Your go-to guide to Adelaide’s best kid-friendly restaurants.
Dining out with kids doesn’t have to mean missing out. You’ll find incredible kid-friendly restaurants in Adelaide that will satisfy fussy little ones while also featuring refined options for adults on the menu. Here are the best places to start.
The Moseley Igloos or Beach Club
Tweens will especially love these cosy dining domes that pop up in winter at The Moseley Bar & Kitchen , which is located a stone’s throw from Glenelg Beach. The artfully curated igloos feature groovy chairs, blankets and throws arranged around a cosy fireplace that would look great on the ’gram. Invite the extended family to hibernate in a hired igloo (available for 2.5-hour-long sessions for up to eight people), which includes kiddie-friendly menu options such as ham and pineapple pizza.
A winter pop-up at The Moseley Bar & Kitchen.
Alternatively, summer brings with it the annual beach club. The annual dining event is popular for a reason, so book ahead to secure a table on the sand and order from the kids’ menu – think fish and chips, potato and jamon croquettes, fried manchego or a steak sandwich.
Feel the sand between your toes at The Moseley Bar & Kitchen’s Beach Club.
Address: 11 Moseley Square, Glenelg SA
Africola
Africola is a vibe. And it’s one that gastronomically inclined families will love. Dining in this loud and chaotic East End Adelaide restaurant, which was modelled on a South African shebeen (read: a once disreputable unlicensed drinking establishment), is as heart-warming as it is hectic.
The vibrant interiors of Africola will be a winner with kids. (Image: Ellen Morgan)
Keep the entire clan happy at the hatted restaurant with rounds of crisp chicken skin ‘tea sandwiches’, peri peri chicken, whole roasted cauliflower, house-made hummus and flatbreads.
The whole roasted cauliflower is delicious; the kids might even agree. (Image: Josh Geelen)
Address: 4 East TCE Adelaide, SA
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Parkside Hotel
Parents who declare dinner tables to be a device-free zone will love the double-sided kids’ menu at Bob & Olive’s Garden at the Parkside Hotel , which includes a colouring sheet and is delivered with a set of pencils. The renovated hotel, originally built in 1858, has indoor and outdoor areas and includes an enclosed all-weather kids’ play area replete with a cubby house. All kids’ meals are $15 and include a colossal ice-cream sundae.
Parkside Hotel is a great family dining spot.
Address: 142 Glen Osmond Rd, Parkside SA
Beach Bum
Hop on the train to Hove bound for Beach Bum where you will find a menu that offers an amalgam of Japanese, Hawaiian and Mexican cuisines. Choose between pork belly tacos with Tabasco mayo, chicken katsu, Mexican beach balls, pineapple pork ribs and poke bowls. Adults will appreciate the shaved-ice cocktails and the fact kids under 12 eat free on Sundays at the beachside restaurant, which is near to an Insta-famous 200-metre-long jetty.
Fun fusion food at Beach Bum.
Address: 406 Brighton Rd, Hove SA
Bloom
This former tram barn in the inner-city suburb of Thebarton has been transformed into an airy and bright cafe with a sprawling green lawn that is perfect for little ones to run themselves to a standstill on. The all-day menu is filled with perfect breakfast-brunch-lunch options, with an extra column of share plates, and a dedicated kids’ menu. Dishes utilise fresh local produce, with lots of gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian and vegan options.
Once a former tram barn, now a fresh and fun cafe. (Image: Bloom Winfield)
Address: 38 Winwood St, Thebarton SA
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Tony Tomatoes
Lauro Siliquini and Enzo Verdino are the duo behind the now-closed Spaghetti Island. And their cult following also extends to Italian eateries Ruby Red Flamingo, Coccobello and Tony Tomatoes . Pizza devotees will love Tony Tomatoes, which wows little people and their parents with options such as the Tony Pepperoni and the classic Margherita.
From the owners of Spaghetti Island comes Tony Tomatoes, a haven for pizza devotees.
Address: 155-157 O’Connell Street, North Adelaide SA
The Original Pancake Kitchen
It pays to have a hot pancake spot in your list of commendable eateries. And now that The Original Pancake Kitchen has three outlets around Adelaide, the call for pancakes at this institution should probably be considered compulsory when visiting the SA capital. Prime your palate for a good time with rounds of pillowy Hedgehog pancakes smothered in chocolate fudge or Mozzarella pancakes with fried eggs and ham.
Address: 13 Gilbert Place, Adelaide, SA; 287 Diagonal Road, Oaklands Park, SA; 1A/52-54 Hindley St, Adelaide, SA
Adelaide Central Market
Adelaide Central Market, established in 1869, consistently rates as one of the top things to do in Adelaide. Roll up to Stall 12 at the colourful market to find Decadent Donuts where drool-worthy options include the Berry Sinful, topped with fresh raspberries, or the Dusty Queen with cinnamon and fresh orange. Parents should order the Coffee Coffee Yum Yum doughnuts to go with that cappuccino. For something a bit more substantial for lunch, there is Lucia’s Pizza & Spaghetti Bar, Big Table, Let Them Eat and Zuma Caffe.
And for a special treat, check out OMG Decadent Donuts at Adelaide Central Market.
Carla Grossetti avoided accruing a HECS debt by accepting a cadetship with News Corp. at the age of 18. After completing her cadetship at The Cairns Post Carla moved south to accept a position at The Canberra Times before heading off on a jaunt around Canada, the US, Mexico and Central America. During her career as a journalist, Carla has successfully combined her two loves – of writing and travel – and has more than two decades experience switch-footing between digital and print media. Carla’s CV also includes stints at delicious., The Sydney Morning Herald, and The Australian, where she specialises in food and travel. Carla also based herself in the UK where she worked at Conde Nast Traveller, and The Sunday Times’ Travel section before accepting a fulltime role as part of the pioneering digital team at The Guardian UK. Carla and has been freelancing for Australian Traveller for more than a decade, where she works as both a writer and a sub editor.
Abandoned mills and forgotten paper plants are finding second lives – and helping redefine a city long underestimated.
Just 15 years ago, Federal Mills was a very different place. Once among the most significant industrial sites in Victoria, the historic woollen mill was one of a dozen that operated in Geelong at the industry’s peak in the mid-20th century, helping the city earn its title as ‘wool centre of the world’. But by the 1960s global competition and the rise of synthetic fabrics led to the slow decline of the industry, and Federal Mills finally shuttered its doors in 2001. Within a few years, the abandoned North Geelong grounds had become makeshift pastoral land, with cows and goats grazing among the overgrown grass between the empty red-brick warehouses. It was a forgotten pocket of the city, all but two klicks from the bustle of the CBD.
Geelong has shed its industrial identity to become an innovative urban hub with reimagined heritage spaces. (Image: Ash Hughes)
Federal Mills: from forgotten factory to creative precinct
Today, the century-old complex stands reborn. The distinctive sawtooth-roof buildings have been sensitively restored. An old silo is splashed with a bright floral mural, landscapers have transformed the grounds, and the precinct is once again alive with activity. More than 1000 people work across 50-plus businesses here. It’s so busy, in fact, that on a sunny Thursday morning in the thick of winter, it’s hard to find a car park. The high ceilings, open-plan design, and large multi-paned windows – revolutionary features for factories of their time – have again become a drawcard.
Paddock Bakery and Patisserie is housed within the historic wool factory. (Image: Gallant Lee)
At Paddock , one of the precinct’s newer tenants, weaving looms and dye vats have been replaced by a wood-fired brick oven and heavy-duty mixers. Open since April 2024, the bakery looks right at home here; the building’s industrial shell is softened by ivy climbing its steel frames, and sunlight streams through the tall windows. Outside, among the white cedar trees, families at picnic benches linger over dippy eggs and bagels, while white-collar workers pass in and out, single-origin coffee and crème brûlée doughnuts in hand.
Geelong: Australia’s only UNESCO City of Design
Paddock Bakery can be found at Federal Mills. (Image: Gallant Lee)
“A lot of people are now seeing the merit of investing in Geelong,” says Paul Traynor, the head of Hamilton Hospitality Group, which redeveloped Federal Mills. A city once shunned as Sleepy Hollow, and spurned for its industrial, working-class roots and ‘rust belt’ image, Geelong has long since reclaimed its ‘Pivot City’ title, having reinvented itself as an affordable, lifestyle-driven satellite city, and a post-COVID migration hotspot.
And the numbers stand testament to the change. In March 2025, and for the first time in its history, Greater Geelong became Australia’s most popular regional town for internal migration, overtaking Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Current forecasts suggest Geelong will continue to outpace many other Australian cities and towns, with jobs growing at double the rate of the population.
Tourism is booming, too. The 2023-24 financial year was Geelong and The Bellarine region’s busiest on record, with 6.4 million visitors making it one of the fastest-growing destinations in the country. It’s not hard to see why: beyond the city’s prime positioning at the doorstep of the Great Ocean Road, Geelong’s tenacity and cultural ambition stands out.
As Australia’s only UNESCO City of Design, Geelong is swiftly shaking off its industrial past to become a model for urban renewal, innovation, sustainability and creative communities. The signs are everywhere, from the revitalisation of the city’s waterfront, and the landmark design of the Geelong Library and Heritage Centre and Geelong Arts Centre, to the growing network of local designers, architects and artists, and the burgeoning roster of festivals and events. That’s not even mentioning the adaptive reuse of storied old industrial buildings – from Federal Mills, to Little Creatures’ brewery ‘village’ housed within a 1920s textile mill – or the city’s flourishing food and wine scene.
The rise of a food and wine destination
Restaurant 1915 is housed within a restored former boiler house. (Image: Harry Pope/Two Palms)
Traynor credits now-closed local restaurant Igni, which opened in 2016, as the turning point for Geelong’s hospo industry. “[Aaron Turner, Igni’s chef-patron] was probably the first guy, with all due respect, to raise the bar food-wise for Geelong,” he says. “People now treat it really seriously, and there’s clearly a market for it.” While Igni is gone, Turner now helms a string of other notable Geelong venues, including The Hot Chicken Project and Tacos y Liquor, all within the buzzy, street art-speckled laneways of the CBD’s Little Malop Street Precinct. Many others have also popped up in Igni’s wake, including Federal Mills’ own restaurant, 1915 . Housed within the cavernous boiler house, 1915’s interior is dramatic: soaring, vaulted ceilings with timber beams, exposed brick, a huge arched window. The share plates echo the space’s bold character, playing with contrast and texture, with dishes such as a compressed watermelon tataki, the sweet, juicy squares tempered by salty strands of fried leeks, and charred, smoky snow peas dusted with saganaki on a nutty bed of romesco.
The Woolstore is a new restaurant and bar housed within a century-old warehouse. (Image: Amy Carlon)
The Woolstore , one of The Hamilton Group’s most recent hospo projects, opened in February. It occupies a century-old riverside warehouse and exudes a more sultry, fine dining ambience. Much like Federal Mills, the blueprint was to preserve the original brickwork, tallowwood flooring and nods to the building’s former life. That same careful consideration extends to the well-versed, affable waitstaff as well as the kitchen. Head chef Eli Grubb is turning out an eclectic mix of ambitious and indulgent mod Oz dishes that deliver: strikingly tender skewers of chicken tsukune, infused with hints of smoke from the parrilla grill, and glazed with a moreish, sweet gochujang ‘jam’; nduja arancini fragrant with hints of aniseed and the earthy lick of sunny saffron aioli; and golden squares of potato pavé, adorned with tiny turrets of crème fraîche, crisp-fried saltbush leaves, and Avruga caviar, to name but a few stand-out dishes.
Woolstore’s menu is designed for sharing.
Breathing new life into historic spaces
On the city’s fringe, hidden down a winding side road with little fanfare, lies a long-dormant site that’s being gently revived. Built from locally quarried bluestone and brick, and dating back to the 1870s, the complex of original tin-roofed mill buildings is lush with greenery and backs onto the Barwon River and Buckley Falls; the audible rush of water provides a soothing soundtrack. Fyansford Paper Mill is one of few complexes of its time to survive intact. It feels steeped in history and spellbindingly rustic.
“We were looking for an old industrial place that had some charm and romance to it,” explains Sam Vogel, the owner, director and winemaker at Provenance Wines which moved here in 2018. When he first viewed the building with his former co-owner, it was in such a state of disrepair that the tradie tenant occupying the space had built a shed within it to escape the leaking roof and freezing winter temperatures. “To say it was run down would be an understatement,” he notes. “There was ivy growing through the place; the windows were all smashed. It was a classic Grand Designs project.”
Provenance Wines moved to Fyansford Paper Mill in 2018. (Image: Cameron Murray Photography)
The team has since invested more than a million dollars into their new home. Where paper processing machinery once sat, wine barrels are now stacked. Vaulted cathedral ceilings are strung with festoon lights, and hidden in plain sight lies a shadowy mural by local street artist de rigueur Rone – one of only three permanent works by the artist.
While the award-winning, cool-climate pinot noir, riesling and chardonnay naturally remain a key draw at Provenance, the winery’s restaurant is a destination in itself. Impressed already by whipsmart service, I devour one of the most cleverly curated and faultlessly executed degustations I’ve had in some time. It’s all prepared in a kitchen that is proudly zero-waste, and committed to providing seasonal, ethical and locally sourced meat and produce under head chef Nate McIver. Think free-range venison served rare with a syrupy red wine jus and a half-moon of neon-orange kosho, shokupan with a deeply savoury duck fat jus (a modern Japanese take on bread and drippings), and a golden potato cake adorned with a colourful confetti of dehydrated nasturtiums and tomato powder, and planted atop a sea urchin emulsion.
Bell’s handcrafted functional pieces on display.
The complex is home to a coterie of independent businesses, including a gallery, a jeweller, and its latest tenant, ceramicist Elizabeth Bell, drawn here by the building’s “soul”. “There’s so much potential for these buildings to have new life breathed into them,” says Bell, whose studio is housed within the old pump room. “Even people in Geelong don’t know we’re here,” she says. “It’s definitely a destination, but I like that. It has a really calming atmosphere.”
A Melbourne transplant, Bell now feels at home in Geelong, which offers something Melbourne didn’t. “If this business was in Melbourne I don’t think it would’ve been as successful,” she notes. “It’s very collaborative in Geelong, and I don’t think you get that as much in Melbourne; you’re a bit more in it for yourself. Here it’s about community over competition.”
Ceramicist Elizabeth Bell has a store in Fyansford Paper Mill.
