Best Restaurants In Melbourne For 2023
It was there that he made a huge impact on Australia’s now ravenous appetite for experimental Japanese by opening Kenji Modern Japanese, swiftly forming a legacy that flows through this trendy Fitzroy restaurant. If you’re looking for something different, this is the best place to start and undoubtedly one of the best Japanese restaurants in Melbourne. The assortment of imported sake, beer, and Japanese whisky make this a regular stop for locals even if they’re arriving with full stomachs.
And suburban - it reminded me a bit of the chinese restaurant in my local neighbourhpood in the 1970s. We would say that you can do better in Chinatown but on a Monday night when many of the local restaurants are closed you would be satisfied with Red Emperor. Rat the Café is a neighbourhood spot focusing on coffee and thoughtful dishes, while also doing its bit for our fragile planet. ‘Rat’ is an acronym for ‘root and tip’, and beef skewers melbourne owner/chef Callum MacBain adopts a waste-free approach to building his menu by looking to the parts of an ingredient that would usually be thrown away for inspiration. The menu changes frequently, however, there’s the obligatory toast, a spelt scone, a breakfast sandwich and a toasted loaf. Colombian food has found a home in an industrial part of South Melbourne, where jaunty tunes radiate out of the Berbeo Bros’ confines.
Home to some of Melbourne's top chefs , it's the ultimate stop for pre-theatre dining, special occasions and everything in-between. The menu here is very broad, but the dedication to craft and traditional techniques makes it one of the city’s best showcases of Japanese comfort food. Restaurateur Chris Lucas has taken the drinks list just as seriously, flying in Jonathan Ross (formerly of New York’s top-rated Eleven Madison Park) to lead a formidable wine team. The result is The Chablis, an effortlessly cool bar home to the largest selection of the world’s purest chardonnay, along with classic cocktails and an exploratory range of both whisky and sake.
Each item on the menu is lovingly created and garnished to perfection, from the gnocchi to the rabbit tagliatelle. Make sure you leave room for their classic Italian desserts though because you’ll want one of each. Located on the ground floor of a 1920s building, Gimlet at Cavendish House is a stylish restaurant and bar. With comfortable burgundy leather booths, a house martini, and a selection of caviar, you can sip your drink and dine in style. The menu draws on traditional European cuisine with a modern twist. Other dishes on the menu include a Peking duck dumpling and drunken chicken.
Their Thai inspired cocktails are full of fresh fruity combinations with a sliver of lime and fresh coconut juice, the accompaniment with spicy curry. Extravagantly decked out with a grand sweeping staircase and a suspended steel dragon to boot, Panda Hot Pot is perhaps the most ostentatious backdrop against which to enjoy hot pot in Melbourne. If you have space after, there’s a soft serve machine ready to meet all your sweet tooth needs.
A few of their dumplings, like the Flame Thrower pulled pork dumplings, are spicy. Other options include the House Made Tofu, which is an amazingly flavourful dish. In addition to their standard menu, Dolan Uyghur Food heaven offers an extensive drink menu. Their cocktails are the best in Melbourne, and the selection of beer is impressive. They also offer weekly specials that make it easy to stock up on drinks to take home with you.
They’re so good that the truffle versions with a sliver of the good stuff are almost redundant. Choose your own hotpot adventure at this all-you-can-eat Sichuan joint. The dark, red-lit interior feels like it’s straight out of a Wong Kar Wai film. Complex flavours define its Sichuan hotpot, assorted grilled seafood dishes and steamed and braised meats. ARU. The second CBD-situated diner opened up last year and has been in the ranks of the best restaurants in Melbourne ever since. But perhaps the most notorious menu item since opening has to be the flavours of banh mi pate, a remarkably instagrammable ‘pate en croute’ fusing his Nguyen’s Vietnamese heritage alongside classical french cuisine.
Those craving succulent Cantonese chicken head to Hawker Chan on Lonsdale Street in Melbourne's city centre. Bringing the world's cheapest Michelin-star meal Down Under, Chef Chan has been perfecti... Flower drum has a well known history amongst foodies and Melbournians alike. An unlikely building is the venue for this Cantonese culinary delight, which is accessed predominantly by a lift, or sta... Fans of Japanese cuisine, crafty cocktails and Instagram worthy desserts flock to Melbourne's Sake.
The second Nomad iteration is situated on the ground floor of the Adelphi Hotel and features the signature wood-fired oven and house flatbread that helped the diner rise to fame. The 100-seat diner may be new, but its quickly earned the accolade of one of Melbourne’s best restaurants. Stokehouse which opened back in the 80s has long stood as one of the best restaurants in Melbourne, and still does in 2023.
Enter for a sumptuous feast cooked by Cantonese chefs who have more than three decades of experience. Elastic, chewy noodles; baby bok choy; and a chicken and chilli broth with an incredible depth of flavour and spice – both numbing and burning. With 20 locations spread across Asia and Australia, this Hong Kong dumpling giant must be doing something right. A Michelin-starred barbeque pork bun, dusted with sugar and baked to crisp perfection.
And suburban - it reminded me a bit of the chinese restaurant in my local neighbourhpood in the 1970s. We would say that you can do better in Chinatown but on a Monday night when many of the local restaurants are closed you would be satisfied with Red Emperor. Rat the Café is a neighbourhood spot focusing on coffee and thoughtful dishes, while also doing its bit for our fragile planet. ‘Rat’ is an acronym for ‘root and tip’, and beef skewers melbourne owner/chef Callum MacBain adopts a waste-free approach to building his menu by looking to the parts of an ingredient that would usually be thrown away for inspiration. The menu changes frequently, however, there’s the obligatory toast, a spelt scone, a breakfast sandwich and a toasted loaf. Colombian food has found a home in an industrial part of South Melbourne, where jaunty tunes radiate out of the Berbeo Bros’ confines.
Home to some of Melbourne's top chefs , it's the ultimate stop for pre-theatre dining, special occasions and everything in-between. The menu here is very broad, but the dedication to craft and traditional techniques makes it one of the city’s best showcases of Japanese comfort food. Restaurateur Chris Lucas has taken the drinks list just as seriously, flying in Jonathan Ross (formerly of New York’s top-rated Eleven Madison Park) to lead a formidable wine team. The result is The Chablis, an effortlessly cool bar home to the largest selection of the world’s purest chardonnay, along with classic cocktails and an exploratory range of both whisky and sake.
Each item on the menu is lovingly created and garnished to perfection, from the gnocchi to the rabbit tagliatelle. Make sure you leave room for their classic Italian desserts though because you’ll want one of each. Located on the ground floor of a 1920s building, Gimlet at Cavendish House is a stylish restaurant and bar. With comfortable burgundy leather booths, a house martini, and a selection of caviar, you can sip your drink and dine in style. The menu draws on traditional European cuisine with a modern twist. Other dishes on the menu include a Peking duck dumpling and drunken chicken.
Their Thai inspired cocktails are full of fresh fruity combinations with a sliver of lime and fresh coconut juice, the accompaniment with spicy curry. Extravagantly decked out with a grand sweeping staircase and a suspended steel dragon to boot, Panda Hot Pot is perhaps the most ostentatious backdrop against which to enjoy hot pot in Melbourne. If you have space after, there’s a soft serve machine ready to meet all your sweet tooth needs.
A few of their dumplings, like the Flame Thrower pulled pork dumplings, are spicy. Other options include the House Made Tofu, which is an amazingly flavourful dish. In addition to their standard menu, Dolan Uyghur Food heaven offers an extensive drink menu. Their cocktails are the best in Melbourne, and the selection of beer is impressive. They also offer weekly specials that make it easy to stock up on drinks to take home with you.
They’re so good that the truffle versions with a sliver of the good stuff are almost redundant. Choose your own hotpot adventure at this all-you-can-eat Sichuan joint. The dark, red-lit interior feels like it’s straight out of a Wong Kar Wai film. Complex flavours define its Sichuan hotpot, assorted grilled seafood dishes and steamed and braised meats. ARU. The second CBD-situated diner opened up last year and has been in the ranks of the best restaurants in Melbourne ever since. But perhaps the most notorious menu item since opening has to be the flavours of banh mi pate, a remarkably instagrammable ‘pate en croute’ fusing his Nguyen’s Vietnamese heritage alongside classical french cuisine.
Those craving succulent Cantonese chicken head to Hawker Chan on Lonsdale Street in Melbourne's city centre. Bringing the world's cheapest Michelin-star meal Down Under, Chef Chan has been perfecti... Flower drum has a well known history amongst foodies and Melbournians alike. An unlikely building is the venue for this Cantonese culinary delight, which is accessed predominantly by a lift, or sta... Fans of Japanese cuisine, crafty cocktails and Instagram worthy desserts flock to Melbourne's Sake.
The second Nomad iteration is situated on the ground floor of the Adelphi Hotel and features the signature wood-fired oven and house flatbread that helped the diner rise to fame. The 100-seat diner may be new, but its quickly earned the accolade of one of Melbourne’s best restaurants. Stokehouse which opened back in the 80s has long stood as one of the best restaurants in Melbourne, and still does in 2023.
Enter for a sumptuous feast cooked by Cantonese chefs who have more than three decades of experience. Elastic, chewy noodles; baby bok choy; and a chicken and chilli broth with an incredible depth of flavour and spice – both numbing and burning. With 20 locations spread across Asia and Australia, this Hong Kong dumpling giant must be doing something right. A Michelin-starred barbeque pork bun, dusted with sugar and baked to crisp perfection.
Replies