Nine To Try: All the New Restaurants, Bars and Cafes We Got Excited About This Summer

Summer’s coming to an end, and “Mad March” is ramping up – which means absolutely everyone is out and about. If you’re looking for a place to stop and pause for a moment – with a glass of wine or a slice of pizza – we’ve got you covered.

Here – in alphabetical order – are all the openings we’ve covered over the last three months.

Andre’s Cucina & Polenta Bar Pop-Up, Adelaide

Andre’s Cucina & Polenta Bar opened in 2009, following founder Andre Ursini’s stint on the debut season of Masterchef. Many things made it an anomaly for Adelaide at the time: its focus on polenta, the fixed-price menu (almost entirely up to the chefs) and how well priced it was for how well fed you were. When it closed suddenly in 2019, people were devastated. Now it’s back at Fringe hub Gluttony for festival season.

For the pop-up’s $75-a-head set menu (“old-school prices”), Ursini is reviving some of the most popular items like the extra-textural walnut and taralli crumb crowning the beef carpaccio, studded among truffled pecorino and aged balsamic. Crisp-edged polenta chips are a classic. But there’s only one star: luscious soft polenta, topped either with braised beef ragu and parmesan, or truffled mushroom and taleggio. There’s also a new “smashed lasagne”, a slightly sacrilegiously smooshed lasagne topped with a heap of cheese.

Esmay, Hackney

After cooking all around the country – as head chef at Josh Niland’s  Saint Peter and Brisbane’s Arc Dining, then as a travelling chef with a pop-up concept, then to the Northern Rivers where she and her husband Matt Stone ran The Eltham – Alanna Sapwell-Stone’s career reaches its pinnacle with Esmay.

Blanco Horner (Restaurant Botanic, The Botanic Lodge) asked the star chef to move to Adelaide. She agreed, and Esmay opened in Adelaide’s 146-year-old Hackney Hotel.

The chef describes the menu as CWA-inspired “nanna food”. The opening menu includes Jersey curd with peaches and rose; a beautifully layered tomato and red pepper terrine served with chunks of mud crab flesh and a meat-filled crab claw, all in a pool of bright red vinegar; breaded King George whiting with saltbush garlic sauce; and venison with a “naughty” bone marrow sauce.

A seven-course set menu is available whenever the kitchen’s open. It includes emu pastrami doughnuts; oysters with finger lime and seaweed garum; the Jersey curd dish; and the perfectly picturesque crab dishes.

Falcone, North Adelaide

Falcone opened in North Adelaide on February 24 and fixed a problem we’ve been dealing with for years: it was nearly impossible to get your hands on the Barone siblings’ pizza. The pair’s Side Hustle pizzeria, which they ran from their parents’ Fleurieu backyard, was constantly selling out.

Now they’ve closed Side Hustle and opened Falcone alongside Leo Triantafyllidis. The focus is on takeaway and casual outdoor dining, with around 20 seats spilling onto the footpath.  A window into the kitchen puts the dough-stretching and firing on display for waiting guests.

Pizzas include margherita, salamino, capricciosa and prosciutto pizzas leading the charge alongside white-base options like quattro formaggi and patate. The Falcone (topped with garlic butter and marinated prawns) is a worthy signature. There are rotating weekly specials, including a carbonara-inspired number with fresh mozzarella and crispy pancetta on a creamy parmesan and egg base, which is already a favourite among the team.

Idle Hands, Adelaide

When the world shut down in 2020, former Loc manager Lewis McDonald, like many of us, got really into sourdough. Now that Loc’s closed he’s doubling down on sourdough with a new bricks-and-mortar cafe called Idle Hands. Alongside his sister Ella, he’s cooking up loaves, sourdough cardamom buns, custard tarts, and Brid-inspired dark chocolate rye cookies. Ella is also on the tools baking cakes.

Lewis is a purist. You won’t find any alternative milks, matcha and chocolate-dusted cappuccinos. But if you wait a few weeks for the liquor licence to come through, you’ll soon find a Friday evening wine bar service with local drops and a light edit of wine bar snacks.

Jauma, Lenswood

James and Sophie Erskine’s Adelaide Hills property is home to an organic orchard, vineyard, winery and, as of December 19, a new cellar door.

The cellar door is charming and wholesome. What was once an old worker’s cottage is now a rustic haunt with space for 30 visitors. The couple renovated it themselves with help from a carpenter, recycling many items from the farm, including a large barn door thought to date back to the days when the property was owned by geologist and Antarctic explorer Douglas Mawson.

Seated tastings are $20 per person and include six wines, which could be grenache grown in McLaren Flat, chenin blanc from Blewitt Springs or an unusual blend like arneis, grenache and chenin. Everything is farmed organically and vinified with zero added sulphur (still a rarity in Australia) and no filtration.

Jenny’s Bakery, Keswick

Jenny’s Bakery isn’t exactly new, but its influence built to a fever pitch in 2025. Its Keswick location opened in the old Sylvia’s Deli site this November to much acclaim. It’s a step up in every way with a sleek Euro-inspired Georgie Shepherd design, a 75-person capacity, and room to dine in.

The menu features all the Jenny’s classics: buttery pistachio croissants, Nutella bomboloni, crème brûlée doughnuts, flaky fruit pastries, chewy cookies, meat pies, cakes, and generously layered focaccia sandwiches and subs. New to the line-up are moreish cookie and soft serve combos.

Jewels of Thought, Adelaide

What is Jewels of Thought? A cafe? A record store? A wine bar? In truth, it’s all three. The new east-end venture from DJ and musician Anthony Wendt – who releases music as Oisima – pulls off what similar businesses struggle to create: a space that effortlessly marries retail and hospitality.

Wendt says he’s stocking more than 2000 new and preloved records spanning genres like Balearic, psychedelia, and reggae, along with jazz and soul. The space will host artist appearances, album launches, listening parties, live gigs, and “tiny desk” concerts (inspired by the NPR series).

The coffee service runs until close and makes use of an Australian-Swiss-designed Nucleus Paragon pour-over stand, renowned for producing complex, aromatic filter coffee. On the food front, there are madeleines and canelés from Sanshi as well as cruffins and pastries from Fold. Tieu’s mum has also been on the tools and is serving a range of homemade Vietnamese treats. Wine from SA-made darlings like Jauma, The Other Right, Lucy Margaux, BK Wines and Scintilla Wines and small batch beers are also on offer until late. 

Mercato, North Adelaide

Mercato’s new $300-million, 850-square-metre digs have a definite wow-factor. With its soaring ceilings, abundance of terrazzo and marble, and banners bearing milestones of the business’s 53-year history in Adelaide – it feels like a grand food hall of yesteryear and a massive step up for those who knew the Italian institution’s Campbelltown superstore, which closed in 2024 after two decades. 

In addition to Mercato’s beloved retail offering of Italian pantry staples, there’s a dedicated dining area, a seafood butchery, and an impressive wine store selling “arguably the biggest range of Italian wines in Adelaide”.

Under the Sun, McLaren Vale

Three mates. Three wine labels. One barn. Meet Under the Sun, a new cellar door and three-way collaboration between artisanal wine darlings – Brash Higgins, Golden Child and Poppelvej – which recently opened in a converted Aldinga barn. The three wine labels share the same values when it comes to winemaking: minimal intervention with respect for the terroir. The three winemakers are often on-site to chat through their drops. There’s room for 20 indoors and an additional 40 seats in the courtyard.

Additional reporting by Stacey Caruso, Katie Spain, Emily Taliangis and Tomas Telegramma.