The Best Restaurant in Melbourne, Victoria

Background Illustration for 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.

Lona Misa

$$ | South Yarra

Vegan and vegetarian fare is the focus of this restaurant, set in the Ovolo South Yarra hotel. With a strong Latin American vibe, choose the vegan versions of chicken tamales, moqueca (Brazilian seafood stew), or the queso con chorizo, and vegetable dishes from its charcoal oven. The hotel restaurant is an all-day affair, morphing into a wine bar later in the evening, with cocktails with Latin zing. For more plant-based goodness by pioneer chef Shannon Martinez, try her vegan bellwether restaurant and deli  Smith & Daughters, in Collingwood.