Sonia Nair

October 2024: Spring calls for more time outdoors, doing fun activities like these ones and soaking up some of those (slowly) emerging rays. All that sudden outdoor action calls for dining out, too! With this list on hand, you'll never be short on ideas.  The continually evolving and expanding dining scene in Melbourne is both a blessing and a curse: how do you choose between so many incredible restaurants? Well, that's where we come in. Stop endlessly scrolling, and commit to making your way through Time Out’s list of the best restaurants in the state right now. Our always-hungry local experts and editors have curated 2024's most delicious and divine, innovative and imaginative, comforting and familiar, memorable and magical dining experiences right here at your fingertips. From old favourites and culinary institutions such as Attica, Stokehouse and Flower Drum, to emerging standouts and instant icons such as Serai, Gimlet and Amaru, we've got it all covered here. And as for the brand new restaurant and bar openings catching our eye? Check out this guide instead. Get out, and get eating! You've got a lot to get through!  Prefer a tipple-focused adventure? These are the best bars in Melbourne. Looking for a knock-out dining experience that won't break the bank? Look no further than our list of Melbourne's best cheap eats. And for hot new openings, check out our best newcomers guide.

November 2024: The heat's cranking up and so are our appetites! But with the cozzie livs crisis, holiday plans and festive expenses looming ahead, let's be real: it can be a challenge to keep dining out friendly on the ol' hip pocket. This is where our handy guide comes in – a monthly-updated list brimming with ideas on where you can eat out, eat lots and support small hospo businesses without straining your budget.  The late and great respected chef Anthony Bourdain once famously said: “I'd rather eat in Melbourne than Paris." It goes without saying that Melbourne has long been revered as one of Asia Pacific's most exciting food cities, but that status isn't just attributed to our fancy restaurants – special as many of those upper crust institutions may be. Our laneaways and hidden alcoves are brimming with cheap street eats, smashable pub deals and dinner options you can enjoy for $20, $15 or even under $10, so you can stop counting your hard-earned pennies and start eating instead. Looking for a drink to wash it all down? These are the best happy hour deals right now. Curious about other yummy specials? Here's how to get a cheap meal in Melbourne every night of the week.

November 2024: In celebration of the small and local businesses that make Melbourne so much fun, we spent most of October revisiting old favourites to deliver our verdict on this city's very first Time Out Recommends list. But we sure made time to visit some new spots, too, such as Flour Child's sultry new Richmond location (seriously, you have to try their special pinsa romana) and a Thai-inspired restaurant at Fitzroy's gorgeous new hotel. We also checked out a new bistro in Abbotsford and a Chinatown oyster bar that's getting rave reviews. Here's your ultimate guide to Melbourne's most exciting recent restaurant and bar openings, updated monthly for your reading (and tasting) pleasure. With this list on hand, you'll be the first to know where to find the hottest brunch spot, vino bar or fine diner – all sussed out by our fastidious team of writers and critics. Note: we generally include venues that are only twelve months (give or take) young in this list.  Ready to make a booking somewhere spesh? Read on. Still hungry? These are the 50 best restaurants in Melbourne right now. Fancy a tipple? Check out the 50 best bars in Melbourne. Lauren Dinse is Time Out Melbourne’s Food and Drink Writer. For more about how we curate, see our editorial guidelines.

Compiling a list of the best Indian restaurants in a city, let alone a country, is no easy task. Every region, city and family have their own specialties, offering a diverse line-up of comforting curries, crunchy pakoras, fluffy naan bread, tangy pickles and cooling lassis. Time Out Australia has enlisted its team of well-travelled editors and writers to bring you this list of must-try Indian restaurants in every capital city. In Melbourne, a tiny at-home restaurant presents one of Melbourne’s most singular degustations, taking diners on a journey through different regions and seasons. In Sydney, a vibrant late-night eatery serves up colourful curry plates and roti wraps until 2am on the weekends. Meanwhile, a beloved Adelaide institution has been dishing up crowd-favourite butter chicken and beef vindaloo curries for almost 50 years. Wherever you are, your next spice fix awaits. 🍽 All the best restaurants in Australia🍱 The best Japanese joints in Australia🍕Where to find the best pizza in Australia

Since the 1960s, Lygon Street has been known and loved as Melbourne's Little Italy precinct. Locals and tourists alike flock to the leafy strip – abuzz on weekends with the roaring of fancy cars and roaming of uni students, teens and families – for proper espresso, pasta and cake, and a true taste of Italian-style al fresco action.  Sure, you might get a bit of hassle from the sales-y footpath waiters trying to lure you in, but true Melburnians know that's a part of the street's charm. And though much has changed in the last decade, there's no doubt that if you want to sit out on a terrace with a pizza bigger than your head or sip Spritzes on a rooftop, Lygon Street is still the place to be.  In 2024, there's a much larger and more diverse culinary offering in this area than ever before. Particularly on the southern end of the Carlton stretch, you'll discover incredible eateries for Egyptian, Japanese, Indian, Thai, plus a variety of other cuisines. No longer just the domain of spaghetti and salumi, Lygon Street is now also worth heading to for a bangin' biryani or world-class Asian fusion. And that's not all. Take a stroll up towards Brunswick East and you'll discover trendy wine bars, pubs with live music, American barbecue, Polish dumplings, Sicilian food and one of the best taco joints in town. Hungry yet? Let's go for a wander! We've listed Lygon Street's best restaurants in Google Maps-checked order so you'll know where to find them. Looking for the cream of the crop?

A traditional bánh mì has bread with crunch, but not so much that it scrapes the roof of your mouth. It’s fluffy and light, but not so flaky it completely disintegrates into your lap. It’s the perfect vessel for liberal amounts of pâté, a Vietnamese condiment called egg mayo butter, fresh cucumber, pickled carrot (and daikon if you’re lucky), generous sprigs of coriander and chilli, plus the protein of your choice. On the sauce front, some shops will opt for a dash of Maggi seasoning and soy, others go the hoisin route or even a combination of more than one. Word of warning: you may encounter a holier-than-thou type on your bánh mì travels who insists your choice of sanga is "not the authentic way". But the truth is that 'bánh mì' literally translates to the short baguette itself. You can enjoy this freshly baked delight stuffed with any filling you like – crispy pork belly, nem nuong (grilled pork sausage), chicken, mixed ham, tofu, beef or just plain salad! We love the braised pork and duck confit options at Banh Mi Stand, but we're equally partial to the no-nonsense cold cuts at Phuoc Thanh. There are plenty of regional variances all across Vietnam, and some Vietnamese even like to enjoy theirs filled with ice cream. So how did we come up with this list? Well, we ate a lot of bánh mì. We kept a rolling document that helped us to compare each one. We considered the balance of condiments, the quality of the bread and the freshness of the meat and salad. And we washed it all

South Indian, North Indian, Malaysian-Indian, Indo-Chinese, Indian fusion – Melbourne has it all. Australians’ perennial favourite butter chicken can, of course, be found at a lot of these restaurants but we encourage you to expand your palate. There's a whole world of ingenious, time-honoured dishes hailing from every regional pocket of the subcontinent. Our team of writers have kept an eye on Melbourne's Indian food scene over the years, trying out new suburban joints, casual diners and some of the newer 'mod-Indian' restaurants that have popped up in the last few years. The results? We've compiled our fave spots here for your eating pleasure. Go on and spice up your life. Looking for budget-friendly meals? Here are the best cheap eats in Melbourne.

Australians have a slight obsession with Japanese food. From silky bowls of ramen and glossy slithers of sashimi to crispy gyoza and bite-sized sushi rolls, we’d go to great lengths for a taste of Tokyo. Luckily, you don’t need to splurge on a ticket to Tokyo, since we’re blessed with some of the finest Japanese restaurants Down Under. Steeped in precision and ancient traditions, Japanese cuisine is a meticulous art form in its own right. In Australia, you’ll find highly awarded chefs firing Kobe beef right before your eyes, grandmas pouring fragrant teas and sake in cosy izakayas, and new-wave cooks serving high-end sashimi in exquisite omakases. Whether you’re after no-frills or all of the frills, here are some of the best Japanese restaurants in Australia. 🍽 All the best restaurants in Australia🐠 The best fish and chips in Australia🍕Where to find the best pizza in Australia

Melburnians are almost as passionate about their cocktails as they are about their coffee. What's the proper way to make a Martini? Gin or Vodka Gimlet? And should a cocky ever be on tap?  We've sipped our way around this great city to find the bars with the best atmosphere, the most creative bartenders and of course, the best drinks. If firewater is more your thing, Melbourne's got some of the best whisky bars around. Or if you're keen on a glass of vino, head to Melbourne's best wine bars. 

The unmistakable smokiness and charry, rendered skin are the best things about charcoal chicken, and these qualities are what sets charcoal chook apart from its fried or roasted relatives. It has to be moist and tender with concentrated flavour. But it’s not all about the chicken – nobody goes to the chicken shop without ordering a few sides, whether it’s chips, salads or a potato cake. And we're here to judge it all.  We've rounded up our top picks below to ensure you're getting the best crispy, smoky chook that Melbourne has to offer. Prefer your chicken with cheese and passata? These are Melbourne's best chicken parmas. Like your meals cheap? Here are our favourite meals on a budget. 

To use the amorphous moniker ‘African food’ to describe the multifaceted cuisines of an entire continent is a misnomer – the food of east, west, north, south and central Africa differ greatly due to intersecting forces of colonisation, trade and landscape. Whether it’s in the ingredients used, the dishes these ingredients appear in, or the choice of carbs that accompany each meal (Ethiopians love their flatbread, Somalis prefer rice, while West Africans swear by their cassava, plantain, yam and rice), African food is hyper-regional. Dishes may bear the same name, but specificities abound according to where they’re cooked.   Melbourne diners are by now well-acquainted with Ethiopian food and the wonders of the iconic fermented flatbread injera – Victoria is fittingly home to the largest Ethiopian population in Australia – but more recent waves of migration from Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon are culminating in a mushrooming of West African restaurants around Melbourne.  Yet there are a few commonalities that unite many African cuisines. The communal nature of sharing food is a key way of enjoying the continent’s most renowned dishes, while cutlery is often eschewed in favour of hands.  Below is the non-exhaustive list of our favourite African restaurants in Melbourne. Want more? Check out the best Malaysian restaurants in Melbourne, plus our guide to the 50 best bars right now.

Mexican food used to be tough to find in Melbourne. Then it was easy, but it was pretty much only Tex-Mex (most of it, not great). Fortunately, those days are no more – today, our city is blessed with everything from lively cantinas to late-night mezcal bars, and everything in between. If you're craving a taco (or several) and a spicy Margarita, turn up the heat with our guide to Melbourne's hottest Mexican joints.  Looking for Melbourne's best Italian, too? We've also got you sorted for Japanese and Korean restaurants as well. 

Time Out Melbourne never writes starred reviews from hosted experiences – Time Out covers restaurant and bar bills for reviews so that readers can trust our critique. Tucked away in the residential backstreets of Abbotsford is Molli, a neighbourhood bar and bistro just a stone’s throw away from stalwart café Three Bags Full. Funnily enough, the perennially popular brunch destination is an earlier venture of Nathan Toleman, owner of Molli and founder of hospitality conglomerate the Mulberry Group, the same establishment behind CBD restaurants Hazel and Dessous.  Molli is a warm and inviting space, belying its expansiveness as a 100-seater. Clad in dark timber and light-filled, with sage green walls adorned by still life oil paintings and vintage furnishings, Molli is simultaneously classy and cosy. Seating can range from tables and banquettes to a wraparound bar overlooking the open kitchen, where one can witness firsthand the flames of Molli’s prized Josper charcoal oven. Get there between the witching hours of 5 and 6pm on weekdays to capitalise on Molli’s aperitivo hour, a delightful window in time when oysters are $4.50, select beer and wines are $10 and a curated list of cocktails are $14 each. Molli excels in reasonably priced daily specials, whether it’s their $30 pasta and vino lunch on Friday and Saturday or their $60 Sunday set meal. Adjacent sister venue Little Molli is a daytime café and deli.  Kayla Saito brings her extensive experience as bar manager at Dessous t

Update October 2024: This review was originally written in 2023, so please be aware that some elements may have changed since. Time Out Melbourne never writes starred reviews from hosted experiences – Time Out covers restaurant and bar bills for reviews so that readers can trust our critique. Moody, intimate and tastefully lit, Black Kite Commune is the latest addition to the illustrious Russell Place – joining sister bars Gin Palace (a Melbourne institution), its lively adjunct Bar Ampere, and until recently, Con Christopoulos’s celebrated all-day wine bar Neapoli.  But fret not – Black Kite Commune has stepped into Neapoli’s shoes, ticking all boxes and then some. Spread across two levels, the mood is '70s bar meets French bistro – wooden panelling and low ceilings meet black walls and dark carpeted floors. Take your pick between black leather banquettes upstairs where a gold button garners you immediate service, round high tables surrounded by stools upon entry, or a seat by the golden backlit bar. A birdcage contraption on the far corner of the first floor adds a playful energy, while the purple hues of a lightbox night sky installation overlooking the entire venue creates an ethereal feel.  The drinks menu is expansive. Expect to see bottles of wine delineated by their texture, fragrance and mouthfeel rather than variety (‘bright and perfumed’, ‘juicy and full’, ‘dense and rich’). The wine list blends the classics with the new-fangled – old-world reds sit alongside a met

Time Out Melbourne never writes starred reviews from hosted experiences – Time Out covers restaurant and bar bills for reviews so that readers can trust our critique. Asian-inspired, Asian fusion, modern Asian restaurants – whatever you want to call them – are familiar to Melbourne diners. Longrain and Gingerboy were early adopters way back when the focus was on rendering these cuisines ‘approachable’, Chin Chin and Supernormal inspired queues around the block in the 2010s, and the Hotel Windsor empire of Sunda, Aru and Parcs further upped the ante. But I’d argue Lygon Street stalwart Lagoon Dining – outlier in a sea of Italian restaurants – is the best of them.  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. The vibe is contemporary 70s with whitewashed exposed brick walls, black granite and lush curtains demarcating one space from the next. Co-owner and front-of-house manager Lerch is a wonder – all it takes is for you to have vi

The Lygon Street space that once housed the Alehouse Project is now home to expansive cocktail bar Maggie’s. Exposed brick walls adorned with French-style art deco posters and a candle-lit shrine that looks like something out of The Craft form the cosy backdrop to your visit. Despite floor-to-ceiling windows, the space retains a pleasant warmth in cooler weather and the din of nearby people is absorbed by perfect acoustics – this is a place you can bring your parents.  Maggie’s has a laidback enough quality that it beckons you in for dessert and a drink as much as it’s ideal for an hours-long meal. The menu is eclectic, with a strong Polynesian influence coming through in dishes like the Māori fried bread, the Cook Island ceviche and the hangi potato smashies – owing to New Zealand-born chef Scott Blomfield. Apart from a few outliers, the dishes are rich and indulgent, so order wisely or conserve some much-needed stomach space. Divided into ‘nibblish’, snackish’, ‘peckish’ and ‘famished’, it’s a menu designed for sharing.  Beers, ciders and wines on offer spotlight Australian producers, while the sophisticated cocktails are fashioned from byproducts of the kitchen. When we visit, the horchata for the horchata fizz cocktail has run out, but the pistachio orgeat used in its place nevertheless culminates in flavours reminiscent of the Mexican rice milk dish. One of the two pet nats we want also isn’t in stock, but we’re offered the more expensive bottle for the price of the chea

First making a name for itself as a food truck in Preston, Wazzup Falafel set up a permanent outpost earlier this year along High Street in Northcote – excellent news for lovers of the Palestinian-Jordanian outfit, now able to enjoy their famed falafels in the most extreme of Melbourne’s weather conditions.  Wazzup Falafel owner Ahmad Al Alaea swapped a career in fitness with cheffing after he couldn’t find equivalent falafels to what he’d enjoyed growing up in Jordan as a Palestinian refugee. Training with the best falafel chefs back in Jordan, he opened his food truck in the fateful month of March 2020, soon garnering an ardent following within a five kilometre-radius. Thankfully, more people are now able to enjoy Wazzup Falafel’s fare. With a view of the kitchen where everything is made from scratch, the restaurant is sizeable without being huge and clad in warm timber – a perfectly cosy spot to enjoy a falafel or ten. The playfulness behind Wazzup Falafel’s name extends to its service – staff are smiley, jovial and only too happy to make recommendations on what you should order.  Falafels are unsurprisingly the name of the game here, but you get to decide how they’re served up to you – in a box alongside a medley of other ingredients, threaded on to a stick, atop piping hot chips in the self-fashioned ‘FSP’, slotted into wraps, swallowed by the folds of baked pita pockets.  You’d be hard-pressed to find someone in Melbourne who hasn’t ever tasted a falafel, but Wazzup’s a

Time Out Melbourne never writes starred reviews from hosted experiences – Time Out covers restaurant and bar bills for reviews so that readers can trust our critique. Ras Dashen has been sating the appetites of inner westies for more than a decade, and it shows no signs of abating. The colourfully eclectic interiors of Ras Dashen are as inviting as they were when Ethiopian refugee Wondimu Alemu first set up shop on Nicholson Street in 2011. Having since moved to Barkly Street in 2017, paintings and scarves striped in the green, yellow and red of the Ethiopian flag hang from terracotta-coloured walls alongside ornate bowls and woven hats – if you look closely, you can even see Alemu’s beaming face memorialised in one of the paintings.  Alemu and his wife Alemitu Aberra are the heart and soul of Ras Dashen. Alemu is as friendly to first-timers as he is to seasoned visitors, full of such mirth it’s impossible not to smile in his presence as he punctuates each sentence with a merry cackle. Ras Dashen’s Ethiopian fare has something for everyone (vegans included), but what you do need to be is someone who’s comfortable eating with your hands. There’s no better way to enjoy torn off bits of injera – the fermented flatbread that's one of Ethiopia’s most famed exports – laden with your favourite curries.  The best thing to do is order several dishes, all of which will arrive on two different kinds of injera: a white sorghum one and a brown sorghum one. Doro wot is traditionally exceed

Time Out Melbourne never writes starred reviews from hosted experiences – Time Out covers restaurant and bar bills for reviews so that readers can trust our critique. Sparsely decorated with bright pops of colour synonymous with the Mexican flag and jaunty Latin music playing from within its confines, new Johnston Street eatery El Columpio is bringing a slice of homestyle cooking to an oft-underappreciated quarter of Fitzroy.  Tortas and Tacos has livened up a strip traditionally associated with late-night shenanigans – think live music institution Old Bar and afrobeats club Laundry – but things remain tough for restaurants bold enough to set up shop in a stretch that can only be described as having bad ‘feng shui’. Vegan pinchos bar Follies shuttered after only a year and a half, citing the cost-of-living crisis. Doncaster Chinese vegetarian import Vegie Mum survived a far bit longer, but it too is shutting its doors at the end of this month. But not all is lost for those looking for a bite in the vicinity – not if El Columpio has anything to do with it.  Established by chef Ricardo Garcia Flores as part of a dream to introduce Melburnians to the family heirloom Mexican dishes he grew up with, El Columpio has a short but sweet menu. If you arrive before midday, you’ll be treated to a breakfast menu that comprises tamales and chilaquiles. Arrive after midday and the menu is identical, no matter if you arrive at 1pm or 8pm – expect the traditional Mexican soup pozole, a select

The co-founding team of John Rivera, Carlos Consunji, Ralph Libo-on, Michael Mabuti and Dhenvirg Ugot – proud Filipinos themselves – are also some of the names behind Kariton Sorbetes and Serai, ensuring bold and vibrant Filipino flavours are front and centre at Askal.  Think sizzling pork jowl and abalone sisig, ox tail kare kare doughnuts and torched scallop adobo. The showstopper dish making the rounds on socials is the roasted bone marrow, sitting in a claypot of crispy confit garlic rice and caramel-braised wagyu oyster blade for the grand total of $100. But it’s by far the most expensive dish on an otherwise reasonably priced menu of ‘pulutan’ (snacks and bites), ‘meryenda’ (entrees), ‘ulam’ (mains and sides) and ‘matamis’ (dessert). The moody yet otherwise nondescript space is a semi-industrial one with textured charcoal walls and simple shell chandeliers – sit by the bar to enjoy a peek into the bustling kitchen. Curate your own experience by ordering off the ala carte menu, or if you have choice paralysis as we did, opt for the $95 ‘feed me’ menu, that features a representative cross-section of the menu, though you may still want to add one or two must-order items.  Askal’s inventiveness extends to its cocktails – the same Tanduay rum in the leche flan appears in the banana-reminiscent Pahanocoy Dream, the nostalgia of childhood is revisited with the Hard Sarsi, and pineapple rum coupled with blackstrap rum and Campari are natural counterparts in the Ibong Adarna, As

Before Nina’s took residence at the base of Brunswick’s Nightingale Studios, it was a lively Bangladeshi restaurant and prior to that, a café that changed hands a few times. It’s the first time a wine bar serving food has popped up in the space and judging by residents’ warm reception, it’s being appreciated as much as its forebears.  Simultaneously cosy and industrial, Nina’s has retained the exposed pipes of yesteryear venues but where it stylistically departs the most is in its almost Hellenic light blue colour scheme, from the leather seats to the bright planter boxes bordering the outdoor space. The big windows bordering the bike track that runs in parallel to the Upfield line lends the space plenty of natural light, a sense of space and constant movement.  Service is both personable and personal, with a menu that speaks of the intimate network co-owners Shae and Hayley have built within their surrounding community – from the honey, a gift from a Nightingale resident, that features in a dessert to the curry leaves that garnish the king prawns, bounty from Hayley’s mum’s garden. Exemplifying this community spirit is their $35 Monday pasta nights – a godsend when most hospitality outfits are taking a much-needed day off – and their happy hour specials from 4 to 6pm four days a week. The menu leans heavily on seasonal produce and mostly comprises vegetables and seafood – a treat for pescatarians. Excitingly, there’s a compact specials menu below the regular menu, ranging fr

Much fuss is made about Collingwood eatery Commis’ connections to Gerald’s Bar, but even if you didn’t know its trio of co-owners’ were alumni at the Carlton North perennial crowd favourite, you’d be able to distinguish its pedigree.  Stepping into Commis’ warm confines is like crossing the threshold of a friend’s house – service is effortlessly affable, laidback and jovial without being effusive or overbearing. Framed artwork depicting fresh produce pepper the walls, and seating is ample – you can choose between leather booths, standalone tables and a generously proportioned courtyard in the event of good weather.  The playful drinks menu and the seasonally changing food menu reflect the wine bar’s joie de vivre. Open your drinks menu one way and be met with a ‘traditionalist’ selection divided by type, but flip it around and open the ‘expressionist’ section and you’ll encounter headings like ‘a quick drink while I think about what I really want’, ‘something old’ (remind me of my last trip to Europe’) and ‘something new’ (my drink is a fashion accessory). Wines are similarly demarcated into emotively labelled sections like ‘we f%#king deserve it’ and ‘slap me in the face and make me feel something’.  I enquire after the cocktail ‘Jessica Hates Everything’ and am told it’s named after an aunty known for abhorring every drink made in her honour. It’s a cocktail specifically concocted for its end user – I’m told I look as though I’d like a sour beverage that’s not too sweet (th

South Asian food – despite comprising complex, multilayered dishes that are painstakingly time-intensive to make – has garnered a reputation for being ‘cheap and cheerful’. No matter that it takes hours, nay days, to conjure up the depth of flavours diners often take for granted.  More recently, Melburnian restaurants like Enter via Laundry – no doubt building on the legacy of upmarket Indian restaurants like Tonka and Jessi Singh’s double threat of Horn Please and Daughter in Law – have done their bit to reconceptualise South Asian food in the mind of the Western diner: as a cuisine rich with the specificities of the subcontinent’s many distinct regions and something worth paying more than $20 for. Banish all thoughts of homogenous brown curries before you visit this raft of South Asian restaurants, which counts Ish among its legion.  Around since 2018 and occupying prime position on Gertrude Street, Ish contributes to this lineage with a menu that borrows from regions across South Asia – Kerala, Bombay, Bengal, Kashmir – and collates the old with the new. Expect to see lamb seekh kebab and samosa chaat sitting alongside the more fusion-flavoured roti duck tacos and cauliflower curried hummus, while the curry / mains are refreshingly devoid of your usual suspects. Yes, you’ll find butter chicken and it’s indeed one of Ish’s most popular dishes, but you’ll also encounter moilees, coconut-rich seafood stews from Kerala, and Kashmiri dum aloo, a yoghurt-based curry peppered wit

Whether you’ve heard of Coburg’s latest hatted restaurant may depend on how you feel about the rehabilitated Pentridge Prison.  While Olivine Wine Bar, which neighbours the restaurant, has repurposed claustrophobic prison cells into inexplicably cosy velvet-clad nooks, it’s less apparent that North and Common sits in what used to be Pentridge Prison’s mess hall. There are echoes of its brutal history – heritage bluestone walls and the 10-metre-high ceiling remain – but more than anything, the seclusion of the former prison complex tucked away off Sydney Road is what makes the tastefully repurposed North and Common feel most transportive, like you're somewhere far removed from the hubbub of Melbourne instead of in an inner north suburb less than 10km from the city. The trademark Melbourne architectural flourishes of exposed beams and brick walls are present. Ornate archways and gargantuan light fittings culminate in in a light, bright and airy space that's an immensely beautiful backdrop to an unfolding dining experience.  Assembled by Mark Glenn who has a glittering CV that includes the likes of head chefdom at Cumulus, North and Common’s menu leans heavily on seafood and seasonal vegetables. Apart from locally sourced meat like Paroo kangaroo, Hazeldene’s chicken, O’Connor’s sirloin and Flinders Island lamb which are namedropped throughout the menu, you’re likely to be eating Sydney Rock oysters, Jerusalem artichoke, Corner Inlet calamari and zucchini flowers. A curious adju