Things have steadily progressed from the great deli and takeaway in 2017 to the even-better Smelter Cafe. Forward moves are continuing with a pizzeria added in the past year. Best known for good, hearty and sometimes super healthy breakfasts and brunches, there are also a few decadent savoury meals and pancake stacks in the mix. Excellent SA-roasted coffee, cosy vibes and country hospitality are part of the formula. It’s open early, and over weekends. Try a Smelter wagyu steak sandwich and a nitro coffee neat over ice, or go down memory lane and make it a spider.
Port Hughes Tavern
This is so much more than a country tavern. The team seems dedicated to drawing people in for extra fun. Along with nightly food and drink specials, happy hours and theme nights abound, plus regular house lottos and a retro meat tray draw on Fridays. Trivia nights happen weekly. When the weather is fine, Sunday music sessions draw crowds, as do the occasional late-night live music gigs. The menu is pub-style, or order a “cook yourself” stone grill where your choice of meat arrives on a 400C grill plate to be finished as you like.
Cafe Capella’s
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While it is known locally as an Italian diner, the secret is there is something for everyone. That’s so helpful on a diverse-family holiday. Owners Matt and Kirby Carter relocated the Moonta business in 2013 to a former character-laden home with spacious outdoor areas and lawns. All tastes are covered by classic pasta, pizza, arancini and the like, or the kids might prefer a burger, schnitzel or fish and chips. For breakfast, from 8am, the menu is a classic morning food list swinging from bruschetta and eggs Benny to smashed avo and a big, big brekkie plate. Takeaway is available for the meals that tend to travel best.
Watsacowie Brewery
A changing feast is the best way to describe this super fun Minlaton brewery where it’s a consistent line-up of different foods, entertainment and special events. While the brewery – the first of its kind on the YP – doesn’t have a dedicated kitchen, caterers and popular food trucks offer options including good grills, spuds, pizzas and donuts. Picture the scene: picnic-style dining on local moveable foods, with live music and icy cold brews. Merriment is a cert for the families who love to take part in themed activities. Check the Facebook site for the latest food-and-entertainment plans.
Taste the Yorke
Steadfast support for as much local produce as possible has made this cafe a dynamo in the district. It’s popular, particularly for all-day breakfast and brunch and for an 8am to 4pm menu of generous home-style meals, super salads and many coffees, cold drips and smoothies. Leave space for a house-made cake for dining in or to take home for later. Be sure to book a table during peak times. If you miss out, takeaway is an option and while you’re there, shop for holiday treats such as artisan sourdough, honey, oils, dukkha, coffee beans and more.
Dalrymple Hotel
A daily lunch-and-dinner pub occupying a splendid Stansbury foreshore plot has to merit a mention. The bigger news is their focus on seasonal food. Beyond the ubiquitous pub classics including a wagyu steak or burger, there is the promise of modern Australian dishes, sometimes acknowledged as “chef experiments”. The likes of anchovy toast, frickles (fried spiced pickles), maple and miso salmon, porcini and black truffle arancini, and a salted caramel and chocolate tart take centre stage. On a warm night, as the sun goes down, keep it simple over a beer with panko-crumbed fish and chips at a table outside.
Marion Bay Tavern
As tavern styles go, this is a beaut. The blended construction is loaded with interest from old jetty pylons, corrugated iron and jarrah timbers. They all promote a welcoming feel to a popular place nearing Innes National Park at the furthermost tip of the Yorke Peninsula. The menu fits the beautiful location. Relatively new management is continuing to keep in-house guests, happy campers and visitors accommodated with wood-fired pizzas, pub faves, seafood and snacks. Fish and chips or a reef and beef with an icy beer will surely go down well with these coastal views. The tavern has a bottle-shop-over-the-bar system and takeaway drinks.
This article first appeared in the 2025 issue of SALIFE Food+Wine+Travel magazine.
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