Where Burial Rites Author Hannah Kent Eats, Drinks and Hangs Out in the Adelaide CBD

You can take the writer out of Adelaide, but you can’t take Adelaide out of the writer. Award-winning author Hannah Kent has lived in places as diverse as Thailand, Melbourne and a remote village in Iceland, and now lives “five minutes away from where I grew up” in the Adelaide Hills – and she brought her Melburnian wife with her. “I started a campaign to completely make her fall in love with South Australia. It did not take long. She absolutely loves it here.”

The Flinders University alum was excited to see the establishment of the institution’s City Campus, close to many of the places she loved as a student, and to make new discoveries upon returning to the city.

“I loved [my time at] Flinders. I always knew I wanted to go there since I did a bunch of open days in high school. I read somewhere that Flinders was a more unconventional university, and that really appealed to me as a very earnest arts student,” she says.

Kent shares where to eat, drink, study and relax around the Adelaide CBD, close to the new campus.

Mamak Corner

“It’s Malaysian street food. It’s cheap, it’s generous. I always get the roti canai and a classic teh tarik, and I think it’s under 10 bucks. It’s amazing and it’s such a good spot for a quick lunch. It’s delicious.”
8 Bank Street; three minutes’ walk from Flinders City Campus

Mandoo

“The queue is always there, but it’s worth the wait because the service is excellent and fast, and the food is just exceptional. I really love the vegetarian dumplings and I also love the bibimbap. I often go there if I want a very quick dinner, but I want to eat something really nice.”
3/26 Bank Street; four minutes’ walk from Flinders City Campus

Peter Rabbit Cafe

“It has excellent coffee, but I also love that it’s this nice little escape and it’s got a lovely atmosphere about it. I really like meeting people there because it still has a kind of intimacy.

“I will always get coffee from there, even if I’ve already had three coffees before I have left home. And I’ll always get the brekkie roll because it’s just consistently great. I’ll do my dutiful 10 minutes of examining the menu, pretending I’m gonna get something else, and just get the brekkie roll.”
234–244 Hindley Street; 13 minutes’ walk or nine minutes by tram from Flinders City Campus

The Bibliotheca Bar and Book Exchange

“Who doesn’t want to go drink in a library, which is essentially what this is? The last time I was there I ordered a drink called The Silmaril, because I’m a massive Tolkien fan, and it’s just cute to me. It’s a bar that speaks my language. I feel like it’s a place that you can go and read in.”
1/27 Gresham Street; five minutes’ walk from Flinders City Campus

Adelaide City Library

“ If people don’t have library cards, I distrust them. City libraries offer different things, and they are really community-minded. It’s kind of hidden on level three off Rundle Mall, but it’s so central. And it has free wi-fi.”
3 Rundle Place; nine minutes by tram or on foot from Flinders City Campus

Mercury Cinema

“The Mercury Cinema is one of those amazing bastions for kooky and international cinema. I’ve been to so many fun events there, particularly when I was a student. It’s just got that different kind of vibe and I really love the energy of the cinema like that. I’d always end up at the Mercury Cinema and I love it.”
13 Morphett Street; nine minutes’ walk or six minutes by tram from Flinders City Campus

Elder Park

“I feel like Adelaide is a particularly culturally vibrant city, but you get to couple that with a sense of being very close to the land. One of the things I love about Adelaide is the surrounding parklands. I think that’s such a rare thing to find, especially in a capital city.

“I also really love the Pioneer Women’s Memorial Garden on the other side of King William Road because they hold the Adelaide Writers’ Week there and I have such good memories. If you’ve got a kid in tow, let them get out their zoomies by rolling down the hill for 10 minutes. Look, I’ve done it as an adult. If you’re stressed about exams, it’s a good place to go and roll out your worries.”
King William Road; five minutes’ walk from Flinders City Campus

This article had been produced in partnership with Flinders University. The new City Campus is centrally located within Adelaide CBD, a stone’s throw away from the city’s top cafes, restaurants, bars, shops and hang-outs. Discover more about studying at Flinders City Campus at flinders.edu.au.