Asian cuisine may play a starring role in Adelaide’s dining scene, but restaurants like The Little Rickshaw are still unusual beyond the city fringe. What looks to be a corrugated iron shed is home to an impressive Southeast Asian diner by owners Trinh and Mike Richards, who've converted a 190-year-old blacksmith’s workshop into a 40-seat restaurant so inviting, it could be an old friend’s living room.

The family-style set menu is tweaked by Trinh and the kitchen team daily, and anyone who loved the chef’s original food stall at the Aldinga markets will feel right at home here. Dishes are playful, sustainable and rooted in community, from squid caught by a local fisherman that’s chargrilled and glazed with house gochujang, to vegetables from Trinh’s relative’s farm wrapped inside wontons and drenched in coconut tom yum sauce.

The warm service and drinks, led by Mike, are also prime examples of the sharp hospitality venues like The Little Rickshaw and the nearby Silver Sands Beach Club are bringing to the Fleurieu.