The Best Places to Dine in Melbourne Right Now:
Published on December 22, 2023
Do you really need a plan for eating and drinking in Melbourne? Just wandering the streets in the southeastern Australian city you’ll stumble over all manner of fantastic cafes, wine bars, noodle shops, and restaurants. When people ask me how to approach my hometown’s food scene, that’s my first suggestion: Start somewhere in Fitzroy or Collingwood, then meander into the city center through one of the many manicured parkland gardens, stopping to grab a flat white at whatever charming sidewalk table calls your name. Once caffeinated, venture down a cobblestone laneway and duck into a classic pasta joint or hidden cocktail bar. Let the city lead you.
Spontaneity aside, there are a few don’t-miss experiences, especially if you’re new to the city. For instance, many visitors get caught up in the hot new downtown restaurants but sadly never taste the Greek- and Lebanese-influenced local specialties Melbourne is known for—the kibbeh, the pide, the hundreds of souvlaki and kabob variations. Or they get carried away wine-bar-hopping and never uncover the formidable Thai, Laotian, and Filipino restaurants in town.
Melbourne has a reputation for being heavily Euro-influenced, and you could be forgiven for mistaking certain parts of town for some charming village in Italy or Spain. But we’re also increasingly an Asian city, a Middle Eastern city, and—due to more recent immigration—an African city.
Serai
7 Racing Club Lane
+61 3 9600 0016
In many ways, Serai is a classic Melbourne restaurant, located in a sunny vintage storefront down a charming laneway in the city center. In other ways, it’s revolutionary: Chef Ross Magnaye is reinterpreting Filipino dishes using Australian ingredients, cooking mostly over live fire. The results are thrilling: king prawns with buro buro sauce and pandesal; wild barramundi with smoked calamansi; kinilaw, the traditional raw fish dish, reimagined using raw kangaroo and wood-roasted bone marrow. Magnaye also has a keen sense of humor and nostalgia, making his own versions of McDonald’s sandwiches using scallops and crab fat sauce, or a spin on the Golden Gaytime (a classic Australian ice cream bar) that features durian. Natural wines, and cocktails that follow the Filipino theme, round out the offering.
Clover
193 Swan St., Richmond
+61 3 9421 2645
This whole list could be made up of wine bars – they’re one of Melbourne’s fundamental strong suits. Clover, a top-quality newcomer, makes the case that great wine bars can also be great restaurants. The room, on one of Richmond’s main drags, is so simple it veers into austerity, but it’s softened by vintage leadlight windows and modern wooden furniture. Chef Charley Snaddon-Wilson is a devotee of open flame cooking. In summer, that means a whole plump beefsteak tomato, cooked until it becomes a quavering mass of tomatoey goo, garnished with fermented white asparagus and vinegary white anchovies. Clover’s turbot is dry-aged for a few days, which deepens the flavor dramatically, then roasted and served swimming in smoked mussel sauce. The wine list is international in scope but lingers on France’s Loire Valley and quirky Australian producers.
Thai Tide
171 Bourke St.
+61 3 9650 7987
Over the past five years, the top end of Bourke Street in the city center has morphed into our very own Thaitown, with all kinds of hot pot, street food, and barbecue joints popping up. Soi 38 gets all the press, but to me, Thai Tide is just as attention-worthy. Thai Tide’s elevator pitch is regional Thai specialties and natural Australian wines, but the concept is more dynamic than that. There are stir fries from Bangkok, sour and spicy soups, and hand-pounded red curry from central Thailand served with raw vegetables and banana blossoms. This is also the spot to try Northern Thai dishes centered on insect protein, including a dill-heavy soup brimming with ant larvae.
Mario’s
303 Brunswick St., Fitzroy
+61 03 9417 3343
Mario’s is the cafe and restaurant that made Fitzroy – one of the hippest neighborhoods in the world – into Fitzroy. Opened in the mid-1980s when Brunswick Street was a wasteland of empty storefronts and hippy thrift shops, Mario’s helped define the Melbourne café and our specific version of Italian eating. Starting at 8 a.m., the checkerboard-floored room with its chrome accents hosts regulars who might go for a full breakfast or a piece of toast with homemade jam. From lunch on, it’s a soup-to-nuts menu of pastas and homestyle Italian dishes – don’t sleep on the chicken livers cooked to rosy perfection in a madeira and onion sauce, or the giant slab of lasagna. Waiters wear shirts and vests, and act like your best sardonic friend. Mario’s is an icon, sure, but it’s also a true local hangout.
A1 Bakery
643–645 Sydney Rd., Brunswick
+61 03 9386 0440
Sydney Road in Brunswick is the center of Melbourne’s Lebanese community, and the center of that is A1 Bakery. Open since 1992, the hangar-like space is a constant bustle of families eating together, silver-haired men speaking Lebanese over strong coffee or tea, and high school kids chowing down on the insanely affordable Lebanese pizzas and cheese-stuffed pies. In the morning, you can order a full Lebanese breakfast with two eggs, sujuk, labne, cucumber, tomato, olives, mint and a stack of pita bread. In the afternoon, you might spring for a kibbe platter or a creamy bowl of foul moudammas (a mixture of fava beans and chickpeas), slick with olive oil, lemon, and tahini. If there’s an important football game happening, the televisions on the wall will be playing the game, but even on Grand Final Day (Australia’s biggest sports day of the year) the vibe at A1 is all about family, community, and in-person connection.
Flower Drum
17 Market Lane
+61 3 9662 3655
