A guide to visiting Adelaide Central Market 

With more than 80 traders under one roof, nothing beats a visit to Adelaide Central Market.

Adelaide Central Market draws in more than nine million visitors per year for its mounds of fresh fruit and vegetables and endless variety of artisan produce. Located in the heart of Adelaide’s CBD, Adelaide Central Market is one of the city’s most iconic treasures; it’s also rated as one of the best fresh produce markets in Australia, and indeed, the world.

The city’s market began in 1869 and has been housed in the Adelaide Central Market building since it was constructed in 1900. Today, Adelaide Central Market encompasses more than 80 food stalls and, in addition to selling seasonal fruit and vegetables, offers fresh meat and seafood, award-winning smallgoods, artisan breads, top-quality cheeses from around the world and an array of speciality goods.

The world on a plate

Discover the tastiest pitstops in the historic building with Food Tours Australia which hosts excursions such as the Early Risers Breakfast Tour, the Discovery Tour or Market Exclusive Tour where you get to meet the suppliers and stallholders who have traded at the atmospheric market for generations. (they have stopped doing one of their tours because of Covid).

Part of the magic of Adelaide Central Market is the fact there are also cooking demonstrations by top chefs, street food snacks to sample and an interesting cross-section of foodies from near and far, making it a top spot for people watching. Favourites include Central Organic, Say Cheese, Island Pure, Pickle in the Middle, Something Wild, Con’s Fine Foods, the Mettwurst Shop and Mushroom Man. You can also enjoy coffee at a clutch of places such as The Grind @ Central and The Perfect Cup.

With the added convenience of operating four days a week, Adelaide Central Market is truly a food lover’s heaven. Best of all: you don’t have to travel to distant corners of the globe to experience a diverse range of cultures and tastes as the market offers up the world on a plate.

Food Tours Australia hosts a number of excursions.

You wanna pizza me?

Experience a bit of European food with flair at Si Sea, a specialty Portuguese/Spanish-style cafe in the northwestern corner of the market. Or recreate your Italian holiday mood board with a bowl of pasta at Lucia’s Pizza & Spaghetti Bar, the city’s oldest pizza bar. This retro-style cafe was the first to serve pizza in Adelaide back in 1957. Since then, it has become an Adelaide institution, with queues for tables not an uncommon sight on a Friday evening.

With so much on offer, the market has blown out beyond the original building, spreading east through Market Plaza, connecting with Chinatown and extending west through Market Arcade towards Victoria Square.

Chinatown alone provides a smorgasbord of diverse eateries, including Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Malaysian, Japanese and Korean cuisine, enhancing the market experience even further.

Lucia’s Pizza & Spaghetti Bar is the city’s oldest pizza bar.

Flavours to savour

The sights, smells, buzz of stallholders and excitement of shoppers at Adelaide Central Market makes a visit here something to savour. Live music on the weekends also makes the weekly shop here much more enjoyable as do the charismatic stallholders who will tempt you to try a strawberry here, a piece of cheese there.

There are also shops devoted to health foods, organic produce, herbs, spices and more, as well as Eastern European delicatessens and Asian grocers and pop-ups doing due diligence with their market research.

As well as offering foodies the opportunity to pick and choose the very best seasonal goods from farmers and artisan producers, the Adelaide Central Market is the city’s most-visited attraction and a unique way to experience the community’s climate, culture and cuisine.

To plan your visit to the market, visit the website here.

Nothing beats a visit to Adelaide Central Market.