Best restaurants
Melbourne's awash with high quality cafes and restaurants, so you're guaranteed to get a great meal. Sometimes you want more than a quick bite to eat and in Melbourne, you're in luck. It's simply the best place to be in Australia for a top table experience. World-class chefs, innovative cuisines, perfectly-matched wines and quirky venues characterise fine dining in Melbourne.
From restaurants awarded hats in The Age Good Food Guide, to those featured on Australian Gourmet Traveller's top 100 Australian restaurants list, with a collection of old favourites and new kids on the block, try the selection below and discover Melbourne's best restaurants.
City
Melbourne
Chef Teage Ezard combines the East and the West with verve and creativity, making this two hatted restaurant a must try for any visiting gourmand.
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Melbourne
Invent a special occasion to get into Flower Drum and dig into the Cantonese fare that garnered three more hats in The Age Good Food Guide.
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Melbourne
Modelled on the street kitchens of South-East Asia, Teage Ezard's hip restaurant is less rustic authenticity and more opulent interpretation.
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Melbourne
Winner of two hats from The Age Good Food Guide, Guy Grossi has created a menu that is quintessentially Italian but incredibly innovative.
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Melbourne
Hatted by The Age Good Food Guide, Il Bacaro's the kind of the place that could have opened last week or ten years ago, which it did.
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Northside
Richmond
Stroll on up to the quiet end of Church Street for sublime modern Italian cuisine at this understated gem, hatted by The Age Good Food Guide.
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Fitzroy North
Housed in a Fitzroy terrace, Matteo's is the share-house that grew up and got sophisticated. There's an Asian edge to the fare, and a fine wine list.
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Richmond
Treat yourself to authentic Italian food in the heart of Richmond and get cosy in the award- winning dining room of this converted Victorian hotel.
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Alphington
Take your tastebuds on a tour of north-eastern Thailand via Melbourne's suburbs, or opt for Thai standards plus a host of tantalising desserts.
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Fitzroy
Andrew McConnell's two hatted Fitzroy restaurant is stunning, the contemporary cuisine faultless, the wine well matched and the service immaculate.
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Southside
St Kilda
Head chef Jake Nicholson creates innovative, seasonal dishes matched with the finest local wines. And now hatted by The Age Good Food Guide.
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Southbank
Southbank becomes Rive Gauche as you prop up Guillaume's bar with a glass of Champagne or peruse a tight but trusted menu of French classics and wine.
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Southbank
Once you've tried Neil Perry's two-hatted take on Chinese food in the seductive surrounds at Crown you'll find it hard to go back to lemon chicken.
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Kooyong
Try the lunchtime Prix Fixe menu or explore the dinner options at Koots and evoke the days when a French restaurant signified something special.
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St Kilda
Discover the definition of beach shack glamour upstairs at the Stokehouse, where a good time is infectious thanks to the vibe and the impeccable food.
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