Artisan In Adelaide

Anna King Shahab Wines And Dines South Australian-style.

South Australia may be famous for its multiple wine regions, but there are plenty of epicurean delights around its capital, Adelaide.

It has a population similar to Auckland’s but, happily for visitors and residents, Adelaide has a fraction of the traffic. It’s a breezy 15-minute ride from the airport to the city centre, where my first stop is Central Market.

For a century and a half, this permanent undercover market has been packed with purveyors of the best kind, with a focus on local produce and artisan products. Among the gems are charcuterie at Luigi’s, boutique gin from Kangaroo Island, smoked almonds (this region is the biggest almond grower in Australia), ‘roo sausies, camel hump (no, I didn’t), indigenous herbs and seaweeds.

Native ingredients are also high on the agenda at some of the city’s top restaurants. Chef and owner of Restaurant Orana, Jock Zonfrillo established The Orana Foundation, partnering with remote indigenous communities to record and catalogue food traditions. The menu at Orana offers an insight into the nuanced ways indigenous cooks have used native ingredients for thousands of years.