Where to get cheap happy hour oysters in Melbourne

Pearl diving is hard work. It takes a good eye, patience, and a passion for oysters. Coincidentally, these are three traits shared by Alex Boon and Pez Collier, the lauded Brisbane bartenders who spent two years gently buffing their idea for a shucking great oyster bar into a polished pearl. Every Wednesday to Friday, from 5pm to 6pm, you can pop in for freshly shucked oysters at just $2 each with $12 snack size Sea and Shell Martinis. C'est magnifique!

'Eating house' doesn't quite cut it. ‘All-day diner’ falls worryingly short. In fact, when trying to sum up the place Cumulus Inc plays in Melbourne’s hungry heart, ‘favourite clubhouse’ comes as close as any description. Pop in between 3pm and 6pm every weekday for the restaurant's $2 oyster hour. The best Australian oysters are shucked to order and served over ice with mignonette and lemon. A glass of Champagne is the perfect way to wash it down. 

From Monday to Friday at this Mordialloc hawker-style restaurant, 5-6pm is your time slot to grab freshly shucked oysters at just $2 a shell! You can also indulge in a $35 raw tasting plate, which comes with oysters, sashimi, tuna tartare and salmon nigiri, and wash it all down with a $15 rotating cocktail special. 

Part of Scott Pickett's snazzy stable of restaurants, Chancery Lane is a hidden bistro wedged tidily in between Bourke and Little Collins streets. Join friends in the charming outdoor courtyard, Le Jardin, at happy hour (Wednesdays to Fridays, from 5pm to 7pm) for $15 Champagne, $6 Moon Dog lager and $3 freshly shucked NSW Appellation oysters. There's also gougères with salted cod rillette and horseradish at $8 each, plus camembert, charcuteries and frites at happy hour prices too. It's a walk-ins only policy so all you need to do is round up a crew and saunter in! 

Mid-City Arcade, known for its ground-floor budget restaurants like Mr Ramen-san and ShanDong MaMa, is not where you would expect to find a lobster-and-Champagne restaurant. But then again, Pinchy's is no stuffy, white-tablecloth joint. And if you swing by between 3-4pm on a Saturday or Sunday, you can get two oysters and a glass of Champagne for just $30. 

If whisky and an ever-evolving roster of craft beers on tap sounds like your bag, then Boilermaker House should be your port of call. It’s home to one of the largest collections of whisky in Melbourne, boasting a library of 700 offerings. Every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night, the bar offer its 'Cellar and Shuck' specials. Enjoy a 200-millilitre limited edition beer, matched to 3 local oysters for $35. It's a bougie deal but a goodie. 

Get your oyster fix at warm and wonderful Carlton North favourite Henry Sugar, where an oyster happy hour promotion offers the beloved seafood snack at just $2 each every evening from 5pm to 6pm. Want to take it up a notch? Fork out an extra 50 cent coin and you'll get the premium Sydney rock oysters,  with classy condiments like Davidson plum granita, fermented green chilli mignonette or buttermilk and dill. Consider us wooed.

This massive outdoor eatery and beer garden sandwiched between two Melbourne icons (the Yarra River and Flinders Street Station) stretches for 120 metres along the river bank and is officially Melbourne’s longest bar. And while it usually only hosts its famed oyster cart in the winter, it's now back as a Thursday special all year round moving forward. Slurp on $2 oysters from 6pm until sold out. 

Every Saturday and Sunday, diners that flock to grill haven Firebird are in for a seafood treat. The $56 Endless Lunch includes bottomless oysters served either fresh with burnt chilli vinaigrette or grilled with green nuoc nam. Bottomless frites with lemongrass sate salt and black garlic aioli are included in the price, and you can add on two hours of free-flowing booze to the deal for an extra $42. We know where we're lunching this weekend! Read more about the lunch special's inclusions here.

The Oyster Bar by Aptus Seafood at South Melbourne Market offers the freshest oysters straight from the ocean. It's not a happy hour situation, either – they're serving those oysters from the early hours right into the evening for nothing more than a bit of spare pocket change! If you're feeling extra opulent, purchase a dozen and rest easy knowing they're sourced directly from farmers. Plus the bar offers lemon, hot sauce, vinegar and other sauces to dress up those briny morsels.