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Café Latte
The Eastern Pearson-clad mums make time for the Puglian specialities for lunch at Café Latte.
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Café Scheherazade
Famed spinner of schnitzel and creamed spinach dinners. Continues to charm a faithful line-up of Eastern European émigrés and more recently devoted fans.
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Cafe Segovia
The menu changes like Melbourne weather at this long-running, lively laneway café. Segovia is so familiar to its army of regulars who stop in for coffee or to grab a pasta or focaccia that they've hardly noticed the standard is slipping. Token service and slap-dash dishes are this old-faithful's foibles. It still pulls the punters though, and there are worse places to watch the city go by.
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Camy Shanghai Dumpling Restaurant
The best fast food in the CBD. Wait a few minutes for a table, help yourself to plastic cups of tea that taste of urn, order a variety of dumplings - in broth, fried or steamed (don't go past the chilli oil variety) and some greens - and in 10 minutes you'll be facing a feast to make Mao weep. Fact: dumplings from Camy's prevent hangovers.
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Carlisle Wine Bar
Dark and inviting, this is the kind of place that makes you wish you were a regular. In summer, pavement tables are perfect for a beer and a long segue into a rustic Italian dinner. The wine list is top notch, including reasonably priced old and rare bottles. But it's not all about wine. A handsome barman will whip you up a fine cocktail, in between flipping over the vinyl. Friday and Saturday can get rowdy.
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Carlton Espresso
The piadinas and paninis at this café are stuffed with a wonderful array of fillings and the little tarts and biscotti are homemade. This place bustles with contemporary Italian brio rather than the rather drab nostalgia often found elsewhere.
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Cavallero
A super smart, subtle fit out lets the charm of this grand Victorian shopfront shine. Morning coffee and house-made cookies make way for piadina and pinot gris. Come tea time, there's pan-Med comfort food, and later still, cocktails, draught beer and dub tunes on the turntable. Sunday brunch goes off.
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Chocolate Buddha
Slurping organic soup noodles, or sharing gyoza (dumplings) and steamed edamame (fresh soya beans) is a cheerful way to enjoy the vibe of Federation Square. Chummy communal tables, wireless waiters and a mechanised ordering system make the place feel like a futuristic uni caf. It could be the location or the organic ingredients, but Buddha's always busy.
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Cicciolina
This St Kilda institution is a warm room of dark wood, subdued lighting and almost inappropriately arse-friendly black swivel chairs. The inspired Mod-Med menu includes great staples like linguine with smoked salmon and capers or culinary pyrotechnics like baked figs with Dolcelatte (blue-vein cheese similar to Gorgonzola) wrapped in prosciutto. It sounds highfalutin but it's not. It's smart, delicious food with a considered wine list.
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Circa
Regarded among the city's finest, Circa is one of a dying breed - the fancy hotel restaurant. The Prince hotel's renowned dining room is as silky and indulgent as the food. Groovy and refined at the same time, it has all bases covered. From degustation (including vegetarian) to breakfast (a supremely accessible option), Circa at the Prince rules.
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City Wine Shop
Though relatively new, the old-school European ambience here comes effortlessly. The Wine Shop comes from pedigree stock, which tracks through at least half a dozen of the city's respected eateries - including its older sibling the European, next door. Despite its name, this is no blow-in bottle shop. The bar menu and regularly changing mains are as much a feature as the venerable wall of wines. And its super busy street-front hatch despatches coffee and croissants to on-the-go office workers.
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Claypots
Dive into the din of people ripping heads off prawns and delving into giant plates of whole fish, and the heightened hubbub that accompanies people having a good time. Recently renovated and extended, with a great new courtyard dining area and adjoining bar, Claypots is more popular than ever - so be early! Cheap house wines and tasty A$5.00 seafood paella at every night are additional drawcards.
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Commercial Bakery
The pastries sing a siren-song; you won't be leaving here with just a coffee.
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Commoner
If you need to be convinced of this off-strip restaurant's serious intent, the house-roasted goat it offers up come Sunday lunch should do it. There's a nice, neat wine list and posh beer to compliment the Eastern Med-inflected dishes.
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Cookie
Also a thumping bar, Cookie's kitsch twist on Thai dining has proved to be an immensely popular option. Take cutesy gingham plastic table coverings, doilies and kiddies'-book bill covers into an otherwise slick fitout (opening out to a balcony), and you have a winning combination. While genuinely tasty, the food is not great value: 'small' serves are tiny and 'large' is, well, small. Still, it's a unique joint that deserves a visit.
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Courthouse Hotel
This corner pub has managed to retain the comfort and familiarity of a local while taking food, both in its public bar and its more formal dining spaces, very seriously. The European-style dishes are refined and hearty. Lunch deals are great value, and there is a tasting menu at dinner.
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Da Noi
Da Noi has captured the imagination of diners with its exciting Sardinian dishes and constantly changing seasonal menu. The spontaneous kitchen might reinterpret the chef's special three times a night. Just go with it; it's a unique experience that many it seems are keen to know - and know in quintuplicate, by way of the five-course chef's selection. Bookings advised.
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Deanery
This stylish converted car park has been architecturally designed for city dwellers (with limited space) to park their wine collections. The Deanery also has its own humbling selection of wines for walk-ins, which rates among the city's best. Though the focus is on wine, food is more than an afterthought, with a range of modern bistro meals with a Middle Eastern bent on offer.
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Degraves
Longtime latte champs keep it calm during the rush; chase a short black with a Bloody Mary if it's one of those mornings/early afternoons.
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Degraves Espresso Bar
The rickety cinema seating and fashionable gloom make Degraves a quintessential Melbourne laneway experience. If you've overindulged in that other Melbourne laneway experience, the hip little bar with no signage, beat your hangover with poached eggs or French toast with maple syrup from the all-day breakfast menu. Or just pull up a pew for an always-good coffee.
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Dino's Deli
At the time of writing, the deli half of Dino's was yet to open, but the clubby café-bistro is in full swing. The pan-Med menu is especially strong on Spanish flavours and the space is beguilingly eclectic.
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Doc
Doc has jumped on the Milanese-led mozzarella bar trend and serves up the milky white balls - your choice of local cow or imported buffalo - as entrées, in salads or atop fabulous pizzas. Toppings include creamy broccoli puree and prosciutto, bitter-sweet cicoria (chicory) and lemon, and the litmus-test margherita. The buffalo-milk gelato is a delight.
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Don Don
Students, retailers and city kids storm the door come lunch at this uptown Japanese outlet. From the counter, order quality bento boxes and bowls of curry and noodles; vegetarian options are also available. Join the throng at this extremely well-priced informal eatery to wolf down a lunch at an up-tempo pace. There's also another branch in Little Lonsdale St.
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Donovans
Who doesn't love to be beside the seaside? Especially when you're ensconced in a wicker chair and there's a team of people attending to your every whim. Donovans has a venerable reputation. Its seafood-dominant menu reads like a trophy room, unfortunately including threatened species like Patagonian toothfish and swordfish. There's also a range of pasta, risotto and salad, plus an accomplished wine and drinks selection. Book well ahead.
