This place is an exercise in sensory bombardment: a barrage of smells, colours and yodelling stallholders selling fresh vegetables, breads, cheeses, seafood and gourmet produce. Cafes, hectic food courts, a supermarket and Adelaide's Chinatown are here, too.

Superb, freshly constructed cold rolls, pho soups and super-crunchy barbecue-pork bread rolls, eat-in or take away. Wash it all down with a cold coconut milk or a teeth-grindingly strong Vietnamese coffee with sugary condensed milk. Authentic, affordable and absolutely delicious.

Breathing new vigour into Whitmore Sq, the least utilised of central Adelaide's five squares, corner-cafe Troppo has jaunty exposed timberwork and a sustainable outlook (local ingredients, recycling, organic milk, eco-friendly cleaning products etc). The coffee is fab, and so are their marinated kangaroo and haloumi sandwiches, and baked eggs with spinach and local Swiss-style cheese.

This little slice of Italy has been around since Lucia was a lot younger. All her pasta, sauces and pizzas are authentically homemade − perfection any time of day. If you like what you're eating, you can buy fresh pasta next door at Lucia's Fine Foods.

Get your weekly vitamin dose disguised in a scrumptious veggie burger, wrap or focaccia at this arty upstairs kitchen. Dreadlocked urban renegades order 'extra alfalfa but no hummus'. Look for the mosaic sign and take the skinny stairs.

A skinny Hindley St room that's been here forever, serving magnificent Middle Eastern and Lebanese delights: falafels, hummus, tabouleh, tahini and (of course) sheshkababs. The plastic furniture and draped tent material are appropriately tacky.

Peel St – a long-neglected service lane in Adelaide's West End – has spawned a slew of new bar-eateries recently, the first (and still best) of which is Peel Street itself, a supercool cafe-bistro–wine bar that just keeps packing ’em in. Glam city girls sit at window seats nibbling parmesan-crumbed parsnips and turkey meatballs with preserved lemon. Killer wine list.

Everything at this split-level, rustic Italian eatery – adorned with bread baskets and terracotta; beautified by Italian staff and leadlight – is cooked in the wood oven you see when you walk in the door. Pizzas are thin-based (Roma style); mozzarella plates come with wood-oven bread and meats (octopus, tuna, salumi). Super Italian/SA wine and beer list. Just super!

Magical North Indian curries and consummately professional staff (they might remember your name from when you ate here in 2011). There's nothing too surprising about the menu, but it's done to absolute perfection. Bookings essential.

An alternative to the myriad glass-and-granite lunch spots around town, this hippie cafe – all terracotta, hessian sacks and racks of organic produce – serves beaut salads, dips and pizzas. It's almost all vegetarian, but we couldn't go past the spicy braised kangaroo pizza with roast capsicum and mozzarella.

In a fishbowl corner room with a dark-wood wine wall, sassy Mesa Lunga serves tapas and quality pizzas. Order some gamba (black-salted prawn and chorizo in pastry) and Manzanillo olives stuffed with anchovies, washed down with some sparkling sangria. Magic.

This fluoro-lit, bossy-staffed eatery is a culinary gem; serving cuisine styled from the Guangzhou region, such as 'BBC' (bean curd, broad beans and Chinese chutney) and steamed duck with salty sauce. It gets packed − with queues out the door (no bookings) − but it's worth the wait.

This classic old joint has been around since the days when Adelaide phone numbers only had seven digits. Authentic pizza and pasta with bentwood chairs, terrazzo floors, specials scribbled on a chalkboard, sleep-defeating coffee and imagined Mafioso mutterings in the back room.

Big, bright and brassy: quick-fire Chinese on the main Chinatown strip, with an impressive menu ranging from the predictable (braised beef hotpot, steamed garlic prawns) to the fearless (pork intestines with salted cabbage, tender duck with 'most fats drained'). Yum-cha daily 11am to 3pm.

The best of an emerging strip of restaurants on office-heavy Waymouth St. Super-stylish (brick, glass, lemon-coloured chairs) and not afraid of offal (pan-fried lamb's brains, grilled calf's tongue) or things raw (beef carpaccio, gravlax salmon) and confit (duck leg, onion, olives). Tasting menu $68 per person. Book for upstairs seating only; otherwise they'll fit you downstairs near the bar.

Beef, lamb, pork, chicken, fish…vegetarians run for the hills! Sosta's aged 1kg T-bone steaks are legendary. With crisp white tablecloths and blood-brown floorboards, it's an elegant place to launch your nocturnal East End foray.

A Foodland supermarket with a nifty deli/butcher counter out the front.

This energetic food room is a winner. Chipper staff allocate you a space at the communal tables (no bookings) and take your order pronto. The food arrives just as fast: fab curries, slow-braised Thai beef and pork, netted spring rolls, Malay curry puffs… It's a pan-Asian vibe, bolstered by jumbo bottles of Vietnamese beer and smiles all round.

Store is an enticing combo of casual Parisian bistro and jazzy cafe. The vibe is retro-kitsch (art nouveau posters, stag horns, Tretchikoff prints), while on your plate you can expect rapid-fire pastas, risottos, burgers and classy fish, chicken and beef dishes, none of which will break the bank. Impressive wine list, too.

Winning pub grub at this enduring (and endearing) local: steak sangers (sandwiches), veggie lasagne, lamb-shank pie, pulled-pork buns and French toast with maple syrup (not all at once). There's a quirky retro vibe, and live jazz/indie-rock Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

Unpretentious and reliable neighbourhood Thai just off the main North Adelaide strip. The scatter of mustard-coloured chairs on the footpath is the place to be on a warm night.

Off to one side of this upmarket boozer (all big screens, beer terraces and business types) is a sassy restaurant with a cool retro interior and romantic vibes. Hot off the menu are luscious Coorong Angus steaks, market fish and chilli prawn fettuccine, served with very unpubby professionalism. Breakfast is available next door in the bar (mains $10 to $21) from 8am to noon Monday to Friday, and 8am to 3pm on weekends.

If you're serious about coffee, this bean barn – a short hop southeast of the city centre – is for you. Food is almost secondary here: the hipster, cardigan-wearing customers are too busy discussing the coffee-specials board to eat. But if you are hungry, they do a mean bacon and eggs, vanilla bircher muesli, or truffled mushrooms on toast.

Vili's pies are a South Australian institution. Next to its factory, just west of the CBD, is this all-night diner, serving equally iconic pie floaters (a meat pie floating in pea soup, topped with mashed potato, gravy and sauce − outstanding!), plus sausage rolls, pasties, burgers, pancakes, cooked breakfasts, custard tarts, donuts…

Nutty, spicy, slippery and a little bit funky: Afghan food is unique, and this authentic restaurant, west of the CBD across the parklands, is a great place to try it. The signature banjaan borani eggplant dish is a knockout. There's also a lunchtime branch just off Rundle St in the city called Kutchi Deli Parwana ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %08-7225 8586; 7 Ebenezer Pl; h11.30am-4pm Mon-Fri). BYO; cash only.

This flagship eatery heralds the newly redeveloped Bowden, a city-edge suburb once an industrial wasteland, now home to hundreds of hip new townhouses and the hip urbanites who live in them. Jarmer's is a fancy day/night cafe in an old pub building, serving savvy sandwiches, pastas, burgers and substantial mains: try the pork-and-fennel sausages. Terrific wine list, too.

Little sidestreet Zest has a laid-back vibe and brilliant breakfasts – more than enough compensation for any shortcomings in size. Baguettes and bagels are crammed with creative combos, or you can banish your hangover with some 'Hell's Eggs': baked in a ramekin with rosemary, tomato salsa, cheese and Tabasco sauce. Great coffee, arty staff, and vegetarian specials, too.

At this brilliant organic pizzeria above the Jetty Rd tram-scape, thin crusts are stacked with tasty toppings like free-range roast duck, Spencer Gulf prawns and spicy Hahndorf salami. Ahhh, life is good… Also has branches in the city ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %08-8223 2618; 170 Hutt St; pizzas $14-35; hnoon-2.30pm Mon-Fri, 6pm-late daily; v) and North Adelaide ( MAP GOOGLE MAP ; %08-8267 3431; Shop 5, 11 O'Connell St, North Adelaide; pizzas $14-35; hnoon-2.30pm Tue-Thu, 6pm-late Tue-Sun; v).

Spartan linen, marina views, super service and a contemporary menu of tapas-style mezze plates − you'd struggle to find anything this classy on Santorini. The grilled Hindmarsh Valley haloumi with spiced raisins and the seared scallops with feta and pistachio are sublime.