True to its name, Pickle in the Middle is a celebration of all things pickled. Luke Halloran, who owns the café with his wife Carli, says it started out in the Central Markets in Adelaide, making toasties where people could choose the pickle they wanted.
He bought the café after it had just relocated to the trendy Adelaide suburb of Unley. Now, it has grown into a busy venue serving a wide range of pickled foods including beetroot-cured salmon, mustard zucchini pickles, pickled radish, pickled watermelon, and pickled carrots.
“We also experiment with different spices to enhance the flavours,” says Luke.
To cut through some of the acidity, Pickle in the Middle serves the Crompton Road blend from Five Senses Coffee. The café also offers filter coffee with rotating single origins, which change each month, and can be served as cold brew or as a pourover made to order. The café also experiments with its cold coffee offerings, with a strawberry iced matcha as a recent addition, made with Milklab’s oat milk and coconut milk to create a coconut whip.
“It’s a great option because it’s suitable for most people without needing to change the milk each time,” says Luke. “Since cafés are becoming more plant-based, we use a lot of alternative milks to cater to vegans and vegetarians. Right now, we’re using about 50 per cent alternative milk and 50 per cent dairy, for a total of roughly 500-litres a week.”
In addition to coffee, Pickle in the Middle serves juices, smoothies, homemade fruit sodas, and its own kombucha. And as of April 2025, Luke has welcomed a new addition to the pickle portfolio, with Pickle in the City in Festival Tower in the CBD.
Pickle in Middle
134 Unley Road, Unley, South Australia, 5061
Open Monday to Saturday 6.30am to 3pm, and Sunday 8am to 2pm
This article appears in the April/May 2025 edition of BeanScene. Subscribe HERE.
