Adelaide is the capital city of the state of South Australia, and the fifth-most populous city of Australia. Adelaide is situated on the Adelaide Plains north of the Fleurieu Peninsula, between the Gulf St Vincent in the west and the Mount Lofty Ranges in the east.
Adelaide plays host to two of Australia’s leading contemporary dance companies. The Australian Dance Theatre and Dance Hub SA (formerly Leigh Warren & Dancers) contribute to state festivals and perform nationally and internationally. Restless Dance Theatre is also based in Adelaide and is nationally recognized for working with disabled and non-disabled dancers to use movement as a means of expression.
Here in this article, we will provide all the necessary information related to nightlife features of Brisbane, including a comprehensive list of the best destinations. You will find all the tools and necessary information here to organize your holidays in Brisbane the most complete way to make your journey a beautiful experience.
The Nightlife of Adelaide
Adelaide is bursting with culture, flavors, events, and entertainment. Taste your way through world-famous wine regions only minutes away from the city or indulge in some of Australia’s most award-winning restaurants in the heart of Adelaide. Join the party at immersive festivals and events or spend the night exploring Adelaide attractions and a thriving restaurant and bar scene. Adelaide is a gateway to some of Australia’s best wine country and is dotted with historic buildings, lush parklands and sprawling botanic gardens. Home to Australia’s official best restaurant, hotel, wine, gin and beach, Adelaide punches well above its weight when it comes to dishing up the best but don’t take our word for it; you will be the judge. So here we have compiled this list of what we believe are the top activities to do in Brisbane, check out our recommended options here for the best venues available in Brisbane and all are ready to make you happy while you are enjoying your nightlife experience over there:
Adelaide Festival Theatre
Located on the riverbank in Adelaide, the State Theatre hosts many great productions as they tour around Australia and sometimes the world. Not all the shows are quite as well-known, and there is still some more offbeat and quirky stuff happening. You can buy tickets to individual shows, or, if you’re a local you might like to invest in a subscription. They have a special reduced rate for under the 30s, which is really good value if you plan on attending a few shows.
Take a ghost tour of the Adelaide gaol
The Adelaide Gaol is pretty spooky by day anyway, considering it was Adelaide’s main prison for over a century. It is particularly haunting given that many people were executed here – and even buried on the grounds, as was the custom back then. If you want things really spooky, however, wait until the sun goes down and then join in one of the Ghost Tours run by the Gaol Preservation Society.
Smoke some Shisha
There are now several Shisha Bars both in the city and out towards the suburbs. One of the most frequented and favorite Adelaide Shisha Bar is the Sheesha Lounge. They have lots of fruity flavors, and their Cardamom tea is a revelation. They also do more substantial meals if you’re feeling peckish. Like many of the shisha bars in Adelaide, the Sheesha Lounge does not serve alcohol. If you’d prefer a drink with your pipe, then you might want to head for the Marrakesh Shisha Lounge which is also on Hindley Street.
Best Bars in Adelaide
La Buvette Drinkery
This French aperitif bar is every bit as elegant as it sounds, serving an array of charcuterie plates, imported cheeses, and tapas-style French delicacies – including ‘escargot’, snails drowned in garlic butter – alongside boutique spirits, cocktails and craft beers. Oh, and then there’s La Buvette’s impressive wine list, which combines the best of France with South Australia’s finest drops.
Clever Little Tailor
Peel St is the trendiest alleyway in Adelaide, and CLT is right in the thick of the action. The urbane interior – imagine leather booths, wooden stools and exposed brick galore – provides the perfect surroundings for a sophisticated cocktail, a glass of local wine, an imported beer or a wee dram from the long list of whiskeys.
Hains & Co
This Gilbert Place establishment has a two-word slogan – ‘lifting spirits’ – and it doesn’t disappoint with its extensive selection of quality gin, rum, and whiskey. The exterior of Hains & Co looks like a classic London pub, while the interior looks like the cabin of a ship, the outside area’s cigar smokers whiff like in Cuba, and the deep-fried bar food taste like the southern States.
Maybe Mae
Hidden behind a timber wall in a small tunnel off Peel St, this art deco-inspired cocktail den oozes sophistication. Since taking over this moody basement in 2014, Maybe Mae has forged a mighty reputation as one of Adelaide’s most suave watering holes, with an ever-changing menu of cocktails loaded with freshly juiced fruit.
Proof Bar
The proof was awarded Adelaide’s first small venue license in 2013, and this intimate watering hole has cemented its reputation as one of the city’s coolest venues ever since. Tucked away off Waymouth St, the two-level bar is made up of a rooftop terrace for those balmy summer evenings plus a cozy ground-floor space.
Bank Street Social
‘Local’ is the name of the game at this below-ground bar in the heart of the West End, specializing in South Australian craft beer and cider, boutique Aussie spirits, plus wines from the dozens of world-class vineyards on Adelaide’s doorstep. Several flights of stairs beneath nightlife hub Hindley St, Bank Street Social also dishes up pizzas packed with local ingredients from the Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, and the Adelaide Hills.
Mother Vine
This venue in the old East End Cellars building is perhaps Adelaide’s premier wine bar and that’s saying a lot, considering the quality of the drops produced by the wine regions that surround the city. Mother Vine’s expertly curated wine list and super-knowledgeable staff are the main draw-card, complemented by a substantial tapas menu.
Best Bar Restaurants Adelaide
SHOBOSHO
One of a favorite spot in Adelaide is Leigh Street’s Shōbōsho, the latest venture from prolific South Australian restauranteur Simon Karachi. The Japanese-inspired menu blends smoke, steam and fire, the ancient traditions of Japanese yakitori and has drawn Head Chef Adam Liston back to Adelaide after his stints in Shanghai and Melbourne. Décor is slick, rich and warm with a distinctly Japanese feel.
Restaurant Orana
Adelaide’s Restaurant Orana is a major standout. Named Australia’s Restaurant of the Year 2018 by Gourmet Traveller magazine and Restaurant of the Year 2019 by the Good Food Guide, Adelaide’s Restaurant Orana is lead by internationally-renowned local chef Jock Zonfrillo. Orana boldly uses native ingredients like bunya nuts, green ants and quandongs to create culinary works of art.
Bistro Blackwood
Orana’s younger, bubblier and slightly more budget-conscious sibling, Bistro Blackwood (also run by Jock Zonfrillo) is a favorite one too. Located in Adelaide’s buzzing East End, it’s a place for everyone, boasting a seasonally evolving menu using the same Indigenous ingredients and techniques as Orana.
Africola
Johannesburg-born Duncan Welgemoed serves red hot, authentic South African cuisine at Adelaide’s wildly different Africola. One of the demanded places to eat in Adelaide, cooking is done on the fire with a big emphasis on vegetables, seafood and rotisserie meats. It is colorful, loud, brash and boozy – just as it should be.
Jamface
Adelaide ex-MasterChef contestant Poh has flourished post-show, handcrafting a gorgeous café in the heart of the Adelaide Central Market. Jamface café prides itself on homemade produce, plating-up Scandinavian-inspired lunches, fresh breakfasts, pastries, pasta sauces, jams and more. Pop by on a Friday night for the set menu dinner, paired with lip-smacking South Australian wine.
Peel St.
Peel St itself has become ground zero for Adelaide’s small-bar scene, but before all that jazz, Peel St restaurant redefined urban dining in Adelaide with its fabulous industrial décor and super-generous, creative modern Australian cuisine with Asian overtones. The food is sublime, but the vibe is totally unpretentious: quick-fire, communal and democratic.
Chianti
Stroll down to Hutt Street in the East End to red-brick Chinati, and you’ll discover a beacon of Roman culinary delight. Business suits are a book in for long lunches, while couples rediscover their romantic flicker over candlelit dinners. The breakfast menu goes far beyond fry-ups and toast (but you’ll find that too) and the evening menu features the likes of antipasti, as well as several other dish variants. Try the house-made spinach pasta and finish off with the tiramisu.
Best Nightclubs in Adelaide
Zhivago
Established in 2003, Zhivago remains to be one of the most frequented and cutting edge nightclubs. Located in the heart of the city’s West End, Zhivago caters to over 3000 people each weekend. For patrons that prefer a more intimate experience, they have built a new boutique bar in the east end of the venue, including its own mini DJ booth and dance floor. The extensive drinks menu, striking street art, skilled bartenders and upbeat party tunes delivered by some of SA’s most popular DJ’s, is what sets Adelaide’s favorite nightclub apart from the rest.
Electric Circus
Electric Circus is one of the most frequented night club in Adelaide. It is open Thursdays, Saturdays and occasionally on Fridays. The music is predominantly electro, boasting some of the best resident DJs, including Loot and Plunder who was voted the best DJs in South Australia by In The Mix. Almost every week they have national and international guests playing at the club.
HQ Complex
Despite being one of the biggest clubs in Adelaide, HQ is one of those places that you are predestined to love, tolerate, or absolutely despise. Formerly known as Heaven, HQ takes up a huge block on the corner of West Terrace and North Terrace. The complex offers 4 or 5 different rooms, each themed differently with separate DJ’s who play different kinds of music.
The Dancing Room
There is a different DJ each week, and there is no stylistic preference. Hip-hop, Spanish music, 90s pop – it depends who is DJ’ing that week. It isn’t that hard to get your turn DJ’ing either – just come along and has a chat to one of the organizers.
Distil
Split over two levels, downstairs is relaxed and intimate with lounges and ambient music that you can actually talk over the top of; while upstairs is a heaving, hot mess of dancing, cocktail drinking and beautiful people. There’s no cover charge at Distil; the music is a mix of modern, house, R&B and old-school; and while the wine list is good, the cocktail list is even better.
Red Square
If you are after a trashy big dance experience, this Hindley Street institution is the place to be for you. With two rooms R&B and electro house the DJs here are top-notch, the energy electric and there’s a light-up dance floor! Plus, it is the place you go at 7am Sunday morning (when the lock-out laws are lifted) and you want to keep partying.
Videos To Watch To Discover
Conclusion
Let us sum up things, here in this article we went through a brief introduction of Brisbane along with a brief introduction of city attractions. We also went through different activities and place to enjoy the nightlife. Such activities provide a great source of entertainment for tourists and locals as well. We then went through a comprehensive list of bars available in the city. These exotic and swanky bars are just awesome and worth visiting. No doubt, Brisbane has some of the classic and cozy bars to cater to your boozing needs.
To fulfill your food craving we also looked at a list of bar-restaurants which provide delicious and exotic culinary experience along with a touch of booze. This delightful and amazing combination of food and booze pushes the limits of Nightlife entertainment and adds a great value to your journey. And finally, we explored a detailed list of nightclubs of the city that provide premium night-time entertainment for your optimum satisfaction. Make sure to give a try the above recommendation which will add value to your tour, so that you won’t regret yourself choosing bad options.
