South Australia Entertainment

Adelaide has a wide range of restaurants and cafés specialising in international cuisine; Gouger Street in the city is the place to visit when your appetite builds.

For something a little different, the German bakeries, beer cellars and traditional Germanic cuisine found in Hahndorf (Australia's oldest surviving German settlement) make this town a popular stop off in the Adelaide Hills.

There are many fine seafood restaurants, particularly around the Glenelg and Henley beach regions, and further south along the coastal resorts of the Fleurieu Peninsula.

Wine and food festivals take place throughout the region and throughout the year. The Barossa Vintage Festival is reminiscent in many ways of German beer festivals in Europe. 

South Australia contains one of the most important valley regions producing wines; from the reds of Coonawarra, the Barossa and McLaren Vale, to the Rieslings of the Eden Valley.

Regional specialities:
• German-style delicacies, including mettwurst (spicy cured sausage), Bienenstich (cream-filled yeast cake) and pickles.
• Seafood is excellent. Grab a mouthful of crabs, whiting, oysters, blue fin tuna and crayfish. 
• The Pie Floater - pie immersed in pea soup and with ketchup added. It's an acquired taste!
• A cornucopia of fruit and veg, such as citrus, grapes, stone fruits, melons, tomatoes and warrugul greens (native spinach).

Regional drinks:
• Have a cold and frothy schooner of Cooper's Ale, a fine Aussie beer, or enjoy a sparkling Red Shiraz
• South Australia is well known for its award-winning wines such as Penfold's Grange.
• Farmers Union Iced Coffee is the drink that many South Australians tend to kickstart their day with.

The cultural life of the city is rich pickings with the Adelaide Theatre Guide (www.theatreguide.com.au) offering comprehensive pointers to the performance arts. There's always a multitude of entertainment to choose from at the Adelaide Festival Centre (www.adelaidefestivalcentre.com.au).

There is also a concentration of nightclubs on or around Hindley Street in the heart of the city, opposite Rundle Mall. Large crowds flock to the cosmopolitan atmosphere of the pubs and cafés in Rundle Street. It's worth a trip up to North Adelaide, which hosts many fine restaurants, bars and pubs along its tree-lined streets. The seaside suburb of Glenelg has a great selection of classy bars and waterside dining options.

Rundle Mall provides the central shopping experience in the city; when opened in 1976, it was Australia's first pedestrian mall. Here, more than 600 retail outlets offering a variety of boutique delights and even a discovery trail are part of the attractions.

Adelaide is full of antique shops, art galleries and stores that sell Australia's finest opals, handmade chocolates and stockman's hats. The central market, located adjacent to Victoria Square sells all kinds of produce, including fruit, vegetables, fish, cheese, meat, spices and other exotic delights.