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L'oustal
No cookie-cutter Francophilia here. This cute neighbourhood bistro is breezy and informal and does simple French standards with good produce and a light hand.
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Ladro
Simple, inexpensive and one of the best pizzas you'll ever have. Not one shred of processed ham to be found here. Chunks of spicy sausage sit in melted mozzarella among fennel on traditionally thin bases. Toppings are suited for pizza lovers possessing a more adventurous palate. Communal dining is the culture at Ladro, where you book for a seat, not a table. Bookings essential.
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Laksa Me
One of the city's more eccentric (and, we suspect, ironic) interiors is home to some great Malaysian grub. Laksa is king here, but there are also some out-of-the-ordinary entrée options like Chinese pastry triangles of diakon, yam bean and chive. There's a nice little beer list; wine drinkers will need to BYO.
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Lentil As Anything
Sick of being told what to do? Then come to this cooperative café, where they won't even tell you what to pay. You decide. Compared to that, choosing from the always-organic, no-meat menu is easy. There's love in this food, and you can taste it. How do you put a price on that?
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Lever & Kowalyk
Nothing beats a languid breakfast after a brisk bayside walk. Settle in with a mound of porridge or stack of hotcakes. Latecomers can lunch on wraps and salads, while shoppers zip in to buy take-home goods.
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Libertine
Locals love this small, traditionally decked out shopfront for its real French country cooking. The menu includes whole suckling pigs, though you'll need to bring nine of your mates to help out, and is requisitely strong on its game and cheeses.
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Longrain
One of the city's most anticipated restaurants, with sharing food and conversation at its heart. Think long communal tables, large dishes to share (plenty of veg options) and background beats. Longrain is restaurant royalty in its refined Thai- and southern Chinese-influenced dishes and wine offerings, and its pedigree (it has an older Sydney sibling, and its Melbourne staff and backers have all been long associated with the industry).
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Lounge
Student types hang around pool tables and on the leafy 1st-floor balcony day and night, picking at giant plates of nachos, hoeing into burgers with chips or slurping up a slab of lasagne. Later at night the lights go down and the music is turned up when the Lounge segues into a lively, always-buzzy club .
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Madame Sousou
Elbow your dinner partner out of the way to get the soft-leather banquette seat. The polished concrete floors, copper trimmings and aged posters give the impression you're in for some French dining. Perhaps, but don't rule out other Euro dishes, prepared with organic produce whenever possible. Stick around for a digestif and perhaps a cigar from the humidor.
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Mama Ganoush
Middle Eastern food that remains true to its roots while being modern and new. The space is full of delicate arabesque screens; the kibbes (ground lamb and bulgur), tagines and puddings are full of thought, passion and flavour.
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Marios
Breakfast, accepted as one of the best, can be ordered all day. Waiting for a table is part of the ritual, so grab a superb coffee and a spot at the bar window for a moment to check out the Fitzroy scene. Marios' waiters run a tight ship with terrific service and speedy customer turnover; the wait is never long.
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Matteo's
A plush interior, starched double-dressed tables, impeccable service, impressive wine list and outstanding modern Italian-Australian cuisine are the ingredients that make Matteo's one to bookmark. Degustation menus (including vegetarian) and platters to share round out the offerings at this warm and welcoming restaurant.
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Melbourne Wine Room
In the iconic George Hotel, the refined Wine Room is like the cone of silence compared to the heaving front bar next door (where bar meals are also available). Naturally for a wine room, there's a stellar selection on offer. Critics have acknowledged the service here as the city's best, and the Wine Room's overall reputation for fine dining remains unblemished.
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Mo Mo
Adjoining rooms in this celebrated restaurant are reminiscent of a ducking-and-weaving market bazaar, minus the mayhem. Mo Mo's austere service and tiled terracotta interior envelope well-spaced linen-dressed tables. Celebrity chef/author Greg Malouf's deservedly excellent reputation is built on his ability to prepare authentic ingredients with deft wizardry. Uncrinkle your going-out clothes for a night here. Enter from George Pde.
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Montague Foodstore
This sunlit café is the friendly, corner store gone gourmet. The Montague serves a range of breakfasts and lunches, incorporating its own breads, jams and relishes. The croque-monsieur (French-style toasted ham and cheese sandwich) will keep you going for days, or, if you insist on a healthier option, the wattle-seed granola is really good. Filled baguettes, salads, cakes and daily specials round out the selection.
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Morning Star
The food is as comfortable as the surrounds at this delightful old local in the backstreets of Williamstown. Old-school English-style fare graces the linen-dressed tables that are often full.
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Moroccan Soup Bar
The alcohol-free Moroccan Soup Bar is a much-loved mainstay that delivers its menu verbally; offerings consist of authentic recipes served up in marvellously Maghreb surrounds, festooned with cloth and drums. Pay close attention to hear the choice of three soups and nine mains, which might be vegetables and quince on couscous, a tagine or chickpea bake.
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MoVida
Serving prime international food and booze from beguiling premises, Movida is nestled in a cobbled laneway emblazoned with edgy graffiti. And the staff have attitude to boot. It doesn't get much more 'Melbourne' than this. Line up along the bar, cluster around little window tables or, if you've booked, take a table in the dining area. Come with a friend or two, order a few oft-lauded tapas between drinks, and then order a few more.
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New York Tomato
This place is so laid-back you'd think you were in someone's backyard. Oh, you are. At the rear of a modern townhouse, the owners transformed the garage space and downstairs, added a communal table and invited in the neighbourhood. Try the berry porridge in brown sugar, and, for lunch, the pumpkin and chickpea fritters or tandoori chicken pide .
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Newtown Sc
Regulars jostle to make eye contact with the person driving the coffee machine - all it takes to order an always-exquisite brew done just they way they like it. At Newtown Social Club, knowing nods are exchanged between locals: as a greeting, and in an aren't-we-lucky-to-have-this kind of way. Food is simple and consciously suburban: think Coco Pops and homemade lamingtons, plus focaccia and soup (in winter).
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O'Connell's
This posh pub is a long-time leader in the gastropub stakes. Forget about fronting up for a plate of cheap food cooked until it's colourless. O'Connell's is fancy down to the glassware, though good value. Choose to dine in the casual front room, or take yourself off out the back to the formal dining room - the same hearty menu's on offer.
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Old Kingdom
Inner-city duck fans flock to this unassuming Chinese restaurant for three courses of duck-licious fun. The owner is a one-man show of witty repartee and comic asides that keeps the room abuzz. While other tasty dishes are on offer, most tables indulge in the speciality from which three courses are created; Peking duck, duck and beanshoots and duck soup. If you plan to order duck, mention it when booking.
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Orange
Orange straddles the café/bar label with ease, its well-worn vinyl banquettes cushioning fashionable bums for early breakfasts and late-night beverages. Serving good coffee during the day, Orange slows its grinders at night, replaces teaspoons with bar coasters, and chooses Screamin' Jay Hawkins over Nina Simone LPs.
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Pearl
Oh, so fine! If you only come out of your shell for one occasion, make it Pearl. The stylish, minimalist dining room with impeccable service is confidently refined without pretence. Foodies love the adventurous and intelligent menu, which is accompanied by an equally impressive wine list. Pearl comes replete with a jovial bar area, where svelte young things rah-rah until late.
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Pelican
St Kilda's pretty young things love Pelican. Its idiosyncratic design (by the ubiquitous Six Degrees team) makes the most of its corner position with a wraparound terrace. Tapas are the heroes here; order pickled octopus or fried cheese balls while watching the Fitzroy St circus in full swing. Pelican's casual ambience sits well with breakfasters too, especially champagne breakfasters.
