Adelaide has been described as one of the fastest rising and ‘smartest’ cities in the world, with an emerging presence on the global radar to further Australia as a great and diverse country to visit. There’s something about the wide open spaces being only a stone’s throw from the city, or the fact that you’re in the centre of the country’s best produce, that places Adelaide far outside of the sleepy ‘city of churches’ box it was once stuffed into, back when interest in the area was nowhere near as high as it is now.
I was excited to step foot in Adelaide for the first time in my life, happily skipping the tight check-in process at Sydney Airport thanks to TigerAir’s recent introduction of the infinitely convenient web check-in. After a smooth, timely flight down on TigerAir, I quickly navigated through the simple Adelaide domestic airport to head along to my hotel. I was to stay at the beautiful new Ibis Adelaide which was a big part of the reason I was down there. The grand opening was taking place that night, an appropriately massive celebration to usher in the $70 million build and the first newly built ibis in Australia in 7 years. For the next two days I was to bunker down in the effectively trendy hotel, in one of it’s 311 stylish guest rooms, and go on a bit of an adventure around Adelaide with a small group of journalists. The central location of ibis Adelaide is perfect, even more so when you realise that it is right next door to a Haigh’s Chocolate store and one of the city’s best malls.
Stop 1: Lunch at Borsa Pasta Cucina
Our first lunch was to be at relative newcomer Borsa Pasta Cucina, a traditional pasta restaurant standing in Adelaide’s original stock exchange district and a rather relaxed one at that. There’s an old-style atmosphere about this place, with the exposed ceilings and simple decor. The brunt of focus is, rightfully, on hand-made pasta here and the chefs excel here.
A great amount of plates arrive at the table all at once, covering the table with the many distinctive aromas of various pasta dishes. At one side of the table you had massive hand-made gnocchi and delicious pappardelle with braised Berkshire pork, sitting in between antipasti and bread – which is baked on site. On the other side there’s the gargantuan pieces of Agnolotti which are stuffed full of pumpkin, ricotta, pinenuts and sage butter, the highlight for many of us amongst several other varieties of pasta.
http://www.borsapastacucina.com/
Stop 2: Ibis Adelaide and Emma Louise recording session
With one of the many elements of Ibis Adelaide focused on supporting and facilitating culture, the hotel and it’s newly formed ‘Paint it Red’ campaign have warmed up to the Australian live music scene. A temporary pop-up studio took over one of the retail spaces of hotel, allowing musicians to pop in and record some sessions for use in the campaign. We attended a private session with the much adored Emma Lousie who sang through acoustic versions of tracks such as “Boy” and “Jungle”, laying down those super smooth vocals so the hotel could include the session on their ‘share tapes’.
The ‘share tapes’ were plastic cards designed in the style of a cassette with a QR code, with each guest in the hotel receiving one. Guests simply scanned their QR code and could stream the sessions (Adelaide locals Oisima and Selah:Livealso took part).
The massive red-carpet launch party took place following the recording session, with local celebrities, bands, and even the premier flowing into the beautiful bar area of the hotel. Oisima, Emma Lousie, and Selah:Live all took to the small set-up stage to the side of the bar to spice up the atmosphere a bit.
http://accorhotels.com.au/hotel/ibis-adelaide
Stop 3: Breakfast at Pranzo Restaurant
Our second day in Adelaide began with breakfast at another modern Italian recommendation, benefiting from the locally sourced produce all Adelaide eateries seem to offer. Therein lies one of the best things about Adelaide’s dining scene: most of the country’s best produce is right on the doorstep for all of these places. But it takes a great Chef to know how to turn all of that quality into spectacular dishes, and the take on straight-forward quick breakfasts here is certainly something to celebrate.
Stop 4: Adelaide Central Markets
I asked a few locals for recommendations a week before I was to visit, and every single person mentioned this straight away. The Adelaide Central Markets seems to be the heart of the city; the quintessential place to visit for those looking for a true showing of just why locals are so proud when they talk of South Australia’s acclaimed produce.
We head into the markets half expecting uncontrolled chaos as people rush between stalls to get their produce and get out of there; we are met with a completely different scene. As is the case on the street of Adelaide, everyone seems to be almost disconcertingly (for a Sydney boy) relaxed and easy going. It seems everyone wants to just relax here and spend the entire day trying to immense amount of food on display.
We meet up with Mark Gleeson, a former chef who co-owns and operates Providore, one of the essential stalls in the markets. There’s a nice range of gourmet produce here, from hand made chocolates and pasta to pies and quiches. We take a cup of gooey thick chocolate from the chocolate fountain which is set up at the stall and follow Gleeson as he takes us on a tour of the markets.
Explaining away the long family history of some of these stalls, Mark paints a picture of the Adelaide institution which is necessary viewing for someone looking to gain a complete understanding of just why Adelaide locals are always so satisfied when it comes to food and drink. Everything from Kazakh to Korean food – all delicately made – can be found here, as well as fresh fruit and two MASSIVE cheese stalls side-by-side, each with selections of local, interstate and imported cheeses as well as dips and antipasto.
One of the most iconic spaces here is a pizza bar called Lucias which has expanded into an institution in itself. Being one of the first to be a part of the Adelaide Central Markets, the brand has expanded to Lucia’s Fine Foods, offering a large range of gourmet foods, coffees, cheese, spreads, packaged pastas, and their highly tempting quiches.
A few hours here is nowhere near enough, with me wishing my appetite was a bit richer so I could try the head-spinning amount of fine produce here. Gleeson regularly leads people through these tours and explains everything in a very engaging way, he even mentioned special food challenges they host around the markets on occasion.
http://www.centralmarkettour.com.au/
http://www.adelaidecentralmarket.com.au/
Stop 5: McLaren Vale
Our longest and most anticipated stop of the trip was just a 40 minute drive outside of the city, courtesy of our tour guides for the day – the good folk from Wine Diva Tours. This is a big, expansive wine region with some of Adelaide’s youngest and trendiest growers, all of whom are doing some really interesting and innovative things within one of the country’s most well-known and well-loved wine destinations.
Multiple stops were planned for this, attempting to give us a nice scope of McLaren Vale is about, although it’s near impossible to truly explore this picturesque slice of wine heaven in just a few hours.
We were to first stop off the lunch The Salopian Inn, a cellar door and restaurant which also happens to boast a stunning selection of Gins (over 160 types) as well as some of Adelaide’s best Asian inspired cuisine. While Italian was a big presence on my two day adventure, it was nice to venture over to another entirely different cuisine. Chef Karena Armstrong has done a spectacular job here, offering up some of the largest (and juiciest) pork buns I’ve ever had my hands on, putting together a contemporary take on a Vietnamese pancake (with pumpkin and tofu) which I don’t think I’ll be forgetting anytime soon, and delivering the equally memorable blue swimmer crab and prawn dumplings.
Barrels and barrels of wine (mostly red) characterised our second visit, a stop off to the cosy Longwood Wines. Owner Paul Christiansen was on hand to greet us and take us through a series of barrel tastings, previewing young wines by taking us through a massive room with barrels upon barrels (upon barrels) with some of the best red wine I’ve ever had. The fruit does the talking here, and it’s all deliciously fresh as we slowly make our way through an alarming amount of wine. Just when we though we had reached our wine quota for the day, Phil brought out more bottles, introducing us to even finer wines and some moreish cheese to match.
What, more wine? We jumped in a mini bus and took the short drive to the beautiful Primo Estate Wines to try wines from their iconic Joseph Label. The quality here is outstanding, with the stunning Italian courtyard and design of the cellar door adding greatly to our relaxed wine tasting experience. The dedication to a reputable legacy and rich family tradition pervades everything they do here, and whether it’s in the wines or their award-winning olive oils, you can easily tell why this cellar door is high on the lists for anyone visiting McLaren Vale.
https://www.primoestate.com.au/
Stop 6: Dinner at Rigoni’s Bistro
When on a whirlwind adventure of Adelaide one needs a bigger appetite than usual. We’re talking about one of the best dining scenes in Australia here, so there’s really no time to waste when it comes to testing your limits. Our dinner was at the stylish Rigoni’s Bistro, continuing our venture into the Italian side of Adelaide’s foodie scene. Some of the city’s best loved Italian cuisine can be found here, with the venue standing proud since 1979. Whether it’s chestnut gnocchi with confit duck, Coffin Bay oysters served natural, lamb and smoked mozzarella lasagna, or chocolate fondant with ruby grapefruit gingerbread and fairy floss, it’s quite easy to tell that years and years of being one of the most acclaim Italian eateries in Adelaide has led to a perfectly refined and diverse menu.
Stop 7: Adelaide’s Peel Street small bar scene
Ok here’s something you won’t ever get in a bigger city like Melbourne or Sydney. A lot of the small bars here have the same owners, so there is little competition amongst the many distinctive themed small bars in and around Peel Street. This would be the hipster area of Adelaide, and would make for one hell of a bar crawl. Small bars are lined up next to each other or opposite each other, with a very communal vibe between them all. You could easily imagine entering Peel Street with a large group and dispersing among the many themed bars here, crawling across the small courtyard to a new one after every hour or so.
After feeling much too tired from our trip to McLaren Vale and dinner I darted in and out of some of the bars to get a feel of the scene. This is a street that used to be the more maligned side of Adelaide, full of dirty barbershops and what not. I could just imagine how shocking the change must actually be for locals, with the area now something as exciting as anything I’ve seen in Melbourne or Sydney (if not more). With Adelaide rapidly rising up people’s to-do lists, this Peel Street bar scene is an absolute must.
Chris Singh traveled to Adelaide courtesy of Accor, TigerAir, and South Australian Tourism Commission
The following prices reflect usual TigerAir fares from major Australian cities to Adelaide:
Melbourne – Adelaide – fares from $45
Sydney – Adelaide – fares from $65 each way
Brisbane – Adelaide – fares from $89 each way
Book your flight to Adelaide now by clicking HERE.
This article was originally printed in September 2014. All information was correct at the time of printing.
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