The Best Cafes in Adelaide City

Occupying an iconic corner in Adelaide’s East End, Exchange Coffee has long been at the front of the pack in the city’s specialty coffee scene. Come for Market Lane coffee brewed every which way, produce-driven brunch dishes and a signature sandwich worthy of its cult status.

A little corner of France in the East End. Hey Jupiter has been throwing down champagne breakfasts and Bloody Marys for more than a decade.

Get hand-held Japanese staples like tuna onigiri, pork katsu sandos and house-blended matcha make for delicious grab-and-go options without compromising on quality.

Pop by the cafe that gained more than half a million social media followers for prosciutto and mozzarella sangas, cinnamon scrolls – baked fresh every 30 minutes – and coffee.

One of the standard-setters for Adelaide’s specialty coffee scene lives in a spacious warehouse serving photogenic breakfasts to go with your single-origin brews.

One of Adelaide’s buzziest cafes holds a lush garden and a shipping-container-turned-eatery. When the weather’s fine, it's hard to beat a spritz on the deck.

Where the Mediterranean meets the Middle East. Starters hew towards the Middle East, while the wood oven in the corner delivers pizzas and house-made pita bread.

A short gallop from Adelaide Central Market, this colourful venue does food all day, roasts coffee on-site and seats 100 patrons in comfortable retro-Danish style.

Coffee Branch helped kickstart the city’s modern cafe scene and is still going strong. No slow food, long lunches or fancy brewing gear here. Just great coffee and a straight-shooting menu geared towards takeaway.

Pastries from Italy and beyond, made fresh every morning. The sfogliatelle – a strudel-like Italian number – is unmissable, equal only to the house croissant.

At this Hutt Street patisserie, you'll find miso cookies, plum and rose Danishes and chai blondies. Plus, there's quiche with freshly-foraged porcini mushrooms, flourless brownies and whisky-and-almond knots.

This cafe in the former Paddy's Lantern site opened in October 2020. The interior’s had a refit and a new kitchen installed, but the trusty Synesso espresso machine that served Paddy’s so well for over a decade remains. Come for the “barista’s breakfast” (a potent coffee trio); handmade dumplings; a croissant with soft-shell crab and scrambled eggs; and halal bao buns with “beef bacon” and egg.

Callum Dinnison lives just a two-minute drive from his cafe, Mister Pigeon. That's probably for the best, because many of his possessions have ended up at Mister Pigeon. To furnish the cafe, Dinnison pilfered his own place. No wonder it feels so homey. The end result is a community-focused cafe with comfy couches, a book exchange and excellent toasties. It's a relaxed spot that feels miles away from its inner-city surrounds.

Expect moussaka pies, baklava coffees and spanakopita sandwiches from this family-run cafe.