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The Best of Adelaide’s Laneway Bars and Restaurants
Adelaide's best eats and sips aren't always on the main strips.
Adelaide doesn’t give up its best places easily. The restaurants worth talking about, the bars you’ll still be thinking about a week later — they’re mostly down laneways, behind unmarked doors, at the bottom of staircases you’d never descend without a tip-off. From the West End to theEast, here’s the best of what’s down those small but mighty streets.
In This Guide:
Best of Adelaide’s Laneway Bars and Restaurants: Leigh Street
Shōbōsho
Fire-led and Japanese-inspired, Shōbōsho is the kind of restaurant that earns its reputation every single service. The robata grill does extraordinary things to everything that passes over it — and if you haven’t discovered Shō Yakitori yet, now’s the time. Tucked at the entrance, it’s a more intimate proposition: a glowing hibachi grill, binchōtan smoke, skewers brushed with tare and served at their peak alongside raw snacks and dumplings from the main kitchen.
17 Leigh Street, Adelaide
Fugazzi Bar & Dining Room
The brainchild of MasterChef alumni Laura and Max Sharrad, Fugazzi Bar & Dining Room brings serious New York-Italian energy to Leigh Street — marble bar, velvet booths, brass accents and a menu that swings confidently between nostalgia and refinement. The lasagne pizza has become something of a cult dish, while the blue swimmer crab taglierini and the tiramisu (dessert or cocktail) are the reasons people rebook.
27 Leigh Street, Adelaide
Pink Moon Saloon
Easy to miss from the street — Pink Moon Saloon is the tiny timber A-frame nestled between its neighbours. Inside, the space opens into three distinct areas: a courtyard thick with greenery, cosy booth seating and a compact kitchen turning out wood-fired small plates. The drinks list leans into gin and natural wine, and the cocktails are better than they have any right to be in a bar this small.
21 Leigh Street, Adelaide
Leigh Street Wine Room
Leigh Street Wine Room is housed in a former dry cleaner’s — the original shopfront signage still glows outside, which is either ironic or charming depending on your mood — the interior is all sweeping archways, terrazzo floors and a wall stacked with around 400 bottles of minimal-intervention wine. The list spans Australian, French and Italian drops, with a particularly strong showing from the Adelaide Hills.
9 Leigh Street, Adelaide
OMADA
Simon Kardachi and chef Andy Ferrara’s Greek-inspired newcomer, OMADA Bar & Grill, arrived in early 2026 with a cobalt blue door and outdoor dining spilling onto Leigh Street. Inside, the cooking reimagines Greek flavours through South Australian produce — whole suckling pig carved tableside, charred seafood, house-made loukaniko and a filthy feta martini that deserves its own mention.
46 Currie Street, Adelaide
Udaberri Pintxos Y Vino
Adelaide’s answer to a Basque bar — Udaberri is animated, colourful and very easy to spend several hours in. The pintxos menu is the draw, with rotating small bites that pair well with the Spanish and European wine and cocktail list. When the weather plays nice, the laneway seating makes it one of the better places to watch a Leigh Street evening unfold.
11-13, Leigh Street, Adelaide
Leigh Street Luggage
The former travel goods store was transformed into a Mediterranean-inspired wine and cocktail bar — Leigh Street Luggage — with vintage luggage, old photographs and travel memorabilia woven through the fit-out as a nod to the business that came before. The front bar is unhurried and warm. Slide through the door at the back and you’ll find Never Mind — a red-lit, exposed brick cocktail den that operates like a completely different venue.
22A Leigh Street, Adelaide
Best of Adelaide’s Laneway Bars and Restaurants: Peel Street
Peel St Restaurant
Peel St Restaurant helped put Adelaide’s laneway dining scene on the map. The menu lives on a giant blackboard and changes regularly, drawing on Middle Eastern and Asian influences to produce food that feels simultaneously adventurous and completely approachable. The room is unfussy and communal, the portions are generous, and the grilled focaccia with house butter remains one of the great simple pleasures of Adelaide dining.
9 Peel Street, Adelaide
Maybe Mae
The entrance to Maybe Mae is easy to miss — deliberately so. Downstairs, a sophisticated subterranean cocktail bar unfolds in a space that manages to feel both considered and effortless. The cocktail list is the main event: thoughtfully constructed, seasonally influenced and executed with real precision.
15 Peel Street, Adelaide
Bread & Bone
The wood grill runs the show at Bread & Bone, and everything on the menu knows it. The burgers have earned their reputation, but the small plates are worth equal attention — and the no-reservations, pull-up-a-seat energy suits Peel Street perfectly.
15 Peel Street, Adelaide
Clever Little Tailor
A serving hatch opens directly onto the laneway, which tells you everything you need to know about the vibe at Clever Little Tailor. Inside, the focus falls on malt whisky, craft beer and a rotating cocktail list that skews classic. It’s been part of the Peel Street fabric for years, and it earns its place every time.
19 Peel Street, Adelaide
Gondola Gondola
Anchoring the Hindley Street end of Peel Street with Southeast Asian food and a bar that pours Vietnamese beers and tropical cocktails alongside a wine list that keeps things interesting. The energy at Gondola Gondola is loose and fun — it’s an excellent starting point for a Peel Street evening and, more often than not, the place you find yourself circling back to before the night is done.
1 Peel Street, Adelaide
Therapy Cocktail Bar
More than a decade in, Therapy is still one of the most dependable cocktail bars in the city. The basement setting — moody lighting, velvet finishes, candlelight, booth seating — creates exactly the kind of atmosphere that makes an hour feel like twenty minutes. The menu runs to over 100 cocktails, spanning classics and house originals, with seasonal additions keeping the list fresh.
2 Peel Street, Adelaide
Best of Adelaide’s Laneway Bars and Restaurants: Ebenezer Place & Vardon Avenue
Hey Jupiter
A little pocket of Paris tucked into the corner of Ebenezer Place. The menu at Hey Jupiter moves through the day with confidence — strong coffee and croissants in the morning, oysters and croque monsieur at lunch, steak frites and a wine-forward list come evening. The beef cheek bourguignonne is the dish worth building a visit around. Grab a curbside table, watch the laneway and take your time.
11 Ebenezer Place, Adelaide
The Laneway Social
The Belgian Beer Cafe is out, and The Laneway Social is in — a lively new East End pub bringing fresh energy to Ebenezer Place. Exposed brick, cosy booths and a comfortably worn-in feel set the scene, but it’s the menu that really overdelivers. Wagyu steak baguettes, fresh seafood spaghetti, and a seriously good bone-in schnitzel — it’s classic pub fare, just done with a little more intent. Behind the bar, it’s all local beers, South Australian wines, and cocktails built for a good time.
27-29 Ebenezer Place, Adelaide
Mr Goodbar
Up a flight of stairs, above the noise of the street, Mr Goodbar occupies the loft of Adelaide’s historic East End Produce Market building. The fit-out — leather booths, low timber ceilings, low lighting — does a lot of the work before the drinks even arrive. A genuinely atmospheric bar that rewards the effort of finding it.
12 Union Street, Adelaide
Mother Vine
The East End’s most committed small wine bar, Mother Wine, has a list running to over 350 bottles and plenty available by the glass or in 50ml tasting pours for those who want to explore rather than commit. The food is simple, European-leaning and well-judged — designed to accompany wine rather than compete with it. The staff know their stuff, and the exposed brick room is exactly as inviting as it sounds.
22–26 Vardon Avenue, Adelaide
NOLA
New Orleans landed on Vardon Avenue in NOLA, and it suits Adelaide surprisingly well. The food leans Creole and Cajun — the fried chicken has its devotees — and the drinks list gives serious attention to American whiskey and craft beer alongside a cocktail menu that leans into the theme without overdoing it. It’s loud, warm and reliably good fun. Go on a weeknight if you want a table. Go on the weekend if you want atmosphere.
28 Vardon Avenue, Adelaide
Now that you know where Adelaide’s laneways are hiding their best, there’s plenty more to explore. Our guide to the best restaurants in Adelaide’s East End picks up where this one leaves off, and the best wine bars in Adelaide is essential reading for anyone who left the laneways wanting more.
