Featuring: Normanville Kiosk and Café, Star of Greece, West Beach Surf Club Cafe…

FOR the hospitality industry the year starts no better than 2021 ended, with severe constraints on the number of customers able to attend restaurants.
Those best able to adapt, however, include establishments that have large floor areas, enabling them to meet social distancing requirements, and those with extensive outdoor seating – all of which is good news for a number of beachside Adelaide eateries.
For many years the Adelaide coastline, though beautiful and inviting, could claim few beachside cafes or restaurants of any class. One of the earliest and most distinguished has been the Star of Greece at Port Willunga, named for an ancient wreck whose bones can still be seen at low tide, sitting atop cliffs overlooking Gulf St Vincent from which much of its seafood dishes are drawn.
Since being taken over by Doug and Nikki Govan the SoG has undergone a number of transforming renovations, as well as benefitting from Doug’s famous cellar at his Victory Hotel. There’s outdoor seating with splendid sea views, with a menu that features classic dishes such as Kangaroo Island King George whiting with hand-cut chips, or more sophisticated dishes such as pan-fried barramundi with skordalia, chargrilled radicchio and tomato and herb sauce vierge.
If you just want fish and chips and the open air, there’s also an adjoining Pt Willy kiosk. Star of Greece, 1 The Esplanade, Port Willunga. Open for lunch Wednesday to Sunday, dinner Thursday to Saturday. Phone (08) 8557 7420.
Just a bit further down the coast is a great example of how Adelaide’s beachside kiosks and cafes have evolved in recent years. Where once you might have expected a meat pie, soggy chips or worse, the Normanville Kiosk and Café is a seaside gem with a menu to match.
It could hardly be closer to the beach, overlooking Yankalilla Bay, with plenty of shaded outdoor seating on its expansive deck, perfect in these Covid-afflicted times.
As you’d expect, there’s the classic fish and chips, or salt and pepper squid with Greek salad, but rather unexpectedly there’s soft shell crab in a Szechuan tempura batter with pineapple, mint and chilli salsa amongst the entrees, and crisp pork belly with Szechuan prawns, Vietnamese mint and soba noodles, or house-smoked chicken breast with Romesco sauce and charred corn in with the mains.
Little wonder the place has a reputation for great value – and after dining you can grab an icecream and take a walk on the jetty, with your fishing rod if you’re so inclined. It’s renowned for its mullet, yellowfin whiting and flathead. Normanville Kiosk & Café, 100 Jetty Road, Normanville. Open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner during summer. Phone (08) 8558 2575.

Until Sam Dunning, his sister Lucy and their extended families took over Oceanique, a large restaurant, terrace and function space several years ago, it was largely deserted and unloved. That was at least partly because it was off the beaten track in a maritime precinct at West Beach adjacent to the Adelaide Sailing Club.
Not anymore. It’s potential for great value dining for families, holidaymakers and locals alike has been unleashed – partly through a thorough refurbishment and brightening up that maximised its appeal right on the seafront, and increasingly driven by the then chef Toby Gush’s skills in the kitchen.
Gush has since moved on to other challenges, but the standards in the kitchen haven’t changed with a continuing emphasis on local, sustainable seafood and whole fish specials. Not surprisingly the fish and chips are one of the best of its kind in Adelaide based on crisply-battered, sustainably-caught ocean jacket fish from Greenly Island off Eyre Peninsula. These firm-fleshed white fish, a larger, deeper ocean version of the common leatherjacket, are perfect in this context.
To these is added a terrific house-made (of course) tartare, a bundle of super crisp chips and a salad bowl that varies from day to day but is far more interesting than most of its kind.
There’s much more than this on the menu, which changes weekly and includes basics such as Wagyu steaks, fried free-range chicken and burgers. There’s a short but well curated wine list, and a fabulous view at sunset. What more could you want? Oceanique, 9 Barcoo Road, West Beach. Open lunch Wednesday-Sunday. Phone (08) 8294 3232.
While on the subject of fish and chips, there’s another great plate to be had at the West Beach Surf Club Cafe, which also enjoys fabulous seaside views from its balcony and open terrace. One of its key features is also the fact that its open in summer from breakfast to dinner, with all-day dining, seven days a week.
Although the long menu covers everything from focaccia with chips to schnitzels and curry, the go-to dish is the beer-battered garfish with chips and coleslaw.
It’s great value, the view is as good as it gets, the open terrace is dog friendly (water bowls under the tables). It’s very casual but very comfortable, just what you want by the beach. West Beach Surf Club, cnr Seaview and West Beach roads, West Beach. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. Phone (08) 8353 8503.