Food & Wine USA - (05)May 2020

MAY 2020 93

be integral to the rejuvenation of those

communities.

South Australia’s outstanding food

and drink scene has much to do with

the state’s appeal. In 2019, for the first

time, an Adelaide restaurant took the

Restaurant of the Year title at the presti-

gious national Good Food Guide Awards.

Exciting new wine bars, cafés, and res-

taurants are popping up throughout the

city. And the wine regions surrounding Adelaide—all of them

within easy driving distance—are at the forefront of exciting

changes in the Australian wine industry.

Over the past few years, two restaurants have become defining

cultural touchstones for the excitement surrounding Adelaide’s

dining scene. Restaurant Orana (restaurantorana.com), which

took home that Restaurant of the Year accolade, represents the

city’s highest culinary aspirations. In a small dining room up a

staircase near the center of the city, chef Jock Zonfrillo works

almost exclusively with native Australian ingredients, creat-

ing a high-concept tasting menu built around dishes like silky

macadamia milk swirled with oil made from native thyme, or

soup made from crocodile and Australian botanicals.

Africola (africola.com.au), on the northern edge of the city

center, has a kind of gonzo casualness about it without sacrific-

ing an ounce of quality. This is a loud, fun place to eat—the best

seats in the house are at a high counter facing the open kitchen.

As the name suggests, chef Duncan Welgemoed takes inspiration

from the continent of Africa (he’s from South Africa) while also

managing to represent everything exciting about modern Aus-

tralian cooking: Sardine escabeche comes with a bright harissa,

while chicken skin is made into the world’s most craveable tea

sandwich, its schmaltzy crackle pressed between two pieces of

soft white bread and served with hot chicken drippings.

If these two restaurants have led the way, many ambitious

young restaurateurs and bar owners have followed. At the rela-

tively new Leigh Street Wine Room (leighstreetwineroom.com),

the sign out front still advertises the previous occupant: a dry

cleaner. The long, thin room has a distinctly European feel—

seated at its dappled gray bar, sipping a pét-nat from France’s

Jura region beside a couple of guys speaking French, you’ll barely

believe you’re in Adelaide and not Paris. A few blocks away in

a basement, Hellbound (hellboundwinebar.com) is a wine

bar with a grungier, more late-night vibe and a fantastically

ambitious list that covers everything from sherry

to a selection of magnums from local winemakers.

On the wine front, the regions surrounding Ade-

laide are known primarily for the best in old-school

Australian winemaking and, on the other end of the

spectrum, the country’s wildest and funkiest natural

wines. The grand, historic Penfolds Magill Estate

opposite: Views of

the vines from The

Louise clockwise:

Buffalo milk curd

with honeycomb

and the cozy ban-

quette at Leigh

Street Wine Room;

a mural at Adelaide

Central Market

PHOTOGRAPHY (FROM TOP): LEWIS POTTER (2), SOUTH AUSTRALIAN TOURISM COMMISSION

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