An Adelaide institution, the Exeter is a hub for winemakers, viticulturists, wine writers and lots of people who just like beer. Pull up a stool in the bar and drink Krug, if you will, or grab a hard-to-find local bottle and down it with an exemplary chicken parma.
Don’t miss the beef cheek pie and Krug in a butcher glass (embossed by the Champagne house, no less) in the bar, though not necessarily at the same time…
It is said that it was the great wine writer Philip White that cajoled the then owners into including the luxury wine on the chalkboard back in the 1980s, and it is perhaps White’s persona of everyman intellectual that sums the Exeter well, with deep foundations unfussed by the vanity of trend.
The entire Coopers’ line-up is tapped at the Exeter, with a range of craft beer and ciders mainly in bottle, and with a cant to the local. The same can be said for the wine list, with a compact 50-strong offering that features small independent growers and makers, and some that have a deep history with the pub, making their wines immovable fixtures. Aside from Champagne, the list is all Australian, with 18 wines available by the glass.
The Exeter is also one of Adelaide’s most popular live music venues, with something on most nights of the week. It boasts a popular kitchen, with counter classics joined by house-made pies and quite legendary curries, which do a takeover every Wednesday night on the balcony. There’s a beer garden, iconic public bar… it’s a pub, done right. There are few establishments that truly deserve to be classed as institutions, but the Exeter Hotel is firmly near the top of that list.
An intensely personal wine bar, Fall from Grace is also an incredibly accessible one, with wine, cheese and salumi at retail pricing to take away or consume in-house. It’s also the best place to start a conversation with a local winemaker, as most are regulars.
Bar Torino started its life as an adjunct to Nick and Jess Favaro’s restaurant Chianti, long one of the most loved dining spots in Adelaide. Launched as a Spanish-Italian hybrid, it operated as a standalone bar, but also doubled as a waiting room for the perennially popular Chianti, a place where a plate or two…
Good Gilbert is the kind of local we all wish we had, with an exciting and well-priced wine list, en pointe simple food and uber-friendly but deeply knowledgeable crew. It’s the platonic ideal of a local wine bar.
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