Mayura Station Tasting Room delivers one of Australia’s most compelling paddock-to-plate experiences. Located on a historic Limestone Coast cattle station established in 1845, the cellar door four and a half hours’ from Adelaide is famed for being one of the best steakhouses in the state. Head chef Mark Wright has made his mark with the four-course set menu showcasing Mayura’s award-winning full-blood wagyu. Add a big, bold Barossa red to elevate the experience. mayurastation.com

Expect to hear birds arguing in the branches above as you take your table under the outstretched boughs of a giant fig tree on Kangaroo Island. The Fig Tree is open for lunch Wednesday to Sunday when the sun is high in the sky and spearing shafts of white light through the leaves of the century-old tree. Kangaroo Island olives, whipped ricotta with local Ligurian honey, tuna carpaccio with sea mustard and pecorino are just a few of the dishes designed to celebrate Kangaroo Island’s bounty. thefigtreeki.com.au

You won’t find it easy to surrender your perch after lunch at The Salopian Inn, which is particularly delightful when enjoyed around a table on the patio overlooking the pretty garden. Chef Karena Armstrong’s menu is clever, but it’s simple, too, built around signatures like dumplings and pork buns and led by local ingredients. Housed in an 1850s former inn, The Salopian Inn is one of many restaurants that have given the McLaren Vale wining and dining scene momentum. salopian.com.au

The unhurried pace at Hentley Farm adds to the sense of occasion. Counted among the best regional restaurants in SA, it sits on a working vineyard in the Barossa, overlooking a crook of Greenock Creek. Housed in the farm’s original stone stables, the award-winning restaurant delivers a seasonal dining experience shaped by its surrounds. Chef Jacob Davey uses estate produce, foraged ingredients and local suppliers to devise set menus designed to pair with Hentley Farm’s wines. hentleyfarm.com.au

A standout among the best regional restaurants in South Australia, Maxwell Restaurant has ushered in a bold new era with a purpose-built dining room set within the winery’s cellar door. Chef Fabian Lehmann delivers a polished, modern European tasting menu that spotlights South Australian produce, supported by pastry whizz Jason Brown. Expect a procession of refined snacks, composed savoury courses and thoughtful desserts matched with Maxwell’s own wines. maxwellwines.com.au

Fino at Seppeltsfield, now housed within Seppeltsfield’s original bottling hall, speaks to executive chef David Swain’s abiding food philosophy: to champion and celebrate the bounty of the Barossa. Start with blue swimmer crab on brioche, follow with Edward’s Farm duck with nectarine and witlof, finish on crèma Catalana. It’s produce-first cooking led by head chef Jackson Gloyne who adheres to the enduring Fino philosophy of sharing, generosity and place. fino.net.au

Trinh and Mike Richards took a 190-year-old blacksmith’s workshop and forged it into a 40-seater restaurant that is entirely their own. The corrugated iron shed on the Old Coach Road in Aldinga is as impossibly charming as it sounds. Inside, the character-filled restaurant is all timber and tin, with rustic tables and pendant lighting with a patina that looks appropriate to the shed’s era. The menu at The Little Rickshaw pays homage to Southeast Asia with dishes like wagyu short rib with honey and tamarind chilli sauce and green papaya and mint salad constructed with quality local sourced ingredients. thelittlerickshaw.com.au

Mt Gambier is known for its sinkholes, which corkscrew into the Earth around the Limestone Coast town. Head to Elementary by Soul after visiting the sunken gardens to download about the experience with chatty locals. Elementary by Soul lays legitimate claim to being a gamechanger in Mt Gambier. Here, diners gather around the U-shaped kitchen bench to watch chef-owner Kirby Shearing in action. ‘Elemental’ is the chef’s guiding MO: simple, honest food and a drinks list that changes with the seasons. soulprojects.com.au

Catch Kangarilla in the amber light of the afternoon over lunch at Anvers Winery Restaurant. The architecturally designed restaurant and cellar door honours the bones of the old dairy building while resting lightly on the landscape. And the off-grid getaway is one of the best regional restaurants in South Australia for setting alone. Belgian-born owners Wayne and Myriam Keoghan bring European sensibility and classic technique to local produce best enjoyed alongside cool-climate wines. anvers.com.au

There’s nothing on the plate that is superfluous at Ondeen which speaks volumes about the dining experiences on offer in the Adelaide Hills. Located just three minutes from Handhorf, the restaurant housed in a restored 1850s homestead in Verdun is an expression of chef Kane Pollard’s obsession with place, produce and closed-loop thinking. Expect seasonal small plates built around what’s growing, foraged or rescued nearby, designed to sync with flights from Full Circle distillery. ondeen.com.au

Enrico Sgarbossa brings serious cred to the table at his 20-seat Adelaide Hills pizzeria. Trained in Italy, seasoned in Europe and Sydney, the chef’s signature at That’s Enrico is the zero-waste sourdough bread, spun from leftover pizza dough and baked into something richer than the sum of its scraps. Pizzas follow suit: technically exacting, deeply considered and served with warmth by Enrico and his Japanese-wife Akiha who spreads sunshine on the floor. It’s purist pizza with a conscience. enrico.au

If you stuck the old antenna up as you were driving past Ottelia it would act like a tuning fork, vibrating rapidly and directing you down Memorial Drive. Ottelia is a family-run celebration of the Coonawarra, where owners John and Melissa Innes have apprenticed their daughter Matilda and partner head chef Paul Stone into the business. It’s a tell that you’ll find local farmers converging here for the menu, featuring classics like ricotta gnocchi with sage and burnt butter and hand-stretched woodfired pizzas. ottelia.com.au

Samphire Restaurant distills Kangaroo Island onto the plate through a refined seven-course tasting menu that is a focused, grown-up expression of the island’s natural abundance, a focused read on the land and sea. The dining room looks out over the twisted trunks of silver-grey gums and oyster-rich coves across American River to Island Beach and beyond, providing diners with a sense of place. If the weather is good, sit outside for the cliffside views. theriverki.com.au