Hello,

We will be in Melbourn on Christmas and Christmas eve. Does anyone have a good restaurant recommendation for that evening?

Thanks,
Aimee

Melbourne's the food capital of Australia. Give us a hint on $, food preferences etc.

Are you looking for two restaurants - one for Christmas Eve and another for Christmas Day?

Christmas Eve at Donovans on the Beach would be pretty special. It's upmarket casual, great food & service, contemporary Australian food.

Bokhara is correct . Without budget etc it is too difficult to help .Keep in mind most places close Xmas Eve night / Xmas Day and those that are open will charge a premium as a result .

The Hyatt in Collins Street has just re-openned after a multi million dollar refit and has some excellent eating venues.

The place to get into at The Hyatt will be MoMo run by Greg Malouf serving wonderful middle eastern food .

I'll be a little more adventurous seeing as that is what travel should be and suggest for a different Xmas Eve the http://www.tramcarrestaurant.com.au/ and then, or alternately
http://www.campaspehouse.com.au/site...?display=47555 looks like something I'll have to think about sometime.

I was thinking of http://www.fairfieldboathouse.com/?_page=2 as being a true blue Aussie setting for Xmas Lunch, perhaps followed by a row on the river but doubt whether they'll be open and so you could elect for a boat cruise instead - http://www.thatsmelbourne.com.au/Wha...66e637e99.aspx

If you were thinking maybe the Tramcar (if you can get aboard) and then something less pricey for Xmas day and would like a drive out in the country to the east, Yarra Valley Way or perhaps The Dandenongs - a forest walk to build the appetite http://places.rnr.id.au/Sherbrooke/, I was out east of Melbourne last year and http://www.olindacreekhotel.com.au/ were advertising a traditional Xmas Dinner at $75/head.

You could do far worse I imagine and for Xmas Eve if the Tramcar is booked, check out Hardware Lane as Xmas Eve being Wedneday, I would not mind betting there'll be a few restaurants open - http://www.mcity.com.au/melbourne/at.../hardware-lane

And if you're in for some Guiness, check and see if http://www.celticclub.com.au/ is open Xmas Eve, and wouldn't mind betting they are - great pub style fare and a restaurant as well, perhaps even some musos doing their Xmas carols.

And how remiss of me for if you're going to be in Melbourne Xmas Eve, go for a later dinner booking if you can and then earlier on head over to the Sydney Myer Music Bowl for Christmas carols at the bowl with 50,000 or so others - http://www.theartscentre.com.au/disc...usic-bowl.aspx and
http://www.visionaustralia.org/info.aspx?page=1185 - their 10,000 figure seems strange but may be for just those inside the closed off area but thousands more flock there and just fill up the adjacent parklands - no trouble in hearing.

Thanks so much for the recommendations. We are pretty open to pricing. I think we are looking for a good dinner at a cool/hip place, if possible. We realize it will be expensive. We're staying at the Westin, so I guess we don't really want to travel too far, but a nice long walk would be great. We are in are early 30's so we have plenty of energy.

Thanks!

The Westin is regarded as one of the best hotels in Melbourne . It is in a lovely position .