March 2024: Five Venues To Know
A few more places to add to your food and booze bucket-list...
Gelato Messina
Image via @gelatomessina
It’s taken 22 years for Nick Palumbo to bring his cult-favourite gelato back home to Adelaide via a permanent brick-and-mortar, but we’re so glad the wait is finally over. Gelato Messina opened on The Parade West, Kent Town, with a lot of fanfare, but you should believe the hype. These scoops are seriously good. Choose your favourite flavours from a selection of 40 gelatos (35 traditional flavours, five rotating weekly specials) and indulge in Messina’s creamy goodness. Classic picks include white chocolate hazelnut, hokey pokey and boysenberry, but we dare you to taste some of the more experimental flavours (the gelato gurus have previously served a cream cheese and caramel gelato smashed with white chocolate potato chips and caramel sauce, aptly titled ‘So Wrong It’s Right’).
Yes Please: One scoop of pistachio praline, please!
Where: 44 The Parade West, Kent Town.
Follow: @gelatomessina
El Camino
Image via @el_camino_bar
From Jon Di Pinto (Cry Baby, Shotgun Willie’s) comes El Camino, the Hahndorf-based Tex Mex taco and tequila bar. This venue opened in February last year, so if you haven’t made the trek up the hill to taste its fresh flavours, we strongly suggest you do so to mark its first birthday. Tucked out the back of Walden’s General Store, the sandstone-coloured and cacti-decorated watering hole slings three tacos for $15, chipotle butter-covered corn and a smashing side of nachos. Wash down your feed with a crushed margarita (a speciality of the venue) and bask in the desert vibes. Head online to check out the venue’s local gig guide, too.
Yes Please: The beef taco: grilled steak cooked in a guajillo pepper sauce with pico de gallo and drizzled in a salsa of your spice preference.
Where: 84 Mount Barker Road, Hahndorf.
Follow: @el_camino_bar
Work Café
Image via @visual_domain
This one’s for the city rats with a 9-to-5 gig. Work Café is the latest Pirie Street hotspot serving caffeine and croissants to its CBD locale. Grab a cup of joe on your way to the office (the café pours beans from Adelaide roasters, Rio Coffee) or pop past for a grab-and-go feed. The coffee is unpretentious but seriously good, as is the food (we’ve got our eye on the chicken cotoletta focaccia, slathered in Nonna’s sugo and topped with mozzarella, rocket, Spanish onion, parmesan and green oil). If you’re off to a slower start that day (we’re jealous), enjoy lazily dining in with a healthy serving of eggs on toast your way or a sausage and egg muffin.
Yes Please: Can’t go past that chicken cotoletta.
Where: 100 Pirie Street, Adelaide.
Follow: @visual_domain
Homeboy
Image via @homeboy.co
You’ve likely seen this Hahndorf hole in the wall on TikTok. But this cute café is so much more than a viral video (or several), it’s community-centric with a commitment to good hospitality. Homeboy is operated by 18-year-old Tom Oswald in collaboration with creative venues Thiele’s Shop and The Paintbox. Stop by the rustic eatery for homemade sandos (the sopressa Turkish bread sandwich with bocconcini, giardiniera, pistachio, basil, pesto, mayo and honey gets a big tick), big mugs of coffee and iced matcha before exploring the quaint German township.
Yes Please: Don’t say no to a chocolate almond croissant.
Where: 100b Mount Barker Road, Hahndorf.
Follow: @homeboy.co
Fair Seafood
Image via @fair_seafood
Fair Seafood owns the title of Australia’s only sustainable seafood retailer that’s able to provide its Central Market customers ‘100% fish-to-consumer traceability’ on all products. We love them, and so should you. This dream concept is created by SA community fishery Fair Fish and the team behind Stirling’s Angler (you know, the ethical fish ‘n’ chippery slinging dry-aged sashimi, beer battered whiting and pineapple fritters). You can expect a similar menu to the Hills hotspot, served to you at the slick-tiled, open-kitchen bar at Stall 12 in one of the freshest ‘water-to-plate’ experiences in the country. Prawn cocktails and mussel hotpots have never tasted better!
Yes Please: We can’t decide between the lobster roll or pipi clam chowder.
Where: Stall 12, Adelaide Central Market.
Follow: @fair_seafood
