The rich soil of the Limestone Coast translates into two things, excellent wine and excellent produce. The restaurants of the area take full advantage of the tasty treats on their doorstep, particularly the very special Limestone Coast beef and the fresh seafood from the nearby coast. You can eat very well, and very expensively too! If you’re looking for breakfast, a light lunch, morning or afternoon tea, there's an array of cafes, hotels, delicatessens, cellar doors, bakeries and take-away shops that will accommodate you. If you’re after a cold or fruity drink the wineries and the tourist savvy regional town pubs are your best choice.

Mt Gambier

• Sage & Muntries A Mediterranean influenced restaurant. It's good value with a range of pastas and burgers for under $20.
• Sorrentos Cafe There's a bit of everything at this joint, with an extensive menu of pizzas, noodles, salads and steaks.
• The Barn Steakhouse Located just south of Mount Gambier, this wonderful restaurant has the finest selection of Limestone Coast beef on offer. Aged eight weeks, this just might be the best steak you’ll ever eat.
• Caffe Belgiorno An authentic Italian restaurant with woodfired pizzas in the Oatmill Complex. It gets very busy on Saturday nights, but well worth the wait.
• South Eastern Hotel A country pub, not the historic kind, with a beer garden, drive-through bottle shop, pokie machines and a bistro. Not bad for a feed.

Penola and Coonawarra

• Pipers of Penola A gorgeous regional restaurant, housed in a light-filled former church and surrounded by pretty gardens. Its menu focusses on local ingredients and mains are around $36. Dishes such as twice cooked crispy skin pork belly, treacle baked beans, cabbage and apple salad, make the price worth it!
• Upstairs at Hollick Dine overlooking the vineyards of the famous Hollick Winery and sample their modern Australian cuisine. Mains start from $32 and bookings are essential.

• fodder A relaxed but chic restaurant in Coonawarra, the kind you might find in a lane-way in Melbourne, with simple but excellent food. The woodfired pizzas are a must! Prices range from $12-$31.

Robe

• The Gallerie Restaurant You have a choice of a casual bar menu on the deck, or a more formal menu in the dining room, but both offer the best ingredients of the region, especially some very fine seafood.
• Caledonian Inn This charming hotel is set in an historic vine-covered building, nurturing within a cosy, wood-panelled restaurant. Snuggle up in front of the open fire and try the ‘Brodetto di Pesce’, a rich Italian seafood stew.

Meningie

• Cheese Factory Restaurant & Museum A restaurant, with adjoining museum (!), which makes the most of the excellent local produce, including meat, seafood, dairy products and wines. Go on a sunny day so you can sit outside in the gardens and soak up the breezy, country ambience.