The 50 best restaurants in Melbourne

Don’t give up if you’re finding it difficult to get a table at Navi. Once you’ve scored a booking, you’re in for a first-rate culinary adventure that’s both rare and engaging – all while being joyously laidback. Navi is referred to on the website as head chef and owner Julian Hills’ ‘dream’ and you can taste how much heart he’s poured into it – from the use of native seasonal produce (which Hill learnt about directly from Indigenous foragers) to his ongoing relationships with sustainable and ethical farmers. There’s no doubt this restaurant is at the pinnacle of Melbourne’s growing conscious dining scene. 

Amaru offers one of Melbourne's most thrilling contemporary dining experiences right now. Nestled in leafy Armadale, the restaurant is run by chef Clinton McIvey (Auterra) and offers multi-course seasonal degustation tastings with the option to pair alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages. Expect fresh local produce with a native edge, cutting-edge fermentation and cooking techniques, and plating aesthetics prettier than a picture.  

Time Out's Restaurant of the Year in 2023 may be almost a decade old, but it still stands out as one of the most energising fine dining experiences in Melbourne. This farm-to-table restaurant kitchen sources all of its ingredients from nearby Cardinia, owned and run by friends of the chefs. Even if you haven’t done your research, it’s immediately clear that there’s a reverence for organic locally sourced ingredients at O.My. Each dish elevates humble produce to new heights, an alchemical feat that looks far outside the box in delivering an experience you'll remember.  

Rocketing up to the highest floor of the Rialto Tower, your ears might pop and your stomach drop, but the destination is well worth the ride. At dusk, the rapidly fading sunlight in Vue de Monde bounces off the CBD’s skyscrapers, and the twinkling lights and far-off ranges are so very, very beautiful. It’s a dramatic entrance, and one that sets the tone for your meal to follow. After all, this experience feels just as much like a work of theatre as it does a restaurant. If you’re willing to invest and looking to wow someone’s socks off (or simply your own because, hey, self-love), it’s money well spent on what can only be described as a riveting dining experience. Hats off to you, Vue de Monde.

Exquisite dishes notwithstanding, Minamishima is a masterclass experience in excellent service and meticulous attention to detail. As we turn from one dish to the next, the table is meticulously constructed around us with different ceramic saucers and implements taking centre stage. Everything is elegant and artful, right down to the zig-zagged wet towel for us to dampen our hands with between sushi eating. A convivial quality is present in waitstaff. Minamishima’s genuine warmth and affection for what they do is matched by the sushi, the best we’ve had in Melbourne. 

This seafood institution's luxe beach house charms have had us spellbound for decades – and like a fine wine, it's only getting better with time. The multi-storied relaxed diner transports our serious city-fatigued souls to a cool and calming Aussie seaside escape. It’s got all the necessary ingredients: picturesque ocean views, award-winning seafood, a sustainable ethos that nabbed its Legend Award at our 2023 Food and Drink Awards, quality wines and some of the best and brightest well-trained service in the biz. We couldn’t be more infatuated. 

To question Gimlet’s beauty is like pondering out loud whether the sky is blue. One foot through the door into the Trader House team’s almighty fine diner and you’re swept into an era of astonishingly impressive 1920s glamour. The handsome, plush curved booths invite you to settle in and share a bottle of Champers with a friend, uniformed staff skate around the floor with ease, and warm light dances off the grand chandeliers overhead.

Greasy Zoe’s is an unexpectedly thrilling dining experience curated on the outskirts of Melbourne. It’s spearheaded by the wildly creative chef Zoe Birch (ex-Courthouse Hotel and Healesville Hotel) and her intelligent hosting partner and sommelier, Lachlan Gardner. Birch and Gardner stick to the hyperlocal brief by championing small Victorian producers, described on the menu as Our Family. How do we sum up the experience? It’s probably best done in four words: well worth the drive.

While beloved chef Rosheen Kaul departed the restaurant in April 2024, new head chef Lorcan Kan is now steering the ship – and it remains just as pleasant a cruise as ever. With an excellently curated wine list and a snack-heavy menu that manages to lean towards the unusual without sacrificing on taste, Etta shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

Khanh Nguyen’s departure from Sunda last July left many wondering what would become of the once-lauded contemporary Southeast Asian-Australian restaurant. But former sous Nabil Ansari’s appointment as the new head chef (after a brief stint at Firebird) has ensured the venue remains in good hands. Sunda is not the same restaurant that opened on Punch Lane in 2018, but its curent wave is a promising one.

Possibly you’re here for a quick bowl of pasta and a glass of wine at the handsome marble bar. Good for you, you’re not alone. If you can afford the time, though, take it easy and consult the starters - Stracciatella, salumi, chargrilled octopus or grilled asparagus. But don't fill up before the main event: the pasta, of course. The braised duck gnocchi is a menu mainstay, for good reason, but if that's too heavy for lunch, go for something a little lighter such as the spaghettini with scallops, anchovies and gremolata. That Tipo 00 is one of the country’s best carb bars is not new news. That it continues to excite after this many years is cause for celebration. Tipo 00 is the kind of restaurant you want to show off to visitors, the kind of place that makes you proud to call Melbourne home.

Did ‘fusion’ really ever leave? Was it merely masquerading as ‘new-style’ all along? And when it’s this delicious, does it even matter? These are the hard-hitting questions you must ponder at Victor Liong’s time-honoured, pan-Asian institution Lee Ho Fook. At this Melbourne favourite Australian producers and grocers, and seasonal ingredients, are championed through a platform of modern Chinese food. Perhaps it'll be Tasmanian ocean trout sashimi with black bean and orange dressing to start, followed by the lacquered duck with quince hoisin, spring onion, and bing bread, all capped off with a rose tea and red fruit trifle with vanilla and osmanthus cream. Whatever you eat, it's sure to be excellent. 

'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. And maybe that’s the thing about our winner of the 2018 Legend Award. Cumulus Inc is so many different things to so many different people. For city office workers, it’s the perfect show-off gaff for breakfast meetings with out-of-towners (bonus points for feigned nonchalance in the face of its boast-worthy fabulousness). For solo lunchers, it’s a place where singleton status is never a problem.

Ishizuka's menu specialises in Japanese kaiseki. It’s also a rabbit hole, both quasi-literally (the ordeal of finding it through a nondescript door, along an arcade, down a level via a keypad and elevator and through another nondescript door, can feel a little daunting, which is probably the point) and figuratively, thanks to chef Tomotaka Ishizuka performing the food equivalent of needlepoint.

Under the stewardship of the Grossi family, this Bourke Street Italiano staple still shines. The grand Mural Room is one of Melbourne’s last bastions of lavish European dining charm where the lighting is set to dim, and the mood set upon arrival by the proffering of a handbag stool. Through three generations of hard graft and some damned fine cooking they’ve cemented their place in the city’s dining history.

When young Abla Amad came to Melbourne in 1954 she brought the love of cooking developed while watching her mother in their north Lebanese village. Later, she sharpened her culinary skills with the Lebanese women who would meet in each other’s kitchens to exchange recipes. Abla loved feeding people so much that meal-making for her family turned into hosting Sunday feasts for the community – and then came the restaurant. It’s easy to see why this has been a Carlton institution for 40 years. There’s no pomp or pretence here – it's so authentic it should come with a certificate. Places like Abla’s are not just about a good feed. They are part of the fabric of our city, and in these days of hyped new openings, it's important to celebrate this rare breed of restaurant.

Think of it as an ultra-boutique Japanese banquet running headlong into performance art and theatre. Omakase is a showcase of skill and showmanship, although Warabi deformalises the experience with an emphasis on chef-diner interactions. The cross-counter chat proves a welcome pressure valve to those gathered in the serene, timber-lined cocoon lording it above Collins Street – at least before the sake has its chance to do some mood-loosening of its own. The rules of Warabi engagement are as follows: 12 ringside seats, $245 a head. Like a stage production, it waits for no one: kick-off is 5.30pm and 8pm, with a two-hour sitting time proving long enough to transport you to Tokyo’s glittering Ginza and back. Two hours of omakase power later, the chef show is over. The temptation is to clap, but even this dining spectacle demands some deference. So let’s make up for it now. Applause. 

If there's anything we can rely on Shannon Martinez for, it's to keep us on our toes. The fabulous plant-based chef, author and restaurateur has thrown us plenty of wildcards over the years, from trailblazing vegan deli Smith and Deli to ambitious Latin American vegan restaurant Lona Misa. Though there's been a spate of much newer projects from Martinez to get excited about in recent months – namely, Marvel Stadium's new Amphora and Friends of Fire – there's one restaurant that will always feel like the truest essence of Martinez' rock 'n' roll brand of inventiveness and deliciousness: Fitzroy restaurant Smith and Daughters. 

After a two-year hiatus, Richmond locals and broader Melbournites alike can rejoice – Anchovy is back. The chef here is is emphatic that Anchovy is not a Vietnamese restaurant but rather an amalgamation of Australian and Vietnamese dining. Exploring the concept of "Viet Kieu" (the term for a Vietnamese person who lives outside of Vietnam), Anchovy simultaneously represents provenance and metamorphosis, in the most gloriously edible way. 

Started up by Ezard trio Ned Trumble, Keat Lee and Chris Lerch, Lagoon Dining is consistently tantalising our tastebuds with some of the most considered and punchiest contemporary takes on classic dishes. If you’re fixated with labels, Lagoon would be best categorised under that all-encompassing moniker ‘pan-Asian’. Very few dishes hew to the traditional. Yet true Southeast and East Asian influences are apparent everywhere, from the dishes Lagoon chooses to spotlight to the condiments they incorporate into said dishes – think sambal belacan, white pepper togarashi, gochujang, Chinkiang vinegar.

What could be so extraordinary about yet another Italian joint in a city brimming with some of the best of them? Do your research though, and you’ll quickly discover that Alta Trattoria is not, in fact, just “another Italian joint”. The restaurant’s specialty is a little different, zeroing in on the northern Italian region of Piedmont, which is located at the foot of the Alps and home to some of the boot nation’s most prized culinary exports. In addition, the team behind Alta Trattoria includes Luke Drum (Carlton Wine Room), chef McKay Wilday (Victoria by Farmers Daughters), Carlo Grossi (Ombra, Grossi Florentino) and vino expert James Tait (King and Godfree). Anticipate rustic yet elegant trattoria-style dishes, sophisticated and rare Italian wines, and keen service who've nailed the brief.

Good, honest food. Sometimes, it’s the only thing you crave. Like the type of meal your grandmother prepared for you when you were a child. Or freshly rolled pierogi. The couple at the helm of this new Brunswick East restaurant, Guy Daley and Dominika Sikorska, are widely respected for bringing some of the most authentic Polish cuisine to Melbourne and they're absolutely smashing it.

Kafeneion (a play on the Greek term ‘kafeneio’, which refers to a traditional coffee house) aims to serve Melburnians a taste of true, traditional Greek comfort food. Think homestyle soups and hearty meat and vegetable dishes made from authentic village recipes you’re unlikely to find outside of the Hellenic motherland. The place itself has a touch of taverna about it, too, with basic white tablecloths and Supper Club’s home-y wood panelling. It’s easy to imagine merrily hanging out here until long after dinner as the Athenians do – and you absolutely can, for it serves supper and drinks most nights until 3am.  

Babaji's was founded by chef Max Kamil Hassan as a sort of love letter to Kerala, a region in India famed for its lush landscapes and fascinating culinary heritage – think fragrant seafood curries, tender biryanis, street food snacks like idli and dosa, and a variety of vegetarian dishes that showcase local ingredients with an Indian twist. What truly sets Babaji’s apart is its heart. This isn’t just about food; it’s about the richness of Indian culture prepared and parcelled out in a way you can taste. Whether you’re a local or a wandering soul in search of something authentic, you’ll find that Babaji’s has a way of making you feel right at home.

Into the Carlton kingdom of carbs and cheese comes fine diner Kazuki’s, and winner of our Best Fine Diner award in 2019. Most of this restaurant's magic is thanks to a great chef – Kazuki Tsuya from Akita in Northern Japan, who blends classic French culinary techniques with Japanese flavours and top Aussie produce. The result? Dishes that are well worth the dosh. 

We know we're only supposed to include one restaurant per spot on this list, but when you live in a city with just so much good food, you have to make a couple of exceptions here and there, so coming in hot together are Maha and Maha East. Like an older, responsible sister, Maha continues to show up just the way you want her to, providing comfort in the form of whipped hummus, slow-roasted lamb shoulder, and smoked aged rice, like an upgraded version of a familiar and warming home-cooked meal. But Maha East, her sassy, independent younger sister, who doesn’t like being told what to do, is bringing a taste of the Middle East to Chapel Street, in a carefree, fun and fresh way.

Time Out’s 2022 Restaurant of the Year (also our Best Casual Dining Venue) impressed us from the outset, a shot in the arm for the city’s food culture. Riffing on chef Ross Magnaye’s Filipino heritage without suggesting anything like straightlaced authenticity, the fire-licked food is irreverent, playful and fun while also introducing the non-Filipino Melbournians to a new world of flavour. Backed by a pithy, natural-leaning wine list and a whole lot of buzz, the menu is a tour-de-force of things we want to eat. Such as the lechon, the roasted free-range pig married to a pineapple-infused, gently spicy-sweet palapa sauce. Or the deliciously inauthentic McScallop, a cheeky riposte to the golden arches starring a single fried scallop doused in deliriously rich crab-fat sauce cut through with papaya pickle and sandwiched in a toasted pandesal bun. The only challenging thing about Serai? Trying to score a table.  

While our city's filled with a labyrinth of outstanding and historic establishments, few really deserve the coveted title of being a Melbourne culinary institution – an overused and often meaningless phrase. However, after experiencing a meal in the tranquil yet dynamic dining room at Kenzan, the Collins Street restaurant that has been serving traditional Japanese fare since 1981, you leave with the feeling that there aren’t many ways more apt to describe the place. 

In 1990, on the eve of the Gulf War, Italian porn star-turned-parliamentarian Cicciolina offered to sleep with Saddam Hussein in exchange for world peace. A foolproof plan it seemed, but sadly she was unsuccessful and off to war we went. Three years later, on a bustling seaside street in faraway St Kilda, a sultry Italian restaurant named for her colourful legacy was born. 

Like many of us during the COVID lockdowns, Italian-born chef Andre Vignalli tried to make lemon juice from a suddenly sour situation. He launched his own pasta delivery service, Al Dente, which quickly spread in popularity around Melbourne and has since evolved into the upscale modern restaurant it is today – Al Dente Enoteca. Vignalli and Bonadima’s dishes change with the seasons to focus on local quality produce and regionally inspired Italian flavours. Think house-baked pane with cultured butter and an impressively rare aged balsamic vinegar reduction, panzerotti pomodoro with mozzarella and basil (the most epic take on a pizza pocket you’ll ever try) and juicy golden-fried olives stuffed with meat for starters. 

Dining on Flinders Lane requires a game-plan, because more often than not, you’ll be lining-up for a table. This is especially true for Supernormal, which is, after about thirteen years in the game, one of those restaurants people are willing to wait to eat at. But is this Asian-influenced, McConnell diner still worth the queue time? Definitely.

Farmer’s Daughters is bringing Gippsland to the city at its swish multi-level venue at 80 Collins St. Executive chef Alejandro Saravia spent many years bringing his vision of a deli, restaurant and bar to life, and the venue was welcomed with open arms by Melburnians seeking a taste of their own state. The colour palette is inspired by gumtrees, from olive green through to terracotta, and each level of the three-storey venue represents a different location. Sink into brown leather banquettes and snack on warm Irish soda bread with cultured cream, Koo Wee Rup asparagus with black garlic and Tarago brie mousse before moving onto the likes of rabbit with Pink Fir Apple, black garlic and leek chutney or dry age O’Connor beef with Wattlebank Farm oyster mushrooms and spring brassicas. Dining at Farmer's Daughters is as much of an educational experience, as it is a luxurious, wholesome and memorable meal.

This is a kitchen bringing the kind of modern Turkish food you’d find in Istanbul’s vigorous restaurant scene to Balaclava with a program of pickling, preserving, fermenting and hanging (yoghurt, that is). It’s fresh, pretty, textured and refined. 

There’s something to be said about the cuisine of Emilia-Romagna. Tomato isn’t the forté of this Italian region, so don't expect a traditional tomato ragu. The chefs at Trattoria Emilia hail from its namesake, and the chefs here create uncomplicated dishes that are big on flavour.

There’s something brewing in the heart of Little Collins Street. It could be the numerous jars of potato skins or cabbage fermenting away in Sunda’s latest sibling, Aru Restaurant, or perhaps it’s Khanh Nguyen’s playful and determined spirit. Whatever it is, it’s a welcome change in a relatively underserved pocket of the CBD. The venue heroes pre-colonial techniques of cookery across Southeast Asia – “cooking over fire, preserving, fermenting, dry-aging, curing and all those kinds of treatments” says Nguyen. It’s a spirited take on the ‘f’ word that can often miss the mark, but here, Nguyen manages to make light-hearted commentary on colonisation through his fusion food, and he does so in a way that’s both moreish and respectful.

You don’t get the menu until the end, and Gunn and his team of young chefs deliver food to the tables. They seem like they’re having fun. The diners seem like they’re having fun. What we’re witnessing here is the trickle-down effects of haute cuisine. Fun fine dining. File that one in Urban Dictionary.

While Footscray is known for its African food, if you head a little closer towards the city to the Abyssinian for your dose of injera bread, you won't be disappointed. This Racecourse Road eatery serves up a combo of traditional and spiced-up Ethiopian dishes including kifto beef, goat with kemmam sauce and the lamb hot pot shiro bozena. Order the mixed platter feast to get a chef's choice of curries and a small salad served on a giant serve of delightfully spongy injera flatbread. Cutlery is optional here, so get your hands in there and sop up all the flavours.

The heady smell of incense is apparent as soon as you walk into Flint’s dark confines. Charcoal walls surround a centrepiece open kitchen where sous chef Yukio Endo works his magic on the night we visit. Through an alcove is a private mezzanine dining area that overlooks the restaurant while perched aloft. Flint combines the no-waste fermentation ethos of the since-closed Parcs with a healthy respect for flames and a penchant for wood-fired grilling. There are no ovens at Flint – only ‘fire, smoke and charcoal’. There's a sense of theatre here and the kitchen surprises with every turn and trick. 

Atria’s version of sitting by the bar is parking yourself along a 19-metre-long Victorian ash counter that overlooks floor-to-ceiling windows of the city’s skyline as chefs assemble your dishes in front of you. Is it one of the most stunning views from a Melbourne restaurant? We think so. At every turn, Atria’s dishes are strikingly unique and, most of all, delicious spotlights on local Victorian produce. Step into the black orchid-scented lobby of Ritz-Carlton and ascend into the clouds for one of the most exciting dining experiences going around. 

What we have here is not so humble as an osteria. Sure, it has an underlying rustic Italian brief, exemplified by the chargrilled whole octopus brutishly splayed over a sauce made of the fiery Calabrian spreadable salami, `nduja. Despite its aims to be everything but a pasta bar, Ilaria's signature has become a plate of paccheri (thick tubes of pasta) strewn with nubs of Crystal Bay prawn meat, grounded in tomato and sorrel purees and anointed with the heady cologne of prawn oil.

In the years since Frank Camorra and business partner Andy McMahon opened their Hosier Lane flagship tapas restaurant, the pair have launched an Armada of Spanish eateries that now includes MoVida Next Door and MoVida Aqui. But don’t let all that rampant breeding put the fear of neglectful parenting into you – MoVida is captained by a trusty crew and still offers one of the best bar dining experiences in Melbourne.

What’s remarkable about casual Italian dining is how it elevates simplicity. There’s no need for a laundry list of ingredients or overly complex preparations. It’s all about the fundamentals—high-quality ingredients, treated with respect and a light touch: a handful of fresh basil, a sprinkle of parmiggiano reggiano, a drizzle of the best extra virgin olive oil here or there. That said, while Lagotto gets these essentials right, it also reaches dizzying levels of creativity – all without feeling pretentious. This light-filled restaurant feels as welcoming as your friend's living room, with charming and passionate staff to match. 

If you've got a thing for rare sake, French wines, A-grade sashimi or elevated fusion fare, then there's a new spot in Armadale that deserves a spot at the top of your dining-out list. Bansho is a luxe bistro that's nailing all of the above, aided by the genius of executive chef Tomotaka Ishizuka (Ishizuka, Kisumé, Koko), whose creative menu blends the finesse of modern French cooking methods with traditional Japanese technique.

France-Soir is truly a Melbourne institution. Established in 1986 by owner Jean-Paul Prunetti, the bistro was an instant success, and in the fickle world of hospitality, that success has endured. This is not a venue for the claustrophobic. Tables are packed tightly, and seats are in high demand. Waiters expertly ferry plates from the kitchen behind the swinging doors at the back, manoeuvring among the lively tables. The menu is composed of France's finest bistro-style fare. 

A chef, a sommelier and a maitre d’ walk into a bar. Bada-bing. Carlton Wine Room is no joke but the brilliant result of three of the industry’s accomplished stars banding together to take the leap into restaurant ownership. Snacks stand out as stars here: order the anchovy with fried bread, ricotta and pickled cucumber, and the stracciatella with pickled mushrooms, chive oil and potato focaccia, always. 

Cutler and Co has been a mainstay on the fickle Melbourne hospitality circuit for many years, and for good reason. Andrew McConnell opened the restaurant way back when in 2009 in a former metal works factory, and it has undergone a transformative evolution over all those years, emerging as his flagship restaurant. However Cutler and Co has stayed true to its values of refined, simple and hospitable dining throughout the years, as the industry continued to grow and evolve around it. Seasonable menus champion modern Australian food showcasing local producers and growers, expertly crafted by the skilful team in the kitchen. 

Tucked inside Collins Street’s heritage-listed Olderfleet building, the street visible through a trio of ecclesiastical windows, Freyja is a restaurant immune from any accusations of culinary copying. Under the leadership of Jae Bang, formerly head chef at Norway’s two-Michelin-gonged Re- Naa, Freyja swings from daytime smørrebrød, the traditional Danish open sandwiches we prefer to think of as a full meal on rye, to a dinner menu packing cool Scandi sophistication. Ironically for a restaurant named after an over-worked Norse goddess, Freyja is trailblazing a work/life balance for its staff by opening only on Tuesday to Saturday. It’s another Scandinavian approach to life we’re happy to embrace. This goddess has earned her break, and our devotion.

Rue De Thanh is situated on the quiet end of Brunswick Street, a celebration of Vietnamese food spearheaded by owner Than Tran. With more than twenty years of restaurant experience, he's paired with Head Chef Thi Hong Nguyen to create a menu that covers the gamut of familiar Vietnamese favourites with a contemporary flair and dash of French technique. Take, for example, the Bò tái Chanh, which is a rare beef salad but instead comes in the form of Melbourne-y beef carpaccio – sumptuous pink beef fillet topped with shallots, herbs and crispy garlic. Oysters come grilled or fresh, the latter topped with zesty nuoc mam and popping citrus finger lime pearls. Bánh khọt, coconut and turmeric pancakes are crispy-outside-gooey-inside perfection.