Adelaide is spoiled for choice when it comes to delicious food, and nowhere is that more obvious than while strolling through Chinatown. From vibrant and piquant Thai to steaming baskets at yum cha, Adelaide’s food hub is a playground for the hungry. These are the best restaurants to check out in Chinatown.
There’s nothing quite like the vibrant salty, sweet, and sour of a great Thai dish and that’s exactly what you’ll find at Cardamom, a modern Thai restaurant in Adelaide’s Chinatown. Feel the heat with a chilli-spiked crying tiger salad or lean into the comfort factor of chewy, smoky drunken noodles. 95 Grote Street, Adelaide.
The name that leaves nothing to the imagination, Yum Cha on Moonta Street serves up a travelling selection of steamed buns, crisp dumplings and fresh seafood every day. Chicken feet and beef tripe are countered by sui mai and prawn spring rolls so there’s something for every palate. 17 Moonta Street, Adelaide; chinatownplaza.com.au.
Adelaide’s Chinese eateries, at least many of those in the vicinity of Gouger St, are normally more concerned with function than theatre. On the other hand, Empress Restaurant, across the road from Burnside Village on Greenhill Rd, offers a more refined dining experience. While mostly covering familiar ground, and sometimes drifting into other parts of Asia, the overall cooking has an edge in precision, and the ingredients a level of quality that puts it ahead of the pack. 351 Greenhill Rd, Toorak Gardens; empressrestaurant.com.au.
Bai Long Store has earned a strong reputation for its interesting sweep of very cool, very modern pan-Asian dishes, but its interpretation of Peking duck steals the show. Lean roasted slices of the bird, with a deep smokiness permeating the flesh, come with bao buns, pickles and other accompaniments – and that’s just the first course. 80 Hutt Street, Adelaide; bailong.store.
Though it’s best known for steaming bowls of ramen, this upscale spot also does a mean line in sushi. The menu makes it clear where all the fish is sourced from and highlights seasonality as well as location. Options like swordfish, snapper or kingfish and jalapeno tataki go well beyond the classics, and the impeccably presented chirashi bowls are among Adelaide’s most attractive meals. 22 Grote Street, Adelaide; ramenizakaya-himeji.com.
Complexity, generosity, and an uppercut of flavour is what it’s all about at Park Bong Sook Restaurant. Wright Street’s top Korean diner, affectionately known as PBS is a chic industrial space dotted with blonde wooden tables and curvaceous countertops where hot and cold dishes are snapped up by enthusiastic city workers on their lunch breaks, families over dinner and raucous groups of friends catching up over great eats. 152 Wright Street, Adelaide; @pbs_adelaide.
