Dining & Cafés

A dairy town famous for Australia's only cow race

A friendly country crossroads halfway between McLaren Vale and Victor Harbor, best known for the annual Compass Cup cow race held every February.

The main pub in Mount Compass on the Victor Harbor road, with a bistro, beer garden, regular live music and the only proper hot dinner on the highway between Willunga and Victor Harbor.

A classic country bakery and general store on the main road through Myponga - long-running local institution with the standard country bakery range.

A 30+ year family-run Italian restaurant in the heart of Victor Harbor known for classic pizza, pasta and the famous veal scaloppini.

Family bakery and home of the whale donut

Award-winning family-owned bakery on Victor Harbor's main shopping street - pies, pastries, coffee and the famous whale-shaped donut.

Willunga's oldest pub - a heritage 1839 bluestone hotel on the High Street serving hearty meals, with regular live music and a beer garden.

A small charming Normanville main street cafe known for brunch, specialty coffee and a tight all-day menu.

A Currency Creek winery, providore and restaurant on a sprawling vineyard estate, with multiple event spaces and a long lunch reputation.

A boutique Scarpantoni-family winery on the original 1840 Oxenberry Farm homestead, with a cellar door cafe and duck-filled wetlands.

Fresh seafood restaurant and casual cliffside kiosk on the Port Willunga Esplanade, with one of the best ocean and old jetty ruin views on the Fleurieu.

An estate-grown EVOO producer at the Nangkita Olive Grove, with sit-down oil tastings, share platters and grove discovery tours - open the first full weekend of every month.

A family-run Neapolitan wood-fired pizzeria set in the middle of the McLaren Vale vineyards - one of the great Fleurieu long-lunch destinations.

Country bakery on North Terrace

Long-loved country bakery in the heart of Port Elliot, famous for pies, pasties, vanilla slices and coffee a short walk from Horseshoe Bay.

A specialty coffee roaster and licensed beachfront cafe near the Granite Island causeway - one of the better coffee stops in Victor Harbor.

Cafe, gallery and B&B on McMurtrie Road

Long-running McMurtrie Road cafe, restaurant, art gallery and B&B hidden in the bush behind Wirra Wirra - a McLaren Vale institution since the 1990s.

A classic main-street country pub on Strathalbyn's High Street, serving modern Australian dining in a heritage stone building in the heart of town.

Woodfired pizza in a heritage yard

A Friday and Saturday night institution - Russell Jeavons' woodfired pizzas served under the stars in a walled garden behind a Willunga stone cottage.

Italian-accented cellar door and restaurant pairing Sabella estate wines with Joe Cangiano's wood-fired Italian cooking on McLaren Vale's main road.

The Petagna family cellar door at the foot of the Sellicks Hills, with a sea-view courtyard, a wood-fired oven and house-made Italian-leaning food.

Lakeside restaurant at the Serafino estate

Serafino Wines' lakeside restaurant on Kangarilla Road: modern Australian dining overlooking the estate's landscaped lake, paired with the full Serafino wine list.

An absolute beachfront bistro and bar at Aldinga with produce-driven plates and an oceanfront deck - one of the best sunset dinners on the western coast.

Microbrewery in an old Myponga dairy factory

An award-winning microbrewery housed in a converted dairy factory in Myponga, famous for its beers named after the owners' Samoyed dogs.

Clifftop dining above Port Willunga beach

Famous casual-fine dining restaurant perched on the cliff above Port Willunga beach, named for the 1888 shipwreck visible below at low tide.

A surf-inspired brewery in the McLaren Vale vines

An independent craft brewery and taphouse on Olivers Road, McLaren Vale - a surf-inspired brewery with a rotating tap list and regular food truck line-up.