Tara Nash

They call it the City of Churches, but a different kind of temple is nearly as ubiquitous in the leafy boulevards of Adelaide town. Grand, 19th-century pubs are everywhere you look, with open-air balconies, impressive facades and fascinating period details. It’s an architectural feature many other capital cities lack, and something that makes Adelaide an especially joyous city for anyone who loves to raise a pint glass. The cornerstone of Adelaide’s nightlife, top pubs continue to nurture the city’s live music scene. They are places to go for a casual date or a big family catch-up, an intimate dinner or a lively blow-out. Some of them prioritise South Australian wines, beers and liquors; others showcase pizza, steaks or a stunning burger. Here are some of Time Out’s favourites.

When your meals arrive and there’s a collective “oooo” and “aahhhh” around the table, you know your pub grub has exceeded expectations. The pulled pork burger comes in a really soft, toasted bun, with coleslaw and chips – delicious, tender and juicy. The menu offers an extensive list of entrees, including salt and pepper crocodile, South Australian oysters, pickled octopus and sharing options like dips and a share platter. There are some good daily deals, such as $15 schnitzels on Mondays, curry nights on Tuesdays, $18 loaded parmis on Thursdays, happy hour on Fridays and acoustic music on a Sunday. The wine list is almost completely South Australian, and if you’d prefer a beer, there are 20 taps of local, national and international brews including a good range of craft. Choose a seat out the front, in the dining room or near the front bar which has booths with warm spotlights and an indoor fireplace. Established in 1851, this pub – affectionately known by locals as ‘The Welli’ – has been a long-time favourite of the area. Floor-to-ceiling windows offer up views of the greenery in Wellington Square. In the warmer months, the retractable doors open up which makes some lovely alfresco dining. Just a stone’s throw from the Adelaide Oval, the place is often busy before and after the game, which has a big screen if you want to watch it there as well as a sports bar. There are also TAB facilities with ten screens and a sports bar. The Wellington harks back to a time when this ’hood

Gluten-free dining: it may not be what you’d normally expect from a pub, but the Alma specialises in it, with more than 30 gluten-free meals on the menu. There’s also an extensive plant-based menu to go with those high-end mains, tapas, burgers and woodfired-oven pizzas. Head chef Peter Rijnbeek has some 40 years experience in delivering delicious meals but you can’t accuse him of being behind the times. Local AFL stars Mark Ricciuto, Taylor Walker and Rory Sloane are part owners of the pub, which naturally has a big screen for the game. The three of them take turns hosting a family bingo night on Wednesdays with general manager Simmo. There’s  also trivia every Tuesday. On Saturday nights, there are $5 drink specials 7-10pm; Sundays offer $1 dumplings, $15 pizzas and $20 cocktail jugs; and there’s a special cocktail of the month.

This exquisite building has been a Rundle Street landmark since the early 1880s, becoming the much-loved pub the Austral in 1898. The 2020 renovation of their spaces, including the front bar, dining and gala room, as well as the upstairs and balcony, hasn’t diminished the pub’s history; instead, the new look honours the heritage with character and ornamental archways. There is also more room for live music, something the pub was famous for in the 1980s and ’90s. With the changes comes a new menu, a satisfying selection of pub grub. Try the Austral burger, a juicy medium-rare beef patty, lettuce, tomato, cheese and a bitey pickle. The chicken parmigiana is just as impressive, with some really tasty cheese and napoli sauce. There is a large selection of Coopers beers among other brews, wine and spirits. In the warmer months, the tables out the front are normally full of people. It also gets busy on a Wednesday night for trivia and you can swim with the sharks around the pool table, too.

The craving for a witbier and a steaming pot of mussels with chips is a hard one to resist and the Belgian Beer Café 'Oostende' is the place to indulge these characteristic lowland pleasures. Go the classic moules marenières (mussels cooked in white wine, garlic, chilli, tomato and parsley) and get your frites on the side – with mayonnaise, naturally. The venue always seems to be busy with crowds spilling out onto Ebenezer Place, just off bustling Rundle Street. Inside, old-fashioned chandeliers throw a warm, soft light over the ornamental furniture, wooden tables and stools. Historic pictures on the walls and bottles of flowers picketed around the place add a nice touch. More than 80 local and imported beers span dark ales, pale ales, lagers, abbeys and trappist beers. I opt for a Hoegaarden, the most well-known Belgian white ale, which tastes wheaty, light and smooth. The bartenders here take the Belgian thing seriously, with the famous ‘nine-step pour’ process that culminates in ‘trimming’ the head of your pint or half pint with a knife in order to get rid of large, loose bubbles.  The menu has Australian pub food, including steaks, salads, seafood, burgers and desserts, but the smart money is on Mondays when that kilo of mussels is just $20.

Located on the busy main strip of North Adelaide, the Archer is the watering hole for students who populate the neighbouring residential colleges. On the Saturday night Time Out drops in the happy chatter from groups enhances a warm and welcoming atmosphere. There’s a front bar, a dining area and a beer garden as well as a spacious large balcony featuring books and oil paintings. It’s in homage to the venue’s history – first built in 1849, the historic building changed from a library to a pub in 2002. The Archer has a special Gin Wall with more than 50 gins, as well as more than 15 beers on tap. There’s also a room with a pool table. The menu has a woodfire chargrilled steak section, as well as pub classics. Or you might want to try the stellar Archer cheeseburger, or that famous South Australian dish, the pie floater, which is an upside down pie served in pea and ham soup with tomato sauce. There's also a $9 kids menu and 20 per cent off for seniors.

One of the owners of the Kings Head hails from the Tuscan city of Lucca, north of Pisa, and recently installed a traditional woodfired pizza oven. Order a margherita from Regina’s Pizzeria or a latte from another recent addition, King’s Café. Because with pizza, beer and coffee you basically have everything you need in life, right?  The building is old – dating back to 1848 – and has been a pub since 1876. There’s marble tiling, red jarrah floors, a bottleshop, and outdoor spaces with wooden booths and tables. As well as pizza the menu has pub classics, burgers, nibbles, a chef's selection which includes handmade gnocchi, chicken breast and steak, as well as some Italian desserts such as panna cotta and affogato. There’s Massa Carrera marble over the crackling fireplace, which is keeping the place warm and cosy on a winter Monday night. The pub is rejigging its live music scene on Friday and Saturday nights with a range of performers, including a regular spot for the Kings Blues Band. 

Is there even such a thing as Hump Day when the Crown and Anchor offers $3 beers? Roll up on a Wednesday between 8 and 9pm for supercheap schooners of Coopers Pale, Dark and Young Henrys Cloudy Cider. Plenty of other people sure do. Dating back to 1853, the Crown and Anchor is full of character, just like its patrons. Grungy and welcoming, it's typically rammed with patrons filling the outdoors tables, front bar and surrounding the pool table. Often dubbed ‘the Cranker’, the pub thrums with live music all through the interior, which is covered in signs and stickers. Comedians perform at Cranker Comedy on Tuesday nights – entry requires merely a donation. If you have a craving for carbs, upstairs is Midnight Spaghetti, which offers delicious pastas like their famous Spaghetti Assassina (caramelised spaghetti, tomato, From Blammo hot sauce, basil and stracciatella); starters like fried Jeruslam artichokes and panzanella; and a couple of classic Italian desserts.

The Astor’s biggest strength is its function rooms available for hire, ideal spaces for a parties, conferences and other events. The five options each accommodate different sized parties and include greenery, wooden furnishings and modern and stylish touches like wooden tables, black chairs and a painted feature wall. The more intimate Adelaide Fringe shows are staged in these rooms and there’s often live music too. That’s not to say the Astor is not a great spot to catch up with mates over a beer or a decent cheap pub meal – on-street dining lets you enjoy the passing parade of this city fringe location. Whenever Time Out drops by and pulls up a stool by the slick copper bar we get a warm welcome from friendly staff. There’s a good variety of beers on tap, a wine list including impressive local names such as Serafino, d’Árenberg and Rockford Wines, and an Espresso Martini that will only set you back $10. Those classic pub meals include steaks, schnitzels, fish and chips, burgers and sharing options such as fries or nachos. The daily specials have some hearty comfort food mains such as beef vindaloo curry, homemade pie or bangers and mash. There is also dessert with your ice creams, puddings and affogato.

They brought us St Patrick’s Day and strong beers, Oscar Wilde and the Pogues. The Irish certainly know how to have a good time, and continue to do so at the Norwood Hotel, a heritage-listed hotel on the Parade, a street in Norwood full of drinking holes, eateries and shops. Locals gather here to catch up over a beer at Finn McCool’s Irish Pub, the venue-within-a-venue. There is a wide range on offer, including, of course, Irish lagers and Guinness, as well as a mixture of local, interstate and international wine and spirits. One dining area is done up like a street fitted with street lamps and shops displays – you might as well be in downtown Dublin. The front bar has a fireplace for the cooler months, while sport lovers hover around the large TV screens showing UFC, live and loud. The pub often books out for its live music nights where tribute acts predominate. Steak night is a highlight with $15 rump steak with chips on salad. How could you go wrong? Pop in 4-6pm on a weekday and you can get a pint for $6 ($6!), or come in on a Sunday for the $15 roast.

Grab a beer, settle into one of the chairs and enjoy the music in this intimate setting. You’ll feel right at home. The Grace Emily Hotel is everything you’d want from a pub: incredibly laid back, grungy and welcoming. As one of the historic pubs of the city’s West End, the pub was established just three years after South Australia was settled in 1839, and known then as the Launceston. Today, the pub’s reputation hinges on its commitment to live music, a staple most nights of the week that landed the Grace an induction into the South Australian Music Hall of Fame in 2017. A small stage in the backroom is where countless well-known and up-and-coming musicians have performed. The Grace Emily’s famous Monday night open mic, Billy Bob's BBQ Jam, has been going for about 20 years, and brings an attentive crowd to see Billy Bob Rankin and his band, singer-songwriters, poets and more. Billy works the crowd and the beats pulsates through the place while music lovers sit and bop along. The no-frills pub, which has an old-school interior with walls covered with paintings, posters and stickers is a perfect place for kicking back with a South Australian Coopers beer, either in the front bar, one of the tables out the front, in the back beer garden or in front of the band. There’s also a darts board and a pool table.