16 Best Restaurants in Melbourne, Victoria

A chalkboard on the exposed brick wall of this long-standing favorite lists eight dry and six sweet sherries to start (or finish) your Andalusian dining adventure, and there are Spanish and Portuguese wines to accompany your selection of tapas and 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, order the dessert tasting plate for two.

This all-day bar and kitchen brings Indigenous food and culture to the center of the city. First Nations chef-owner Nornie Bero draws on her upbringing in the Torres Strait Islands to create a menu that uses 100% Australian products, and its packaged herbs, spices, and teas make unique Australian gifts. 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.

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 (from A$85), choose the Gippsland Getaway set menu in the restaurant (A$140), or take a glass of Gippsland wine or a cocktail made with locally sourced spirits up on the roof, for a true farm-to-plate experience. Its pantry serves coffee from 7 am on weekdays. Chef Alejandro Saravia also heads up Victoria and Morena restaurants. 

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 locations including Brunswick and Crown Casino.

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.

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 carpaccio, or calamari Sant' Andrea (lightly floured and shallow fried).

Charcoal Lane is a social enterprise restaurant providing vulnerable young people with an opportunity to transform their lives by gaining a traineeship in the restaurant business. The inventive menu includes many Australian bushland ingredients, and the dishes have an Aboriginal influence. Named after a song by acclaimed Aboriginal singer/songwriter Archie Roach, it is housed in the former health service community center, dubbed Charcoal Lane by the many Aboriginal people, who for decades would drop in and swap stories and wisdom. They might include starters of roasted emu fillet or a wild food tasting plate of native produce. Mains include wallaby wrapped in Parma ham and pumpkin and wattleseed gnocchi. Desserts also have a "bush tucker" influence.

Shared plates of Southeast Asian dishes form the basis of Chin Chin's popular menu. Modeled on hawker-style dining, book ahead or come for early or late to avoid the rush at this perpetually popular restaurant. Otherwise, grab a table, a playful cocktail featuring Asian ingredients and order from the same menu at the GoGo Bar downstairs---DJs set the tone late into the night Thursday to Sunday.

A major player in Melbourne's pizza wars, D.O.C. has perfected the art of using fresh, simple ingredients to create something special. The real treat lies in the pizza of the day. One with Ubriaco Amarone cheese, Romana artichokes, smoked toasted almonds, radicchio, and shaved Parmesan might be on offer. Whatever is in season or comes in, they will use. A Belgian white chocolate pizza is at the ready for those with a sweet tooth. They also have a delicatessen around the corner, which could be a good option for a packed lunch, and there are other locations in Southbank, St. Kilda, Surry Hills, and the picturesque seaside town of Mornington.

With its blazing fires, artfully smoky walls, and striking, art deco–ish wrought-iron ceiling lights, this three-decade-old restaurant has a lived-in, neighborly look. The food is good, its Australian wine is taken very seriously, and the kitchen is open until late each night.

For comfort food in comfortable surrounds, the Gertrude obliges. The stylish gastropub's Italian-inspired menu sees pizza and chicken parmigiana on the menu, complemented with crab linguini, a market fish, and the obligatory tiramisu for dessert. Many dishes can be made gluten-free. Look for its daily happy hours, and Monday is steak night. Spend Sunday afternoon over pizza with live jazz in the background; their martinis are good, too. 

Owned by well-known TV chef George Calombaris, Hellenic Republic pays homage to Calombaris's Greek heritage, creating a lively taverna type setting with a focus on communal food. We suggest the Masa Menu (A$55), which consists of numerous courses including meat from the omnipresent spit, whose mouthwatering scent envelopes the room upon entering. Naturally the friendly staff will try to entice you into having a sip of ouzo, and since everyone else seems to be doing it, we suggest you do, too. There are also Hellenic Republic locations in Williamstown, Brighton, and Kew.

A local favorite, this stellar Italian bistro emphasizes flavor over starchy linen and stuffy attitude. Wood-fired pizzas, which some insist are the best in the city, put this suburban gem on the map (thankfully, it's only a short walk from the city). Nonpasta options might include a shellfish risotto or lasagne, and the service is as upbeat as the wine list. Vegan and gluten-free options are available.

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.

Opened by iconic Australian cook Stephanie Alexander, this bright and buzzy café–cum–produce store is a local mainstay. The bistro fare brims with wonderful flavors, from house-made dips and charcuterie boards to seasonal salads, seafood, and burgers. Desserts are mouthwateringly simple and impossible to resist. It's so popular you might have to wait briefly if you haven't booked a table. After you've eaten, pick up some marvelous cheese and country-style bread from the adjoining cheese room and grocery.

Occupying an innovative steel-and-glass space above Federation Square, Taxi boasts both extraordinary food and spectacular views of the Yarra River and the city. East meets West on a Modern Australian menu with Asian flavors, using quality meats and seafood from around Australia, with an impressive list of new- and old-world wines. The three-level building lets you have a craft beer or aperitif at the Transport Bar on the ground floor, dine at the kitchen on the next level, and finish with a cocktail on its rooftop bar. The four-course Taxi Feast menu costs A$105, and the popular, three-course Taxi Showstopper menu (A$85) lets the chefs have fun with their current favorite dishes (wine matching available).