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Guide To An Adelaide Central Market Food Tour

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The sounds, the smells, the flavours, the variety of colours – it’s all truly breathtaking inside the historic Adelaide Central Market.

This haven for foodies is where you can find the freshest, organic produce in the city, and discover delicious restaurants, eateries, and food stalls that have shaped South Australia’s culinary history.

For more than 150 years, Adelaide Central Market has been the beating heart of the city’s food trade.

It features more than 80 traders, and you can pick up everything from locally-grown fruit and vegetables, to farm-raised fresh meats, poultry, and freshly caught seafood, multicultural cuisine, and so much more.

Fresh from the farm

Surrounding the market is Central Market Arcade, where you’ll find restaurants, cafes, shops, and Adelaide’s China Town.

Visiting this market is not just about buying local produce, it’s an experience, and a piece of Adelaide’s history.

Below we share our experience of doing a food tour of South Australia’s finest produce market!

History of Adelaide Central Market

South Australia is known to be a foodie’s paradise with plenty of fresh local produce and good wine.

A visit to the 150 year old Adelaide Central Market in the centre of the central business district (CBD) was the perfect way for us to experience the culinary delights of the region.

The market is the largest fresh produce market in the Southern Hemisphere, with over 80 specialist stallholders and the most visited tourist destination in South Australia with over 1.3 million visitors per month.

It began in January 1869, when traders began selling smallgoods on the land. There was nothing but two large sheds on Grote Street, and a few horses and carts.

A year later, it was officially named The City Market, and the land where the market stands today was purchased, with the official market day being Tuesdays and Saturdays.

In 1900, the first stone foundations were built, and it underwent a series of renovations and expansions over the years, to later become the largest undercover market in Australia.

man in butcher shop in adelaide market

In fact, to this day, the market is being expanded even further, and the redevelopment is expected to be completed by 2026.

In the early 2000s, Adelaide Central Market transformed from being a farmers market into an arcade of culinary delights.

On the ground floor, you will find stallholders selling local produce, and above is a series of rooftops and public spaces and the car park.

In the surrounding Central Market Arcade and Market Plaza, you can find many cafés and restaurants, which have some of the best dishes in the city.

After all, they can get their produce from mere steps away!

A Food Tour of Adelaide Central Market

Adelaide Central Market

Wowee! The Adelaide Central Market are the best markets I have been to in Australia.

We were greeted by Mark Gleeson, who runs the Adelaide Central Market food tours.

He has been involved in the food industry for more than 40 years experience and saw an opening 20 years ago to merge that with tourism.

He is passionate about sharing the journey of produce from farmer to plate and highlighting the effort of the businesses that are involved in that production.

We started at his own store Providore, a place guaranteed to skyrocket your taste buds and expand your waistline to ginormic proportions.

woman eating chocolate strawberries Adelaide central market
Yum!

The first sign we were in trouble came with the shops centrepiece: a towering chocolate fountain.

There’s only one thing you can do with that, stick in a bucket of strawberries and munch em down. Creamy, delicious and not too sweet!

There were plenty of things to sweeten your taste buds: cakes and pastries, chocolates and biscuits and variations on old Australian favourites – lovingtons, berry and choc-chip Pavlova rolls, and wagon wheels – what the cool kids had packed in their lunch boxes when I was at school.

I was delighted to see a huge variety of gluten free cakes and slices, something that is rare to find in Australia.

Health foods have become more popular in recent years, and you will find that many of the stores cater to dietary needs and preferences.

berry and choc chip pavlova
berry and choc chip pavlova
lamingtons at Providore Adelaide Central Market
Providore

We lingered a little too long at Providore and Mark had to drag us to the Lucia’s Pizza & Spaghetti, the food store and restaurant opposite.

Gleeson’s knowledge of the market and his vendors was evident throughout the tour, and he taught us a lot about the history and people behind each stall.

For Lucia’s, it started with a post-war Italian immigrant family, who still serves aficionados 60+ years later and has seen three generations of family manage it.

This Adelaide institution has now branched out into a pizza restaurant and grocery store.

espresso coffee sign Lucina Adelaide Central Market
Lucina Cafe

While I was buying some Lucina olive oil, the smell of cooking mushrooms pulled me over to the huge pot next to the serving counter.

“Those mushrooms smell divine. What are you making?” I asked the server stirring it.

“Mushroom soup. We cook it here and then package it and sell it over there.” He pointed to the line of pre-packaged soup in the fridge.

“If someone walks past and wants some as I am pureeing it up, then sure I’ll sell them some right here to.”

mushrooms boiling
Mushroom madness

I wanted some right there. But, we had farmers to visit.

Mario is one of the only growers left in the market and one of the biggest food experts in the city.

He brings his produce 30 minutes every day from his farm to the markets.

You can tell by the size and quirkiness of the fruit that this is real home grown goodness.

The apples are tiny, the zucchini extra-large, the avocados robust, and the quince bumpy.

He has been selling fruit and veg here for over 35 years. He cut up some persimmon and nectarine for us, it was deliciously sweet.

green grocer holding mangoes at Adelaide central market
Mario

Time was running out so we were whisked over to Say Cheese, “the sexiest cheese store in Australia.”

Mark was adamant that your search for the best smelly cheese shop in Australia ended here.

We had to put this to the test.

Lulu came on out from behind the counter and before us turned some curd into mozzarella.

The Say Cheese stall does cheese making demonstrations from Thursday to Saturday.

making cheese at Adelaide central market (2)
Start with the curd
making cheese at Adelaide central market (3)
Mix and stretch

It was fascinating watching it transform from blobs to dense stringy cheese and then balls.

She sliced the finished balls for each of us to try. It was still warm and dripping with water.

The combination of salt and milky creaminess melted into a taste orgasm.

making cheese at Adelaide central market (4)
roll
making cheese at Adelaide central market (1)
Knot if you want extra sexy

It totally got the Say Cheese sexiness.

If you’re feeling thirsty and need a beverage to wet your appetite, head over to the Kangaroo Island stall to sample some of the excellent wine from this remote island off the shores of Adelaide.

This stall has the largest collection of Kangaroo Island produce, not just with wine, but spirits, and beauty products, too.

It’s the only place where you can buy KI produce on the mainland without visiting Kangaroo Island.

We visited the market on Wednesday, volunteer day. This is the one day of the week the vendors do not have to be open.

Thankfully a large selection of vendors still do.

It was probably the best day for us to visit as Mark said on every other day you can’t move in the markets because of food tourism.

It is elbow pushing room only.

I highly recommend this tour. I loved the personal nature of meeting the vendors, trying their best food, and learning more of their stories.

Best Time to Tour Adelaide Central Market

The best time to tour Adelaide Central Market is on Tuesday – Friday as early as possible.

The market opens at 7.00am on Tuesday and Friday, and 9.00am on Wednesday and Thursday, and generally the quietest times are when the doors first open.

Fridays are the longest operating hour days, staying open until 9.00pm. On Friday evenings and Saturdays, the market is chocker block with people, and can get a bit too crowded.

The market is closed Mondays and Sundays.

More South Australia Travel Tips

Need more inspiration for visiting the South of Australia? Here are some other helpful posts!

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