Melbourne Restaurants

Melbourne has fabulous food, and is known in some circles as Australia's food capital. The restaurants themselves are often exceptionally stylish and elegant—or totally edgy and funky in their own individual way. Some are even deliberately grungy. The dining scene is a vast array of cuisines and experiences that's constantly evolving. The swankiest (and most expensive) restaurants all have five- to eight-course degustation menus (with the opportunity to wine-match each course), but newer restaurants are opting for tapas-style or grazing plates. Flexibility is the new word in dining—restaurants are often also funky bars and vice versa.

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  • 1. A1 Bakery

    $ | Brunswick

    For the freshest rounds of Lebanese bread, go to the source of the best khobz (bread) in the city: A1 Bakery has been running the ovens here since 1992. Sit in for Lebanese pizzas and kibbe (deep-fried lamb mince in cracked wheat) or order a platter of dips and kofta and a falafel wrap to go. Don't forget the baklava.

    643--645 Sydney Rd., Melbourne, Victoria, 3056, Australia
    03-9386--0440

    Known For

    • Inexpensive
    • Baklava
    • Delicious bread
  • 2. Añada

    $$ | Fitzroy

    A chalkboard on the exposed brick wall lists eight dry and six sweet sherries to start (or finish), and there are Spanish and Portuguese wines to accompany your selection of tapas and raciones (larger shared plates). Seated at a table or on a stool at the bar, begin with anchovy tapa, and go on to the authentic paella. Just leave room for dessert; the churros and chocolate are sinful. If you really can't decide, a dessert tasting plate for two absolves you of making a decision.

    197 Gertrude St., Melbourne, Victoria, 3065, Australia
    03-9415–6101

    Known For

    • Obscure meats
    • Aged jamon
    • Andalucian fare

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: No lunch weekdays
  • 3. Brunetti

    $$ | Carlton

    First opened in 1974, this iconic Romanesque bakery has moved around Carlton on several occasions, and the masses have followed. Its biggest undertaking is in the heart of Lygon Street and still filled with perfect biscotti, mouthwatering cakes, and great service. In addition to an expanded lunch menu, a wood-fire oven—specially imported from Italy—makes pizzas, and you can finish it all off with a perfect espresso or a thick European-style hot chocolate with a cornetto con crema (custard-filled croissant). Enjoy the same tempting delights at the beautiful, birdcage-like café in Flinders Lane, and at little outposts in the Myer department store in Bourke Street and Melbourne Airport (T4).

    380 Lygon St., Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
    03-9347–2801

    Known For

    • Chocolate eclairs
    • Decadent cake display
    • Italian-style espresso
  • 4. Café di Stasio

    $$$$ | St. Kilda

    This upscale bistro treads a very fine line between mannered elegance and decadence. A sleek marble bar and modishly ravaged walls contribute to the sense that you've stepped into a scene from La Dolce Vita. Happily, the restaurant is as serious about its food as its sense of style. Crisply roasted duck is now a local legend, and the pasta is always al dente. A seasonal lunch special (pasta with wine and coffee) for A$40 is a great value if you're nearby. For an informal drink before your meal, an adjoining bar has local wines and a light menu of the same high standards for those who failed to get a booking.

    31 Fitzroy St., Melbourne, Victoria, 3182, Australia
    03-9525–3999

    Known For

    • Expert staff
    • Long lunches
    • Crayfish omelet

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Reservations essential
  • 5. Donovan's

    $$$ | St. Kilda

    Grab a window table at this very popular bay-side restaurant (housed in the former 1920s bathing pavilion), and enjoy wide-open views of St. Kilda beach and its passing parade of in-line skaters, skateboarders, dog walkers, and ice-cream lickers. Start with the day's oysters, move to the fish and meats cooked superbly over charcoal, and slow it down over wine and cheese at this long-standing St. Kilda icon. Owners Kevin and Gail Donovan are such natural hosts you may feel like bunking down on the plush cushions near the cozy fireplace.

    40 Jacka Blvd., Melbourne, Victoria, 3182, Australia
    03-9534–8221

    Known For

    • Top-notch seafood
    • Ocean views
    • Extensive wine list

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Reservations essential
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  • 6. Farmer’s Daughters

    $$$$ | City Center

    You’ll find your place in one of the three levels at Farmer’s Daughters, in the fine-dining restaurant, in the deli, or up on the rooftop---its focus is the produce drawn from the rich farmlands of Gippsland, a region the size of Switzerland, to Melbourne’s east. Share small plates in the deli or opt for the chef’s selection (A$70), choose the Gippsland Getaway set menu in the restaurant (A$110), or take a cocktail made with locally sourced spirits up on the roof, for a true farm-to-plate experience. Its pantry serves coffee from 7:30 am on weekdays.

    95 Exhibition St., Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia
    03-9116--8682

    Known For

    • Locally grown ingredients
    • Excellent cocktails
    • Offers fine dining and a more casual deli

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Closed Sun.
  • 7. Florentino

    $$$$ | City Center

    Since 1928, dining at Florentino has meant experiencing the pinnacle of Melbourne hospitality. After taking a seat in the famous mural room, with its huge chandeliers, wooden panels, and Florentine murals, you can sample dishes like suckling pig, and spanner crab risotto. The three-course menu is A$150 while the five-course Gran Tour menu costs A$180. Downstairs, the Grill focuses on wood-fired dishes including pici (pasta) with wild boar ragu or grass-fed steaks, while in the Cellar Bar, you can start your day with Italian pastries and espresso on the outside tables from 8 am, or finish the night with a glass of wine and pasta of the day.

    80 Bourke St., Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia
    03-9662–1811

    Known For

    • Food and wine pairings
    • Romantic atmosphere
    • Tuscan dishes

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: No lunch Sat. Closed Sun., Reservations essential
  • 8. Flower Drum

    $$$ | City Center

    Superb Cantonese cuisine is the hallmark of one of Australia's truly great Chinese restaurants, which is still receiving awards after opening in 1975. The restrained elegance of the design, deftness of the service, and intelligence of the wine list puts most other restaurants to shame. Those in the know don't order from the menu at all but simply ask the waiter to bring the specials, which often changes between lunch and dinner with the arrival of produce fresh from suppliers.

    17 Market La., Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia
    03-9662–3655

    Known For

    • Peking duck
    • Retro decor
    • Sautéed pearl meat

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: No lunch Sun., Reservations essential
  • 9. Higher Ground

    $ | City Center

    Serving restaurant meals at breakfast and brunch, Higher Ground leads the pack for early morning dining. Grab a well-crafted pour-over and pastries, or linger over eggs paired with cauliflower, market fish, or the best ricotta hotcakes in town. The dinner service takes it up a notch with 12-hour lamb and a drinks menu that featuring Australian craft beers and wines. With its vast ceilings and raw brick walls, the decor is pure industrial chic. Avoid the busy peak periods.

    650 Little Bourke St., Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia
    03-8899--6219

    Known For

    • Excellent coffee
    • Innovative food pairings
    • Soaring interiors

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: No dinner Sun.--Wed.
  • 10. HuTong Dumpling Bar

    $$ | City Center

    The name means "alleyway" and in a sea of dumpling houses in Melbourne, down this little alleyway, you'll find the best of them all. The boiled pork dumplings are popular (A$14.20 for 12), though the panfried variations of pork, chicken, prawn, and chives hold up well, too. The staff is highly trained, and if the space on the ground floor is too snug, ask to go upstairs where there's room to breathe. Bookings are essential, but if you're feeling lucky, arrive at 11:30 am on the dot to try for a table—there will probably be a line of hopefuls already.

    14–16 Market La., Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia
    03-9650–8128

    Known For

    • Wantons with hot chili sauce
    • Bustling atmosphere
    • Extensive menu
  • 11. I Love Pho

    $ | Richmond

    Tucking into a steaming bowl of pho (traditional noodle soup) at this Victoria Street restaurant is like channeling the backstreets of Hanoi and Saigon. Each order comes with a piled plate of Vietnamese mint, bean shoots, and lemon wedges, and there are bottles of chili paste and fish sauce on every mock-marble plastic table. Vegetarian pho is also available. This restaurant is crowded with Vietnamese and other pho lovers on weekends, so you often have to line up on the footpath, but turnover is fast so it's never long before you are seated and eating some of Melbourne's best—and cheapest—food. I Love Pho also has an outlet at the Melbourne Emporium food hall in the city center.

    264 Victoria St., Melbourne, Victoria, 3121, Australia
    03-9427–7749

    Known For

    • Best pho in town
    • Rice-paper rolls
    • Friendly service
  • 12. Lune Croissanterie

    $ | Fitzroy

    Locals and tourists alike can be found queueing outside Lune each morning for the city's most beloved pastries including what some say are the world's best croissants, which take three days to create. Not afraid to experiment, seasonal flavors may include pumpkin pie or Persian love cake. Inside a Brutalist concrete warehouse, croissants and cruffins fly out of the oven and into the hands of eager customers until there are none left. The pastries are best consumed with Lune's excellent coffee. A city outpost is located at 161 Collins Street.

    119 Rose St., Melbourne, Victoria, 3065, Australia
    03-9419–2320

    Known For

    • World-famous croissant flavors
    • Great coffee
    • Legendary kouign amann
  • 13. Rockpool Bar & Grill

    $$$$ | City Center

    Taking his inspiration from the steak houses of North America, Rockpool is prolific Australian chef Neil Perry's flagship brand. Start with the whole grilled king prawns and move onto a range of beef cuts---which have been aged and butchered in-house---from the wood-fire grill. Expect deeply knowledgeable staff who can answer your questions on dry aging, wagyu grades or why they serve antibiotic-free beef. One of the city's best-kept secrets is the spectacular wagyu burger on the bar menu (A$19). Pair with one of Rockpool's excellent wines by the glass for the perfect lunch-on-the-go. The grill and bar menu are closed Mon. and Tues. but the bar is open daily.

    8 Whiteman St., Melbourne, Victoria, 3006, Australia
    03-9081--0532

    Known For

    • Premium dry-aged beef
    • Wines by the glass
    • Expert service
  • 14. ShanDong MaMa Mini

    $ | City Center

    At one of a series of hole-in-the-wall diners in busy Centre Place, pull up a stool and load your little table with stewed pork-belly buns, made from a family recipe employing 10 different spices. The little diner and its mother restaurant, in the Midcity Centre arcade, are also justly famed for their dumplings filled with a fine mackerel-and-coriander mousse. Wash it all down with an Australian craft beer. The queues move quickly, and it's worth the wait.

    5 Centre Pl., Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
    041-1666--2992

    Known For

    • Pork-belly buns
    • Craft beer
    • Quick service
  • 15. 400 Gradi

    $ | Brunswick East

    This is the place for authentic Italian pizza: chef Johnny Di Francesco trained in Naples to make pizza to the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana rules, and has consistently won titles of world's best margherita, and also best pizzeria in Oceania. Besides pizza, the restaurant serves excellent pasta and other Italian dishes in a buzzing section of Lygon Street. There are also iterations in Essendon, Southbank, Mornington and the Yarra Valley and an aptly titled gelato spinoff, Zero Gradi, in Brunswick. 

    99 Lygon St., Melbourne, Victoria, 3057, Australia
    03-9380–2320

    Known For

    • World's best margherita pizza
    • House-made gelato
    • Slick decor
  • 16. Abla's

    $$ | Carlton

    Matriarch Abla Amad has been re-creating the much-loved family recipes from her homeland of Lebanon since 1979. This intimate restaurant resembles a lounge room of a family house, which with Abla walking around talking to diners, adds to the feeling of being looked after. Bookings are recommended and you can BYO wine.

    109 Elgin St., Melbourne, Victoria, 3053, Australia
    03-9347–0006

    Known For

    • Family owned
    • Chicken and rice
    • Homemade baklava

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Closed Sun. No lunch
  • 17. Babka

    $ | Fitzroy

    Food lovers in the know are often found loitering at this tiny, bustling café. Try the excellent pastries, fresh-baked breads, or more substantial offerings like the Russian borscht (beetroot and cabbage soup) or menemen—scrambled eggs with chili, mint, tomato, and a sprinkling of feta cheese. It's an all-day brunch-style café, and there are often lines, so be prepared to wait for a table.

    358 Brunswick St., Melbourne, Victoria, 3065, Australia
    03-9416–0091

    Known For

    • Incredible sandwiches
    • Freshly baked bread
    • Bustling atmosphere

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Closed Mon. No dinner
  • 18. Becco

    $$$ | City Center

    Every city center needs a place like this, with a drop-in bar and lively dining room. At lunchtime no-time-to-dawdle business types tuck into Italian classics, while those with a sweet tooth will go weak at the knees over a decadent tiramisu. Things get a little moodier at night, when a Campari and soda at the bar is an almost compulsory precursor to dinner. Self-caterers should peruse its beautiful little produce store, next door.

    11–25 Crossley St., Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia
    03-9663–3000

    Known For

    • Great service
    • Gnocchi osso buco
    • Macchiato cocktail

    Restaurant Details

    Rate Includes: Closed Sun. and Mon. No lunch Sat., Reservations essential
  • 19. Big Esso by Mabu Mabu

    $$ | City Center

    This all-day bar and kitchen brings Indigenous food and culture to the center of the city. First Nations chef Nornie Bero draws on her upbringing in the Torres Strait Islands to create a menu loaded with uniquely Australian herbs, spices, and teas. Seeking to use sustainable and social enterprise suppliers, try the house damper and wattleseed coffee, and get adventurous if you find emu fillets or pickled watermelon salad on the menu.

    Flinders St. and Swanston St., Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia

    Known For

    • Indigenous music
    • Artworks by First Nations artists
    • Supporting social enterprises
  • 20. Caffe e Cucina

    $$ | South Yarra

    If you're looking for a quintessential Italian dining experience in a place where it's easy to imagine yourself back in the old country, this is it. Fashionable, look-at-me types flock here for coffee and pastries downstairs, or more-leisurely meals upstairs in the warm, woody dining room. Try the melt-in-your-mouth gnocchi, or calamari Sant' Andrea (lightly floured and shallow fried).

    581 Chapel St., Melbourne, Victoria, 3141, Australia
    03-9827–4139

    Known For

    • Decadent tiramisu
    • Knowledgeable staff
    • Traditional menu

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