Twenty of my favourite Melbourne restaurants
A guide to outstanding city dining destinations.
Melbourne is a city with a well deserved reputation for great food, restaurants, cocktail bars, chefs and dining. As someone who’s previously job was leading food tours of Melbourne, I know the city well, and am regularly asked to recommend places to eat around town. So I thought I’d make a post with (some of) my favourites!
This is my pick of excellent places around Degraves Street, ACDC Lane, Little Collins Street, Flinders Lane and Exhibition Street. Just a few city blocks really, but they are literally filled with great food and drinks.
We begin on Flinders Lane with Supernormal restaurant at number 250, the go-to place for lobster rolls, chicken and prawn dumplings, peanut butter parfait (and basically everything else on the menu).
Excellent Japanese sushi and drinks are to be found at Kisume. Go for the full dining experience or, as I do, pop into the upstairs Chablis Bar for a perfectly poured glass or two.
Take a detour into cobbled stoned Hosier Lane to see the best street artists work. The excellent MoVida and MoVida Next Door restaurants are here too. Both are highly recommended for dishes such as their uber-famous Cantabrian artisan anchovy with smoked tomato sorbet, amongst many other things. Check out my MoVida review here.
Back to Flinders Lane and the corner of Russell Street for the highly regarded Gimlet at Cavendish House, a beautiful place to experience outstanding Melbourne hospitality.
Cross over Russell Street. Here Coda restaurant (enter from Oliver Lane) is renowned for their excellent Vietnamese inspired fusion menu using the best local produce. Next along Flinders Lane is the famous Chin Chin restaurant for Asian inspired food and cocktails.
Peer up George Parade, virtually opposite Chin Chin, to spot the blue and white sign. This houses Philippe restaurant, THE place for all manner of incredible French food.
The next side detour is into AC/DC Lane which is home to some excellent street art plus two great restaurants. First up is Pastuso a top city destination for Peruvian food, drinks and hospitality. Settle in here for pisco sour cocktails, ruby red snapper ceviche plus smoked and roasted chicken.
Wander on a little further and AC/DC lane changes to become Duckboard Place. This will lead you to the door of Lee Ho Fook for modern Asian dishes. Don’t miss the crispy eggplant with spiced red vinegar, wok fried rice noodles and Fujian fried rice with spanner crab, scallop and XO sauce.
Keep east on Flinders Lane and cross Exhibition Street. The award-winning Cumulus Inc restaurant appears at number 45, a renowned venue which put Flinders Lane on the foodie map when it opened in 2008. Classic dishes include tuna tartare with goat's curd, green pea and mint, slow roasted lamb shoulder to share and Madeleines with lemon curd.
From here make a beeline north along Spring Street, then into Little Collins Street where Bar Lourinha offers Spanish inspired food, wine and hospitality in a beautifully setting. A real gem of the Melbourne food scene.
From here cross into Myers Place and the always excellent San Telmo restaurant for Argentinian food done right by cooking over a parrilla grill. Check out my San Telmo review here.
Walk through to Bourke Street and then along to Madame Brussels at number 59 for rooftop cocktails and chicken toasties, with city views.
The opposite side of Bourke Street is home to three restaurants operated by the Grossi family, Cellar Bar for casual dining, The Grill when you need Tuscan inspired food cooked over wood fire and Florentino when you are looking for luxurious dining, wine and hospitality.
From here it’s a short walk to Exhibition street and take a left turn to the precinct known as 80 Collins, bordered by Collins Street, Exhibition Street and Little Collins. 80 Collins is home to a number of excellent venues, of which I really like four of them.
First up is Farmer’s Daughters where the best seasonal produce from the Gippsland region is presented in a top quality restaurant and a rooftop bar. Highly recommended. Then Yakimono, a neon infused ode to excellent Japanese food cooked over coals, and serving up great cocktails and saki. I really enjoy dining here.
Next up in this precinct is Society restaurant, a wonderful classy location with dining options including Lilian Brasserie and Society Dining Room. Check out my Society review here.
Last but definitely not least is the wonderful Nick and Nora’s. This is a cocktail bar that sets standards for inspiring cocktails, great service and a fit out reminiscent of New York in the 1920’s. Don’t miss this one.
So there you have it, a few of the many great dining and drinking destinations in Melbourne. There’s even more Melbourne food + travel articles online here.
Enjoy!
Allan Campion
So many of you have shared these newsletters with friends who have an interest in food + travel and I send my thanks.