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$$$$ | City Center |
You’ll find your place in one of the three levels at Farmer’s Daughters, in the fine-dining restaurant, in the deli, or up on the rooftop---its focus is the produce drawn from the rich farmlands of Gippsland, a region the size of Switzerland, to Melbourne’s east. Share small plates in the deli or opt for the chef’s selection (A$70), choose the Gippsland Getaway set menu in the restaurant (A$110), or take a cocktail made with locally sourced spirits up on the roof, for a true farm-to-plate experience. Its pantry serves coffee from 7:30 am on weekdays.
95 Exhibition St., Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia
Known For
- Locally grown ingredients
- Excellent cocktails
- Offers fine dining and a more casual deli
Restaurant Details
Rate Includes: Closed Sun.
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$$$$ | City Center |
Since 1928, dining at Florentino has meant experiencing the pinnacle of Melbourne hospitality. After taking a seat in the famous mural room, with its huge chandeliers, wooden panels, and Florentine murals, you can sample dishes like suckling pig, and spanner crab risotto. The three-course menu is A$150 while the five-course Gran Tour menu costs A$180. Downstairs, the Grill focuses on wood-fired dishes including pici (pasta) with wild boar ragu or grass-fed steaks, while in the Cellar Bar, you can start your day with Italian pastries and espresso on the outside tables from 8 am, or finish the night with a glass of wine and pasta of the day.
80 Bourke St., Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia
Known For
- Food and wine pairings
- Romantic atmosphere
- Tuscan dishes
Restaurant Details
Rate Includes: No lunch Sat. Closed Sun., Reservations essential
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$$$ | 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
Known For
- Peking duck
- Retro decor
- Sautéed pearl meat
Restaurant Details
Rate Includes: No lunch Sun., Reservations essential
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$ | 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
Known For
- Excellent coffee
- Innovative food pairings
- Soaring interiors
Restaurant Details
Rate Includes: No dinner Sun.--Wed.
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$$ | City Center |
The name means "alleyway" and in a sea of dumpling houses in Melbourne, down this little alleyway, you'll find the best of them all. The boiled pork dumplings are popular (A$14.20 for 12), though the panfried variations of pork, chicken, prawn, and chives hold up well, too. The staff is highly trained, and if the space on the ground floor is too snug, ask to go upstairs where there's room to breathe. Bookings are essential, but if you're feeling lucky, arrive at 11:30 am on the dot to try for a table—there will probably be a line of hopefuls already.
14–16 Market La., Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia
Known For
- Wantons with hot chili sauce
- Bustling atmosphere
- Extensive menu
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Recommended Fodor’s Video
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$$$$ | City Center |
Taking his inspiration from the steak houses of North America, Rockpool is prolific Australian chef Neil Perry's flagship brand. Start with the whole grilled king prawns and move onto a range of beef cuts---which have been aged and butchered in-house---from the wood-fire grill. Expect deeply knowledgeable staff who can answer your questions on dry aging, wagyu grades or why they serve antibiotic-free beef. One of the city's best-kept secrets is the spectacular wagyu burger on the bar menu (A$19). Pair with one of Rockpool's excellent wines by the glass for the perfect lunch-on-the-go. The grill and bar menu are closed Mon. and Tues. but the bar is open daily.
8 Whiteman St., Melbourne, Victoria, 3006, Australia
Known For
- Premium dry-aged beef
- Wines by the glass
- Expert service
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$ | City Center |
At one of a series of hole-in-the-wall diners in busy Centre Place, pull up a stool and load your little table with stewed pork-belly buns, made from a family recipe employing 10 different spices. The little diner and its mother restaurant, in the Midcity Centre arcade, are also justly famed for their dumplings filled with a fine mackerel-and-coriander mousse. Wash it all down with an Australian craft beer. The queues move quickly, and it's worth the wait.
5 Centre Pl., Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Known For
- Pork-belly buns
- Craft beer
- Quick service
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$$$ | 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
Known For
- Great service
- Gnocchi osso buco
- Macchiato cocktail
Restaurant Details
Rate Includes: Closed Sun. and Mon. No lunch Sat., Reservations essential
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$$ | City Center |
This all-day bar and kitchen brings Indigenous food and culture to the center of the city. First Nations chef Nornie Bero draws on her upbringing in the Torres Strait Islands to create a menu loaded with uniquely Australian herbs, spices, and teas. Seeking to use sustainable and social enterprise suppliers, try the house damper and wattleseed coffee, and get adventurous if you find emu fillets or pickled watermelon salad on the menu.
Flinders St. and Swanston St., Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia
Known For
- Indigenous music
- Artworks by First Nations artists
- Supporting social enterprises
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$$ | City Center |
Shared plates of Southeast Asian dishes form the basis of Chin Chin's popular menu. Modeled on hawker-style dining, come for early or late for lunch or dinner to avoid the rush. Otherwise, kill your wait time over a cocktail at the Go Go Bar downstairs---DJs set the tone late into the night Wednesday to Sunday.
125 Flinders La., Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia
Known For
- Kingfish sashimi
- Feed Me menu
- Sophisticated curries
Restaurant Details
Rate Includes: Reservations not accepted
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$$$ | City Center |
Chef Teage Ezard's adventurous—and often exhilarating—take on fusion pushes the boundaries between Eastern and Western flavors. As with all upscale restaurants these days, there's an eight-course tasting menu (A$185 per person, vegetarian and vegan options available) featuring mouthwatering steamed scallop dumplings with aged hon mirin dressing. On weekdays an à la carte option is offered, but on weekends the choice is between either the tasting menu or the fixed-price three-course menu.
187 Flinders La., Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia
Known For
- <PRO>inspired seafood</PRO>
- <PRO>Ezard 45 weekday lunch set menu (A$45)</PRO>
- <PRO>indulgent dessert</PRO>
Restaurant Details
Rate Includes: Closed Sun. No lunch Sat., Credit cards accepted, Reservations essential
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$$$ | City Center |
Touted as the city's best Japanese restaurant, Hanabishi sits in slightly seedy King Street, an area known for its bars, club venues, and occasionally unsavory clientele. With wooden floors, blue walls, and traditional ceramic serving trays, Hanabishi is the playground of Osakan chef Akio Soga, whose seasonal menu includes such gems as abalone sashimi and aburi salmon. There are long lists of hot and chilled sake and wines, ranging from reasonable to pricey.
187 King St., Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia
Known For
- <PRO>bento boxes</PRO>
- <PRO>vegetarian menu</PRO>
- <PRO>Wagyu beef</PRO>
Restaurant Details
Rate Includes: Closed Sun. No lunch Sat., Credit cards accepted, Reservations essential
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$ | City Center |
Designed to showcase the building's warehouse origins, Krimper's design is rough-hewn but warm. Hidden away among former motorcycle repair shops and a burgeoning dining laneway, Krimper serves innovative food, excellent coffee, and hot chocolate from local company, Mork. Breakfast includes Australian classic Avo on Toast, you'll find barramundi fillets and an Aus-Asian fusion in its ribs, burgers and green bowls on the lunch menu.
20 Guildford La., Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia
Known For
- Great coffee
- Hip vibe
- Classic breakfast with a twist
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$ | City Center |
As the name suggests, this popular Spanish tapas restaurant is next door to something—in this case the grown-up parent restaurant called MoVida. This is the casual little sister for those wanting a quick refuelling of sherry and seafood. Dishes range from tapas (from A$4.80 to A$8.50), like crispy friend croquette with zucchini and manchego, to racion (bigger plates ranging from A$19 to A$34). Finish off with churros con chocolate (Spanish fried dough served with a hot, thick chocolate drink). Beloved by Melburnians, book ahead. For a bigger meal, book a table at MoVida next door. Both eateries are owned by Spanish chef Frank Camorra, an innovator in the Melbourne dining scene.
164 Flinders St., Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia
Known For
- Large specials menu
- Lively scene
- Great for pre- and posttheater
Restaurant Details
Rate Includes: Closed Mon. and Tues. No lunch Wed. and Thurs.
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$ | City Center |
With one of Melbourne's first espresso machines installed here in 1954, it was the beginning the city's love affair with both Italian coffee and Pellegrini's. Take a stool at the bar or the table in the kitchen and choose from such classics as lasagna or cannelloni—servings are fast and vast—then let the staff talk you into a slab of strudel to finish.
66 Bourke St., Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia
Known For
- Iconic diner
- Huge serves
- Neighborhood vibe
Restaurant Details
Rate Includes: Closed Sun.
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$$ | City Center |
This bar-restaurant occupies a heritage-listed four-story building that has housed an undergarment manufacturer, a 1900s sweatshop, a brothel, and even a Buddhist temple (but not at the same time). Tasty Asian dishes, in small, medium, and large portions, are designed to be shared. Everything is served in an atmospheric brick-walled first-floor dining area decorated with swaths of fabric and sewing machines; the wine selection is stored in battered metal luggage lockers.
113 Lonsdale St., Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Known For
- Generous banquets
- A$45 three-course set lunch
- Braised beef short rib, plum-hoisin sauce
Restaurant Details
Rate Includes: Closed Sun. No lunch Sat.
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$$$ | |
Chef Andrew McConnell’s dominance of the Melbourne food scene cannot be ignored: besides this playful Pan-Asian restaurant, his stable includes glossy late-night European restaurant Gimlet on nearby Russell Street, the formal Cutler & Co in Fitzroy, and Cumulus Inc., beloved by the breakfast crowd. Fight off the competition for a seat at Supernormal’s bar and eat your way through Tokyo, Shanghai, Seoul, and Hong Kong: share plates of bao, dumplings, and the raw kingfish; McConnell’s New England lobster rolls have a cult following.
180 Flinders La., Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia
Known For
- Lobster rolls
- Wagyu strip loin
- Adventurous wine and cocktails list
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$$$ | City Center |
Occupying an innovative steel-and-glass space above Federation Square, Taxi boasts both extraordinary food and spectacular views over Melbourne. East meets West on a Modern Australian menu that combines Japanese flavors—tempura prawn tails with yuzu and nori salt—with such European-inspired fare as slow-roasted lamb shoulder with root vegetables. There is also an impressive list of new- and old-world wines and a short cheese menu to stretch out the afternoon. To taste some of Australia's best craft beers, have an aperitif at the Transport Bar on the ground floor. Its four-course tasting menu costs A$65, six courses costs A$85, wine matching available.
Flinders St. at St. Kilda Rd., Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia
Known For
- Six-course tasting
- Unbeatable views
- Barramundi and crab yellow curry
Restaurant Details
Rate Includes: Reservations essential
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$ | City Center |
Melburnians love to head out for breakfast, and Little Mule is one of many popular laneway cafés satisfying the hunger. Excellent coffee is teamed with simple meals made in the tiny, open kitchen. Look for the fresh cookies and make your own dream breakfast with the flexible mix-and-match menu.
19 Somerset Pl., Melbourne, Victoria, 3000, Australia
Known For
- <PRO>quirky decor</PRO>
- <PRO>fresh bagels</PRO>
- <PRO>homemade staples</PRO>
Restaurant Details
Rate Includes: Closed Sun.
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$$$ | South Melbourne |
Another addition to the city's gastropubs, this fully renovated historic building is a pleasant walk from bustling Southbank. The menu concentrates on high-quality aged cuts of steak from rural Victoria and Tasmania (A$32–A$140), but the wood-fired pizza is also popular. There's an impressive local craft beer list, knowledgeable staff, and a comfortable beer garden that round out the awesome experience.
446 City Rd., Melbourne, Victoria, 3205, Australia
Known For
- <PRO>locally sourced ingredients</PRO>
- <PRO>outdoor seating</PRO>
- <PRO>Black Angus burger</PRO>
Restaurant Details
Rate Includes: Closed Sun.
