It’s a question I get a lot — which city has your favourite bar scene at the moment?
There’s a few ways that questions can be answered. If we’re talking scenes within a city, there’s few as dynamic as Enmore Road in the inner west of Sydney right now. And if the assignment is South East Asia? That crown would go to the identity-driven bars of Bangkok.
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But if we’re talking pound for pound great bars in a city, there’s few better places to be than Adelaide. It over indexes on great spots, all often within walking distance; having a grid system for a city makes it more navigable after a Martini or three, after all.
Here, get a look at 13 Adelaide bars we think are making the city an exciting place for drinks and hospitality right now. Take this list as your starting point; there’s many more bars to get stuck into — many of which you’ll find on the Boothby Best Bars SA Top 30 list right here.
Latteria
185 Hutt St, Adelaide
@latteriabar
latteriabar.com.au
We don’t know anyone who doesn’t love this bar. What owners Luca Baioni and Nicola Pau have built is something very Adelaide, but also very Italian — there is great food here, drinks of a quality unsurpassed elsewhere, and a fitout that is equal parts comfortable and attractive — it’s the kind of place you want to settle in at for a few hours (at least).
When to go? Make it a late start on a Sunday, order a Spritz and some eats, and kick back.
Opens at 4pm Monday to Wednesday, from 12pm Thursday to Sunday, closing at midnight every day except Friday and Saturday (at 1am).
Maybe Mae
15 Peel St, Adelaide
@maybemaebasement
maybemae.com
There may not be a more influential Adelaide bar than this one. Maybe Mae burst onto the Australian bar scene in 2014, with an approach to drinks that emphasised seasonality and South Australian ingredients. The cocktails today remain inventive and driven by that philosophy, and always delicious.
When to go? After dinner, for several cocktails, right before you want to flick the afterburners on.
Opens 5pm to 12am Sunday to Thursday, and until 1am on Friday and Saturday.
Bar Bar
78a Pirie St, Adelaide
@barbar.adl
Cue the suggestions of the bar-so-good-they-named-it-twice. This relative newcomer to the Adelaide scene is ostensibly an agave spirits bar, but it’s ‘much more than that. The cocktails here are put together with flavour foremost in mind, a mango lassi riff being one such an example. Our suggestion? Hit up the small serve freezer door cocktail first while you have some back and forth with the bartender about what you’re drinking next.
When to go? Just after they open for the afternoon, to be part of the regular and hospo drop in trade.
Opens at 3pm every day, closes at midnight Monday to Thursday, 1am Friday and Saturday. Closed Sundays.
The Exeter
246 Rundle St, Adelaide
@exterhotel_adl
theexeter.com.au
The pub much loved by winemakers has also become a favourite of the travelling brand ambassador and bartender alike. They don’t make pubs like this anymore. If you’re here, you’re likely drinking some variety of Coopers (Coopers Dark for us, thanks) on tap, or if you find a brand ambassador with money to spare, they might like to pony up for a bottle of Krug, which the pub has been serving for more than 30 years — if they do, you’ll get your own Exeter monogrammed butchers glass to drink it from.
When to go? 11am, for a strong start to your day.
Open from 11am to 3am every day.
Leigh Street Wine Room
9 Leigh St, Adelaide
@leighstreetwineroom
leighstreetwineroom.com
With all the great cocktail bars around town, it can be easy to forget just how well they do wine in Adelaide bars. Here, the service is always smart, with some excellent small plates coming out from the kitchen. This is your half time oranges break on a night out in the city; take some respite from cocktails, order a glass of fiano (or anything they have by the glass) and get some snacks; their mortadella sandwich (see page 72) is a must eat.
When to go? make it your halfway point on any given Adelaide CBD bar crawl.
Opens 4pm to 10pm Monday to Thursday, 12pm to 11pm Friday and Saturday. Closed Sundays.
Proof
9 Anster St, Adelaide
@proofwinebar
proof-bar.com
Proof is the original small bar of Adelaide. They were the first bar to get the small bar licence and opened back in 2013, marking 13 years of trade this year. It’s still one of the nicest bar rooms not just in Adelaide, but in Australia, and with a warm and welcoming style of hospitality, here’s hoping it’s around for another 13 years more.
When to go? A late afternoon cocktail by the window on the laneway is an essential way to get your Adelaide evening underway.
Opens at 3pm - midnight Monday to Friday, from 5pm on Saturdays, and closed on Sundays.
Hains & Co
23 Gilbert Pl, Adelaide
@hainsco
hainsco.com.au
Hains & Co. is the little Adelaide bar that — as their tagline suggest — has been lifting spirits for over 10 years now. The gin and rum-focused bar opened down in Gilbert Place in the Adelaide CBD back in 2015, joining the early small bar licence additions to the city and becoming an icon in the process. As owner and self-styled admiral of the Hains & Co. ship, Marcus Motteram, has told us before, the key to the bar’s longevity has been its approach to service: always welcoming, always open, with cocktails that lean classic in their construction. You know what you’re going to get at this institution.
When to go? Whenever the mood to drink al fresco strikes (or the clock ticks past midnight).
Opens at 4pm and closes at 2am, every day.
Memphis Slim’s House of Blues
Basement, 22 Gilbert Pl, Adelaide
@memphis.slims
memphisslims.com.au
Set in the basement of the same building that houses its sibling bar, Shotgun Willie’s, down at Memphis Slim’s it’s all about live music, dive bar pool table good times, and some seriously delicious drinks.
When to go? when you feel like making a lot of late night noise.
Open 7pm to 2am Wednesday to Sunday, 5pm on Friday and Saturday, closed Monday and Tuesday.
Honeydripper
11 Frome St, Adelaide
@honeydripper.hifi
honeydripper.com.au
Honeydripper might be Adelaide’s most talked about bar right now. Coming from the creative mind of Sean Howard (Memphis Slim’s, Cry Baby), the two-storey bar opened in August last year. The upstairs lounge is where, between two industrious bartenders, the night’s DJ presides over a custom gold plated Condesa mixer, which takes centre stage in between the bartenders. Do try their Dante cocktail, a fluffy number inspired by the Garibaldi from Dante in New York but made entirely Honeydripper’s own by colliding that drink with a Fizz (and using a feta oleo). Tasty stuff.
When to go? after dinner, until close.
Opens at 7.30am for coffee and breakfast (3pm on Saturdays, 5pm Sundays); and closes at 1am for good times.
Bar Peripheral
447 Pulteney St, Adelaide
@bar_peripheral
This a bar that divides opinion, and that’s how owner and bartender Vini Wang likes it, with the bar’s tagline being ‘Not for everyone.’ This bar is very much a product of its bartender-owner. You’ll see Vini there every night, and he’s a pleasure to watch bartend — the guy has style behind the stick. The banter, at times, is a little questionable, but one thing is undeniable: Bar Peripheral has character, and is more than memorable.
When to go? Either before or after a hearty dinner.
Open 7pm to midnight, Monday to Saturday (closed Sunday).
Burdette
11–29 Union St, Adelaide
@burdette.adl
Taking over the site that once housed the popular Gunbae restaurant, partners Saskia Lopes de Souza and Baine Stubb have created this small cocktail bar with an emphasis on the classics: think Negroni (and variations thereof), five Martinis, the Old Fashioned and its cousins, and the Daiquiri gets a run too. That’s paired with a short list of four signature drinks, unnamed but numbered, and makes for some very fine al fresco drinking (and saw them take the award for Best New Bar SA presented by Bacardi in 2026.)
Arkhé
127 The Parade, Norwood SA 5067
arkhe.com.au
@arkhe_restaurant
Arkhé might be one of Adelaide’s best restaurants, with open fires and chefs fanning said flames, but there’s real interest in the drinks here too: a clarified Smokey Colada employs Laphroaig and not flame for a whack of smoke, and a Daiqiuri is barrel aged, flavoursome, and neatly balanced. And with bar snacks of this quality, it’s no surprise that they took home the award for the Best Bar Eats SA presented by Estrella Damm this year.
Trap.
Basement/96 Currie St, Adelaide
trapadl.com
@trap.adl
Trap. is a small Adelaide bar that might come across as a little scrappy — they’re using household refrigerators instead of commercial gear, for instance — but they’re making some very smart drinks and showing people a great time.
