A great city to dine in has enough restaurants to deliver the big, champagne-fuelled nights special occasions call for, as well as whole-table, hands-on banquets that can be the most memorable meals out.

This year’s spread of openings in Victoria delivers all that, with loud Italian trattorias rubbing shoulders with seriously refined omakase counters.

Totti’s Lorne

Sceptical restaurant spotters may have thought Sydney megagroup Merivale was just sending Victoria a facsimile of their highly successful Italian trattoria, Totti’s, for their first interstate opening. It’s a concept which they’ve already replicated in four different locations in NSW. But the secret weapon of Totti’s outpost in Lorne is Matt Germanchis, a chef who’s planted roots along the Surf Coast over many years and is skewing Totti’s menu towards his skill with seafood, much of it caught locally. It’s a formula that’s paying off.

176 Mountjoy Parade, Lorne, 02 9114 7399, merivale.com

Atria

Dining 80 floors up is usually an exercise in novelty rather than quality. But Atria, the flagship restaurant of The Ritz-Carlton, Melbourne, brushes away many of those cliches, and the ones associated with hotel dining. Chef Michael Greenlaw and his culinary mentor Mark Best are determined to get Melburnians through the door, and their bait includes impeccable sourcing of ingredients, exemplified in an all-Victorian seafood crudo plate, plus a healthy dash of theatre (see the 20-seat chef’s counter and pastry kitchen in one corner of the restaurant).

650 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne, 03 9122 2858, atriadining.com.au

Underbar

Many exceptional destination diners are let down by what comes afterward - a disappointing stay in the only available accommodation nearby. Underbar and its new home at Ballarat’s Hotel Vera are a perfect match, each reflecting the staunchly local, proudly artisan values of the other. The plush new setting for Derek Boath’s degustations is still intimate in its seated numbers but much more spacious; his menus are perhaps even more generous. Ebi prawns, duck in various guises and pork belly meet impeccable technique. It’s all-out indulgence that you’ll be making a weekend of.

710 Sturt Street, Ballarat, underbar.com.au

Kafeneion

When Con Christopoulos finally sprinkles his Melbourne magic on to his family roots, you get the Greek restaurant you’ve always pined for. Starting its life as a pop-up in the old Self-Preservation, it’s a moody space that’s now crammed with more tables (and bodies) than you’ve ever seen in there, perfect for long winter nights sharing generous plates of fava served with crusty bread, olive-oil based dishes such as braised pork with celery and leek, and fantastic Greek wine.

70 Bourke Street, 03 9650 0523, @kafeneion_melbourne

Apollo Inn

It’s petite, perhaps the smallest project that Andrew McConnell has worked on since becoming one of Melbourne’s leading hospitality operators, but his new bar might be the encapsulation of our city’s hospitality climate right now. Old World in looks, classic in its drinks selection, broadly European on the food front, the venue is billed as a younger cousin to ritzy Gimlet. Can’t afford a night at Gimlet? You’ll get the same care (and many of the same staff) going into your experience here. Martinis feature heavily. Playful bar snacks, like chip and dip, are riding shotgun. It’s modest in its ambitions, but that also means a tight focus that’s becoming more celebrated in Melbourne.

Ground floor, 165 Flinders Lane, Melbourne, 03 9277 9727, apolloinn.bar

Plus:

• Cremorne warehouse-dweller Lilac Wine combines creative small plates, with serious cooking chops (hello, house charcuterie plate) and house party energy (there’s even a disco ball).
• At Hellenic House Project, George Calombaris is cooking an elevated version of the food he grew up with, served in a riff on the house he grew up in, with a Good Room for seated service, and a kitchen for souvas and salads. If you miss Hellenic Republic, head here.
• A visit to Pentridge for fine food and wine is no joke, now that the former prison’s redevelopment is mostly complete. North & Common transforms the old canteen into a room with warm Tuscan flourishes, and smart Mediterranean-leaning dishes with just enough surprises.
• The first rodeo of a young hospitality couple, Bar Bellamy is a charming take on the neighbourhood bar and bistro, with a few welcome new-school twists especially in the cocktails.
• Tiny omakase restaurants with big ambitions are starting to sprout around Melbourne. Aoi Tsuki, from a pair of chefs who had to switch their plans to takeaway sushi during the pandemic, is a dramatic space where precise details are taken seriously but not to the point where you can’t have fun with. Sushi On is perhaps even more focused. Eight diners at a time get to see the payoff that comes from dialling in on elements like the seasoning of the rice undergirding each piece of nigiri, or how textures play against one another.

Coming soon

• Khanh Nguyen (Aru, Sunda) is applying his creativity to a bakery and all-day brasserie at new city address Antara 128, set to open sometime in spring.
• Nomad Group’s grand brasserie Reine will bring thrills to Melbourne’s gold-rush era former Stock Exchange and cap off a long winter when it opens in August. In the same Gothic Revival building, Maurice Terzini is hard at work with Joe Jones on their basement bar, Purple Pit.
• Hopper Joint, the Sri Lankan fun house by Jason Jones and Brahman Perera, should fling open its doors in late October, boasting street eats, theatre and artefacts from Sri Lanka.
• Fitzroy will be home to the first Australian outpost of buzzy boutique hotel chain, The Standard, by the end of the year. Born in LA and with a presence in Bangkok, New York and more, The Standard’s locations always include happening bars and restaurants. This will be no exception, with a rooftop bar and ground-floor dining planned.
• Queues reliably snake outside northside cafe Florian each weekend. A South Melbourne sibling, Juniper, arrives this month and is hotly anticipated.
• Commune Group is timing Studio Amaro’s arrival to coincide with Melbourne’s party season, bringing share-friendly Italian feasting, a basement bar for DJs and a vintage Italian fit-out by Bergman & Co to Windsor by spring.
• In July, Gaea chef Mo Zhou will unveil a permanent home for the pop-up izakaya he ran over summer out of his Fitzroy fine-diner. It’s morphed into a day-to-night concept called Chiaki, with bentos and Japanese-roasted coffee for lunch; and drinking snacks and sake after dark.
• Chris Lucas has taken on a site neighbouring his casual eatery Hawker Hall. Whether it will complement its sibling’s pan-Asian menu or offer something different is still unknown. Lucas Group could not confirm details ahead of publication.
• 1800 Lasagne founder Joey Kellock will open his art and music-focused bar Dopolavoro in October or November.
• Vue de Monde reopens after its $3-million facelift, including a remodelled Lui Bar, fresh kitchen and spruced-up dining room, sometime in October.
• Torquay destination diner Samesyn is reconfiguring itself as a more casual eatery with firm commitments to low-waste practices and plans to reopen in October or November. Owner Graham Jeffries is currently on a research trip in the UK.