15 Adelaide Hills Cafes You Can't Miss

These top Adelaide Hills cafes set the table for the region’s best local fare.

Pause a day of weaving your way through cellar doors with a lunch break at one of the many produce-driven and seasonally-inspired Adelaide Hills cafes. Proliferated with gastronomic delights, these casual eateries may be more relaxed than the region’s fine dining restaurants, but they’re certainly equal in flavour and devotion to the craft of eating well. Start your day with a good coffee and breakfast, stop for brunch, lunch or a snack and graze your way through the hills.

1. Fourth Hill Providore

As the sun rises over the charming stone cottage that is Fourth Hill Providore , breakfast begins at 7.30am with house-made baked beans, an omelette, or perhaps a toastie filled with pastrami and provolone, by 9am focaccia is being turned out, a potato and confit garlic iteration, then come 11am, lunchtime appetites are well-provided with the likes of linguini with slow-cooked ragu or orecchiette with garlic and chilli.

the stone cottage cafe at Fourth Hill Providore, Adelaide Hills — Fourth Hill Providore is housed in a charming stone cottage.

No matter the hour of the day, the Italian-inspired menu here will convince you to take a seat on a white Adirondack chair on the sun-filtered lawn and tuck in. After all, wine-tasting is best undertaken on a full stomach.

Check out the fresh bread and pastries on offer at Fourth Hill Providore.

Address: 34 Onkaparinga Valley Road, Verdun

2. Rise Artisan Bakers

Pretty little cakes arranged in formation tempt even the most casual sweet tooth here. Just try resisting a raspberry, pistachio and rose cream bun or a strawberries and cream lamington. You may as well allow your eyes to grow as big as your stomach and sit down with a Meyer lemon meringue Danish and a good coffee.

a look inside Rise Artisan Bakers cafe in Nairne — The former church was transformed into a quaint cafe now known as Rise Artisan Bakers.

All sugary temptation is forgiven in this former church and schoolhouse in Nairne . Take a loaf of fresh sourdough away with you and some provisions of jams and preserves for afternoon tea back at your place.

little cakes and pastries on display at Rise Artisan Bakers — Pair a good coffee with pretty little cakes at Rise Artisan Bakers.

Address: 54 Old Princes Highway, Nairne

3. SUSA Kitchen

The second cafe from sisters of Mount Barker’s Lady Luck (scroll down for more on that gem), SUSA is a very attractive addition to the casual diner scene. A stop-and-stare view sets the tone here for a minimal interior style that’s as slick as it is inviting. It’s not strictly vegetarian, but there’s a lot here to satisfy plant-preferring eaters, such as a burnt Brussels sprout gnocchi or fried enoki on sourdough with dukkah. Meat-eaters will relish an elevated bacon and eggs with polenta and parsley oil or a Cuban sandwich. With a well-chosen wine list and chilled ambience, Susa Kitchen is a great long luncher.

Address: 1 Aston Parade, Mount Barker

4. FRED Eatery

Half-cafe, half-homewares store, FRED is an Adelaide Hills destination for dining with a side of shopping, or the other way round if that’s how you roll.

a plate of food at FRED Eatery — FRED Eatery offers excellent fare from breakfast to lunch.

The stylish eatery serves an early breakfast, all-day brunch and great lunch options that dart from South America to Asia and Italy, such as hot and sour noodle broth, gnocchi, and a Cuban sandwich. It’s all good and can be enjoyed alongside a local wine, beer or cider. Come Friday night to book in for The Chow Chow Session from 5.30pm.

the cafe exterior of FRED Eatery in Adelaide Hills — Drop by FRED Eatery for a Cuban sandwich.

Address: 220 Mount Barker Road, Aldgate Village

5. The Organic Market and Cafe

Passionate purveyors of organic goods, this market and cafe in Stirling is your one-stop wholesome shop.

a healthy breakfast platter at The Organic Market and Café — Turn to The Organic Market and Cafe for all things vegan.

Pick up groceries from local growers, as well as pantry staples, snacks and sweets and settle in for a feelgood breakfast of avocado and peas on toast, smoothie or bircher, or order from the all-day lunch menu with the likes of bruschetta, focaccia, soups and salads. If you’re just after something small, nibble on a vegan croissant with your espresso.

a look inside The Organic Market and Café — The Organic Market and Cafe is your one-stop shop for pantry staples and snacks.

Address: 5 Druid Avenue, Stirling

6. Sazón Espresso

It’s Mexico meets the Mediterranean at this beloved coffee joint, where owners José and Oswaldo Estrella leverage their Mexican roots with their experience working in Italian restaurants. While the go-to dishes have a Central American lean, such as tacos, quesadillas and huevos rancheros, this petite cafe also spins a good burger, sandwich and pastry. Colourful and cool with coffee from Veneziano, this is a Mount Barker must for laidback lunches .

holding burger and fries on a plate with a drink at Sazón Espresso — Sazón Espresso spins a good burger.

Address: 1/24 Gawler Street, Mount Barker

7. Stirling Cellars and Patisserie

You don’t often expect to find a patisserie in a pub , but here you will. Tucked into the sleek Stirling Hotel, which is also home to a bistro, wine bar and chic accommodation, this delightful spot is open every day from 7am to service your croissant and coffee needs. Five Senses Coffee makes up the brew, while you can grab-and-go sandwiches, salads and cakes or take a seat to eat. Pick up a bottle of your favourite Adelaide Hills wine at the adjacent cellar while you wait for your coffee.

Address: 52 Mount Barker Road, Stirling

8. Kitchen 2C

The thirty years of hospitality experience amassed by co-owners Chany Park and Cheryl Wood (the two Cs) has steered this local haunt into a welcoming and laidback eatery with underlying polish. Local produce gets star billing with cheese from Udder Delights and spreads from Beerenberg Farm and you’ll find the menu wanders from Asian-style dishes to Spanish highlights and cafe usuals, each elegantly expressed on the plate. It’s a good vibe Hahndorf haunt, minus the German infusion of its neighbours.

Address: 43B Main Street, Hahndorf

9. Red Cacao

Take note chocolate lovers, this Stirling Cacao is an imperative addition to your Adelaide Hills itinerary. But be warned, self-restraint may not come easily at this artisan chocolatier with packets of truffles, ganache-lacquered treats, bars, blocks and boxes of chocolates lining the shelves.

the dining setup at Red Cacao cafe in Stirling — This Stirling Cacao is an imperative addition to your Adelaide Hills itinerary.

They’re all to take with you, but while you’re here, sit and sip a coffee accompanied by the most lavish tiramisu you’ve ever seen, house-made gateaux, waffles or just surrender to your cravings and opt for the dessert platter for two. If you’re on the savoury side of the fence, there are toasties, soups and tarts.

bread and coffee on the table at Red Cacao cafe in Stirling — Sit and sip a coffee paired with fresh bread at Red Cacao.

Address: Shop 3, 41 Mount Barker Road, Stirling

10. The Summit Cafe

This all-day cafe and function centre presides over the Adelaide Hills at 710 metres above sea level. From such a vantage point you’re treated to a sweeping lay of the land woven with grape vines and undulating valleys and meadows. Once you’re done absorbing the view, you’ll find the menu to be equally as expansive with everything from pizza to burgers and brisket to schnitzel. It’s also a great spot for an afternoon Aperol spritz.

an aerial view of The Summit Cafe, Crafers — The Summit Cafe overlooks sweeping views of the grape vines over Adelaide Hills.

Address: 266 Mount Lofty Summit Road, Crafers

11. Emma & Ivy

Sitting pretty in the quaint town of Lobethal, this converted former garage is a light and uplifting space festooned with blooms and good food. Not only will you find a cafe serving very good expressions of the classics, but there’s also beautifully selected homewares and hampers, a plant studio, and a boutique bar and cellar door. Take your time to peruse and choose something savoury, such as pesto beans or souvlaki, or for something sweeter, you can’t pass up the buttermilk banoffee pancakes.

Address: 24 Main Street, Lobethal

12. The Good Pantry

This wholefoods coffee shop is keen on an all-day breakfast and is rather fond of cake – all with a healthy lean, of course. Gluten-free and vegan cakes are whipped up onsite and served with well-made coffee. For something more substantial, The Good Pantry caters to the Gumeracha community and wine-tasting transients with brunch-ish meals of French toast, smashed avo, eggs in all guises, salads and burgers with optional (but highly recommended) hash browns.

Address: 35 Albert Street, Gumeracha

13. Charlie Boy’s Coffee

Judging by the logo and namesake of this cute Stirling spot, Charlie Boy is a very good dog. Inside, there’s a cosy fire and excellent coffee, as well as pastries and sandwiches to go or plates to sit and savour, from breakie wraps to toasties and cupcakes featuring the floppy-fringed Charlie. On Fridays, a $10 pork bahn mi is a regular hit. You might even see the Charlie Boy mobile coffee caravan doing the rounds about town serving hot cuppas to spectators of local sports at nearby netball and footy fields.

the cafe exterior of Charlie Boys in Stirling — Charlie Boys serves hot cuppas and cupcakes.

Address: 4 Mount Barker Road, Stirling

14. The Pallet Cafe

Pouring cups of local Adelaide Hills’ Husky Coffee Co, this casual Nairne spot pairs your brew with a rotating menu of breakfast to brunch to lunch eats finessed with regional produce. It’s all friendly classics here with the likes of a Rueben, eggs benny, smoked salmon bagel and eggs your way complete with all manner of upgrades.

Address: 73a Main Street, Nairne

15. Lady Luck Cafe

Sisters Maddy and Taylah are the ladies behind this bright cafe, but luck probably has little to do with the delicious delights and good coffee at Lady Luck . Instead, put it down to an astute curation of local produce and flavours for a menu with everything from warming mushroom and truffle toasties to pillowy pork dumplings and soba noodle soup. Coffee is by way of De Groot and the interiors feature a fondness for cowboy boots.

Address: 16 Walker Street, Mount Barker

Head into the city to continue your brunching tour of the region and start your day at these unmissable Adelaide cafes.

Victoria’s ‘mussel capital’ is the source of exceptional shellfish used by top chefs far and wide. Step aboard a beautifully refurbished trawler to see how these plump and juicy bivalves are sustainably cultivated.

A curtain is slowly winched from the placid, teal waters just off Portarlington , like a floating garland beside our boat. The ropes heave with blue mussels, the star attraction of our tour. But as we reach to pluck our own, it’s quickly clear they’re not alone; a mass of weird and wonderful creatures has colonised the ropes, turning them into a living tapestry. ‘Fairy’ oysters, jelly-like sea squirts, and tiny, wriggling skeleton shrimp all inhabit this underwater ecosystem.

We prize our bivalve bounty from the ropes, and minutes later the mussels arrive split on a platter. The plump orange morsels are served raw, ready to be spritzed with wedges of lemon and a lick of chilli as we gaze out over the bay. They’re briny, tender and faintly sweet. “This wasn’t originally part of the tour,” explains Connie Trathen, who doubles as the boat’s cook, deckhand and guide. “But a chef [who came onboard] wanted to taste the mussels raw first, and it’s now become one of the key features.”

A humble trawler turned Hamptons-style dreamboat

inspecting bivalve bounty from the ropes — Inspecting the bounty. (Image: Visit Victoria/Hannyn Shiggins)

It’s a crisp, calm winter’s day, and the sun is pouring down upon Valerie, a restored Huon pine workhorse that was first launched in January 1980. In a previous life she trawled the turbulent Bass Strait. These days she takes jaunts into Port Phillip Bay under the helm of Lance Wiffen, a fourth-generation Bellarine farmer, and the owner of Portarlington Mussel Tours . While Lance has been involved in the fishing industry for 30-plus years, the company’s tour boat only debuted in 2023.

holding Portarlington mussels — See how these plump and juicy bivalves are sustainably cultivated.

It took more than three years to transform the former shark trawler into a dreamy, Hamptons-esque vessel, with little expense spared. Think muted green suede banquettes, white-washed walls, Breton-striped bench cushions, hardwood tables, bouquets of homegrown dahlias, and woollen blankets sourced from Waverley Mills, Australia’s oldest working textile mill. It’s intimate, too, welcoming 12 guests at most. And yet there’s nothing pretentious about the experience – just warm, down-to-earth Aussie hospitality.

As we cruise out, we crack open a bottle of local bubbles and nibble on the most beautifully curated cheese platter, adorned with seashells and grey saltbush picked from the water’s edge that very morning. Australasian gannets soar overhead, and I’m told it’s not uncommon for guests to spot the odd seal, pod of dolphins, or even the occasional little penguin.

The sustainable secret behind Victoria’s best mussels

blue mussels off Portarlington — Blue mussels sourced just off Portarlington.

Connie and Lance both extol the virtues of mussels. They’re delicious. A lean source of protein and packed with omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin B12, iron, selenium, and zinc. They’re cooked in a flash (Connie steams our fresh harvest with cider and onion jam). And they’re also widely regarded as one of the most sustainable foods in the world.

Portarlington mussels with lemon and chilli — Mussels served with lemon and chilli.

“Aquaculture is [often] seen as destructive, so a lot of our guests are really surprised about how environmentally friendly and sustainable our industry is,” Lance says. “[Our mussels] would filter 1.4 billion litres of water a day,” he adds, explaining how mussels remove excess nitrogen and phosphorus from the water. “And through biomineralisation, we lock carbon into mussel shells.”

a hand holding a Portarlington mussel — Mussels are a sustainable food.

Despite their glowing list of accolades, these molluscs have long been seen as the oysters’ poorer cousins. “It was a really slow start,” explains Lance, who says that in the early days of his career, “you could not sell mussels in Victoria”.

But word has slowly caught on. Chefs as globally acclaimed as Attica’s Ben Shewry and even René Redzepi of Noma, Denmark, have travelled to these very waters just to try the shellfish at the source, sharing only the highest praise, and using Lance’s mussels in their restaurants.

guests sampling Portarlington mussels onboard — Sampling the goods onboard. (Image: Visit Victoria/Hannyn Shiggins)

According to Lance there’s one obvious reason why the cool depths of Portarlington outshine other locations for mussel farming. “The water quality is second to none,” he says, noting how other regions are frequently rocked by harvest closures due to poor water quality. “We grow, without a doubt, some of the best shellfish in the world.” And with Lance’s bold claims backed up by some of the industry’s greatest names, perhaps it won’t be much longer until more Aussies uncover the appeal of Portarlington’s mussels.

15 Adelaide Hills cafes you can’t miss