We stayed at the adjacent Lodge, making Hardy's Veranda a convenient stroll across the property…read more We were in the mood for more casual than the fine dining experience, thus chose to dine in the bar. Very comfortable, quiet, charming. The bartender was very helpful with my husband's choosing of a local whiskey. I had a delicious cocktail and we both had wine with our dinner. Service was efficient and friendly. Food was high quality/seasonal and delish. Positive all around.

Set in the nicely renovated Mount Lofty House (previously there was a 'Hardy's Restaurant" in the…read morecomplex but now this brilliant gem has opened on the Piccadilly side of the building. As the name indicates it has a verandah, although most tables are not on the verandah, although most have a view. Fantastic decor', staff, view. The menu looks the part and everything is presented with precision throughout the degustation. No doubt everyone will love this place and if you stay here you should eat here. For me it was "The King has no clothes". The lovely waitress rapid fire parroted off the description of each dish, intertwined with French or food jargon words most of which I had to ask her to repeat or explain. Many dishes were Minuscule wafers of air dried beef, mouses, tiny scraps of slightly over soused produce and chef's ego concoctions to justify the price. Then amongst the minuscule portions an unexplained giant sugary sour milk roll (potentially a palate cleanser). The desert with the old 'fizz wizz' trick was good and the petite fours nicely presented, although the chocolate tasted of pure white sugar. The wine by the glass was shot out of a ridiculous syringe argon gas contraption that lacked ceremony. Surely in a large busy degustation restaurant, draining these not so expensive bottles quickly and using a gas blanket preserver would avoid this?! In contrast, the Magill Estate takes great SA produce and doesn't muck with every dish quite so much and dishes are just big enough to justify a half serve of wine with each course.

This could be slightly offensive but im gonna say it any way…read more You dont have to be Indian to be a curry muncher. Take me for example. I frequent this restaurant on a weekly basis just so I can get my fix of the Sala Thai Massaman Beef Curry. There are a million things that look good on the menu that I haven't got around to trying yet because I just cant get past the Massaman curry. It could be intervention time, I've gotta branch out people. I also go for the service, The lady who makes the magic happen has hospitality running through her veins; she always makes dining in an absolute pleasure with her super friendly demeanor. But what is also great is I can get takeaway so I can indulge my Massaman fetish away from the worlds prying eyes. You can find Sala Thai just off the main street in Stirling in the Adelaide hills. it doesn't accommodate hoards of people though so book ahead because its quite popular. Another plus is they will split the bill for you if you ask, love that. Oh and one last thing...Massaman Beef Curry.

We live just down the road at Crafers and have been to Sala at least 20 times. They make as good a…read moregreen curry, pad thai or basil beef as any Thai restaurant in the city, but if you want to try something special, get their yellow curry. It is sensational. Definitely the best yellow curry I have tried. Also, they are creative with their dishes and don't just throw the same veggies in every dish. They also do some great special dishes such as the yellow barramundi curry and red duck or basil duck. The owners are always very friendly and accommodating and will stop to have a chat with you. We have dined in and had take away on many occasions and can highly recommend both.

Right in the Main Street of Stirling this place does some excellent business. Opened pretty much…read moreall day even for breakfast. For Australia not a bad Mexican influenced eatery. It's much bigger than you think with multiple dinning areas. It's worth a visit.

I've visited several times now and each time the food has been excellent and the service friendly…read more Lovely place for a date or catching up with friends.

Wow i love this place Patch d I've taken lots of my friends there and all of them have loved the…read moreowner, Belle a d her husband d Andrew, the chef. His bread is cooked on an outdoor bonfire, daily and is delightful as charred on the outside a d crunchy. I aim to visit every week and have managed to achieve this these past 3 months or so. Belle is warm And moves around so quickly, service is quick and food very hot. Homemade pasta meals my daughters love as do I. The starters are out of this world like cherry tomatoes covered with Greek yoghurt and olive oil. Outdoors is also glorious surrounded by very tall trees. 10 stars if 10 is excellent Anne Rosewarne

*I shall preface this review by saying that I've only ever eaten here when it's been sunny/warm…read moreenough to sit outside* I'm going to give Patch a five. For my liking, they do a ripper brekky, the service is friendly and the atmosphere is typical of this end of the hills - easygoing, but with just a splash of 'nose-in-the-air', which I find very amusing. Before we first went (2nd day they were open) we had heard they were trying to push the kid friendly vibe. Although they seem to cater for the young mum audience, according to reports I've heard come from the owners, the young mum crowd stopping in for a coffee once or twice a week doesn't pay the bills, so they are trying to expand their clientel to include people who will buy cocktails and spend money! Fair enough too. I hope this place has legs and is around for a while; The old indian restaurant in this spot seemed to thrive for years, whereas other restaurant spots in the same area of Stirling have a very hard time, turning over every couple of years. Seems like you're doing the right thing at the moment Patchies, keep it up! And to any of you curious about somewhere to go in the hills for a bite, with or without kids, get into patch. Well worth a look!

We had a rather decadent kids lunch after a game of outdoor laser skirmish a few weeks ago on a…read moreSaturday afternoon, by ordering a few pizza's from Jimmies. Mainly because they were the only pizza place in the hills we discovered, and had we known we would've packed our own lunch. All we really wanted was a Pizza Hut but there are none in the hills...so here's a big tip for those of you who are cashed up investors...open a franchise and give Jimmies a run for their money. I will be a customer but please do a good job and no slap dash stuff. P.S please respond to my review and let me know when you do ok!! Because boy was it expensive for a wood oven pizza and feeding over 10 hungry kids and a few adults, it's enough to get a bank loan. We didn't find the pizza all that fantastic, I mean kids will eat almost anything but to the discerning adult it wasn't anything to write home about, hence I'm writing here about the negatives. So yes we had takeaway and didn't eat in, it was too toffee for a bunch of ragamuffin kids and weekend scruffy parents to go in, so yeah it's a 'meh, I've experienced better' rating.

Staff too busy chatting to each other to make my coffee. Kept me waiting 15 minutes even though…read morethey were not serving anyone else.

My friend had been talking up this joint since the moment I landed in Adelaide, and I really…read morethought nothing of it. I was expecting just your basic pizza spot, I was wrong, definitely wrong. We managed to snag a Sunday night reservation, make sure to make reservations as this restaurant is quite small. The building is actually a converted church, that has beautiful paintings on the walls and ceilings. The staff were incredibly friendly, there were plenty of pizza options on the menu, I opted for the ole Smokey, and loved it. I also got a glass of local wine. Not to mention, the food came out quickly. Only wish I got to see the beauty of Lost In a Forest during the day. Worth a visit!

A great little pizza place on the Main Street of Uraidla. They have so many different types of…read morePizza. There is seating in and outside. It was very nice. When in this area check it out.

Open on Sunday night in the hills. Charming place inside and out, set in lovely Adelaide hills…read morelocation. The outdoor candle lit dining deck is lovely but inside is also nice. I couldn't fault the food, or the service ..fantastic. Kitchen and all areas look very clean too, no hidden basement kitchens here like some dodgy restaurants). As I walked out I noticed they had some amazing specials on a small board in staff area which they didn't tell us about but I assume on Sundays they don't do due to very small crowd (which is a good sign, as if you offer specials you expect they are fresh and you can't offer a range of specials on a night when you have only 6 customers!)

Really good Indian food here, which is the main attraction for us. The fish tikka is my favourite…read moreentre, although it can be ordered as a mains too. Over our regular visits we've tried most of the seafood and vegetarian options, of which there are plenty, and have always enjoyed the choices on the menu. The outdoor eating deck is a bonus for summer dining and the wine selection is good too.

This place is a gem. Beautifully considered and refined food. Every ingredient had a place and was…read morethoughtfully prepared. We went with their "feed us" option and left the choices to the kitchen and we weren't disappointed. All ingredients are prepared in-house by the staff, from the bread and butter to the wine. Apparently the menu changes a lot based on what fresh ingredients they have sourced that day. The dishes were meat-light, which I actually appreciated ​since I tend to shy away from ordering vego dishes at meals and that meant I got to experience some nice surprises I wouldn't normally have chosen for myself. The wine (recommended by the server) was delicious. The staff are all super-friendly, and the vibe is very relaxed, like you're eating at a mate's place. It's the sort of food you'd usually dress up for, but without the stuffy presentation or attitude. We were over-dressed. We were at a small booth, but the real action appears to be at a large central shared table, so be prepared to make some new friends. The interior fit-out in general is beautiful - lots of carefully crafted wooded details. The only tip - remember you're in the hills. Dress warm :) It's lovely inside, but you have to go outside to get to the toilet and that can be a bit chilly. I can't recommend this place enough. Can't wait to go back for a second go around.

Pizza baby!!! I've…read morebeen to those cities that never close down but this is still better than the pizza in Roma town. In my opinion it is better than most of the chains and hey, I was a Pizza Hut kid so I totally know what I'm talking about! I'm here to tell you that you cannot go past the Ham & Mushroom - add some red capsicum to that and you have one happy pizza. The pan sizing is pretty big too, you can get a large, family or party size, and I don't know about you guys but I prefer a generous, fluffy base rather than a thin pan: I want a pizza, not a biscuit, which is exactly what their lovely staff deliver! Dining in isn't a big occasion here, the space isn't really designed for families larger than four so it's lucky that takeaway is an option. The locals tend to refer to this place as 'Aldgate Pizza' rather than 'Aldgate Cafe'. in fact its only recently that I even discovered its true name, so if you are wanting to place and order abut you don't have the number - don't be like me and get into an argument with the person on the other end of the directory line when they tell you that Aldgate Pizza doesn't exist! because it is foremost a cafe, they just happen to make awesome pizza.

Takeaway pizza review:…read more This little nugget of legendary Hills food takeaway joints has eluded me for many years. Until 2015. I had the good fortune of swinging past the Aldgate café on my way home from a friend's place one Sunday evening a few weeks ago when my partner said 'Feel like pizza tonight?' to which I smugly retorted 'Do furry ursidae defecate in wooded areas?' That was a couple of months ago, and I'd forgotten how good the pizzas were. But again this Saturday eve, the question of whether I felt like pizza for tea was raised once again, and once more I answered like a smart alec. So we phoned up the Aldgate café and ordered a medium Mexican and a thai chicken pizza. Simple enough...until it came time to actually finish eating what we'd ordered! These pizzas were dynamite! So filling, and so so SSOOO tasty! I don't normally leave leftovers, but I had no choice. And it was still tasty the next day (feel free to hit me up for my leftover pizza reheating technique - guaranteed flavour country). The range of available styles is great, and the service was quick, for both delivery and in-store ordering. Don't miss this place if you're in or around the hills. It's tucked in amongst a few other shops, so it's easy to shoot past and not catch it, but it is a worthwhile food experience. They also have an affordable and decent range of drinks/wines inhouse.

A city slicker like me looked at this place from the outside and thinks "hang on, am I in the right…read moreplace?" But I persevered, wondering if the simplistic looking cafe set overlooking a car park and hosting canteen style menu board of sandwiches aimed to fool the hipsters of Parkside into thinking they should move on an eat at other hard wood floored establishments on the main road. I was right. It's the essence of things, it's the friendly country service (even though you're 20 mins from the city), it's...Mabo. Hearty soups and huge baguettes caught my eye on a cold winter's day in Stirling. My seasonal veggie soup came out with crusty bread and steaming hot. All I wanted to do for 15 minutes was eat that bloody soup but I had to wait for it to be less than burning. That soup-er temptress was worth the wait as she was peppery and full flavoured and very filling. I'm currently planning my return for a less heated affair and one of their big brekkies. Soon my pretty....

I've been wanting to review this place for ages, but I had to try every baguette first…read more (and the burrito) (and the New York Rueben) There are 15 different baguette options on the menu, not including variations. It's a tad overwhelming but I prefer this to the chain sandwich store, production-line style of ordering. Also, The Essence baguettes are well over a foot long with heaps of filling all the way to the end. No need for a tape measure. The staff are really friendly, and it seems genuine. Even when they aren't having the best day, the inner awesome shines through. Given the success of the place in it's hidden location, it would seem the fickle people of Stirling agree. The baguettes. They're just that good. All the ingredients look, taste and smell super fresh. I haven't been able to decide on a favourite, but all that come with pancetta are droolworthy. Crispy salty awesome with fresh herbs, it sounds simple but it's done so well. The chicken ceasar is really good too, as are the turkey cranberry and the chicken avocado. The philly cheese steak owns my stomach, so filling, so good. The smell alone makes my mouth water. When I tried The salami baguette I had my standards set pretty low (I'm not a mad salami fan) but upon recommendation I had it toasted. To say I was impressed is an understatement. Possibly the best cheese toastie I've ever had. There are two vegetarian baguette options on the menu, both are really good quality full of roast vegetable and herb deliciousness. I haven't looked for a vegan option, but I'm sure these friendly folks won't bight your head off if you ask nicely. They also do good coffee, and like most places in Stirling these days they do breakfast. Unfortunately I'm yet to have the Essence Breakfast experience but it's certainly on my to do list.