Best restaurants in Melbourne

Attica is Australia's only restaurant on San Pellegrino's World's Top 50 Restaurants list. Ben Shewry creates contemporary dishes with native ingredients, like saltwater crocodile rib glazed with spiced honey,...

It took three years to transform King and Godfree, an Italian grocer since 1884, into this multi-venue wonder. There's Johnny's Green Room, with 360-degree rooftop views and a glitterati cocktail vibe; a deli...

Good things come to those who queue, and here they come in the form of unrivalled pastries, from innovative cruffins to plain croissants often dubbed the world's best. In the centre of this warehouse space is a...

Arguably Australia's best Japanese restaurant – if you care to empty your pockets and book two months in advance. It's hidden down a side street; the best seats are at the bar, where sushi master Koichi...

Striking contemporary architecture and floor-to-ceiling bay views set the tone at Stokehouse, a top draw for its waterside setting and modern, seafood-centric dishes (plus its devilishly good bombe: strawberry...

Hyped for all the right reasons, this is Andrew McConnell’s flagship Melbourne restaurant and its attentive, informed staff and joy-inducing dishes make it one of Melbourne’s top places for fine dining. The menu...

Word spread quickly when Attica sous chef Peter Gunn started his own establishment, where he implements a creative contemporary take on fine dining, focusing on Australian ingredients. It’s a multicourse,...

Established in 1975, Flower Drum continues to be Melbourne’s most celebrated Chinese restaurant, imparting a charmingly old-fashioned ambience through its dark wood, lacquerwork and crisp white linen. The...

Get in early or expect a long wait – upstairs, Longsong is a beautiful holding space – before sampling this delicious Thai cuisine. Communal tables don’t exactly work for a romantic date, but they’re great for...

Chef Morgan McGlone knew he was onto a good thing while honing his kitchen skills in the States. But since bringing Nashville fried chicken to Australia and pairing it with natural wine, it's been a...

Quintessentially Melbourne, Cumulus is famed for its generous slow-roast lamb shoulder. It's all about beautiful produce and artful cooking here, served at the long marble bar and little round tables....

A favourite among spice lovers and chefs since 2009, there's nothing Dainty about the numbing chilli effects of the food here. Among more challenging dishes like offal and periwinkles (or, as it says on the menu,...

Across from the Royal Botanic Gardens and beneath United Places, this classy restaurant focuses on cooking over flames, be it whole tiger flathead or Wagyu beef with smoked bone marrow. Starters steal the...

This handsome wine bar and bistro is an extension of adjoining Prince Wine Store, with an ever-changing wine list and seasonally driven dishes to match. Whether dining at the bar or at one of the intimate back...

Named after a Black Sorrows song, this Italian restaurant is big on wood-fired pizzas and also offers refined pub grub and pasta. It somehow manages to be uber cool and kid-friendly – those tea towel napkins come...

When a Melbourne restaurant repeatedly wins the title of 'Best Paella Outside of Spain' in Valencia, you know you're on to a good thing. This casual eatery is the place for paella, available here in classic and...

What was a small cart now has a shop complete with 40 seats, neon, pretty sage-colour tiling and Savignac-inspired posters. Cheap-eats favourite Maker & Monger continues to sell raclette in winter and...

Celebrating its 90 years in 2018, Grossi is an Italian institution. Gilded plasterwork, chandeliers and 1930s Florentine Renaissance murals engender a heady sense of occasion. Decadent set menus are accompanied...

This neighbourhood gem serves a produce-driven menu that gives vegetables the attention they deserve, while still offering locally sourced meat dishes. It's as good for a snack while working through the wine list...

Set in Melbourne's first courthouse, this romantic Italian restaurant has soaring ceilings with rustically peeling walls, powder-blue banquettes and a regional Italian menu. Spanner crab spaghettini, oxtail ragu...