From high-end Heston to handmade pasta, we reveal Melbourne’s 20 best city restaurants
OUT and about for the Food and Wine or Comedy Festivals and need a bite to eat? Fear not foodies—we’ve found Melbourne’s 20 best city restaurants. You’re welcome.
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THE next 10 days are the biggest week and a bit for Melbourne foodies since, well, forever.
Not only are we celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival but on Wednesday evening Melbourne will also play host to the world’s best chefs who have flown in from all corners of the globe for the World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards, which are being held outside of London for only the second time in their history.
Plus the city is also hosting the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in the same week.
So anyone who fancies a tipple or who has a taste for a titbit is bound to be out and about.
But the million dollar question is how to narrow down this city’s best dining to the very best?
Well foodies, fear not. From high-end Heston to rustic bowls of handmade pasta, the Herald Sun’s food team has once again put its tastebuds to the test to compile this list of the 20 best restaurants in the CBD and Southbank. We’ll see you at the bar.
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1. DINNER BY HESTON BLUMENTHAL
Crown Complex, Southbank.
IT’S not for the fact it swaps The Fat Duck’s whimsy for culinary wit that transforms historical British gastronomy into the food of today. Or that it offers a traditional restaurant experience, right down to the entree-main-dessert choices, and where those popping in for a steak and chips are as welcome as those sitting down to a full Chef’s Table extravaganza.
It’s not for the meat fruit — the picture perfect mandarin parfait that surpasses its Insta-hype — nor for the pulley-operated spit on show, where glistening skinned pineapples twirl and tan golden to be served with the baked-to-order tipsy cake. And it’s not for perfectly polished service that comes with a wink and a smile, or cocktails as inventive as the food, or the huge wine list that’s thoughtfully — and excitingly — created across all price points. It’s that it’s all of these things that makes Dinner by Heston Blumenthal such a flawless delight.
2. VUE DE MONDE
Level 55, 525 Collins St, city.
AS you ride the lift 55 floors up to Shannon Bennett’s famed fine diner, your ears will pop, later it’ll be your tastebuds, followed by your wallet. Talking price seems taboo, which can lead to bill shock, but know what you’re in for — 20-odd courses is $275 — and a life-changing experience awaits.
3. THE PRESS CLUB
72 Flinders St, city.
ALL aboard the good ship Calombaris. Actually, make that luxury liner. Leather booths and high-shine embellishments dial up the opulence favoured by Greek shipping magnates at his intimate den of just 38 seats. It’s manned by slick staff keen to open your account with something from the cocktail trolley. Choose from a minimum of four dishes at night: perhaps perfectly cooked John Dory with an intense shiitake ketchup or a yielding mussel swimming in dill-flecked avgolemono. Later, dispense with the box of cutlery at your table to unpeg petit fours — “lamington” slices and marshmallows — from a fun-size Hills hoist.
4. ROCKPOOL BAR AND GRILL
Crown Complex, Southbank.
CELEBRATING 10 years last year, Rockpool Bar and Grill is perhaps Neil Perry’s finest achievement in Melbourne. What began as a “supercharged steakhouse’’ in 2006 has evolved into something grander and more versatile, a handsome club-like space where mighty meat is matched by sublime seafood, sensational salads, and some of the best desserts in town (passionfruit pavlova anyone?). Ingredients are A1 all the way and the service (overseen by eagle-eyed manager Vanessa Crichton) is always correct, but never formal. Right now, Rockpool Bar and Grill feels so right. So Melbourne.
5. PHILIPPE
115 Collins St, city.
IT might have a very new world entry — basement down a laneway with a misleading address — but Philippe Mouchel’s return to the kitchen in his eponymous restaurant is everything that’s good about the old world. That’s not to say it’s stuffy; rather, the softly spoken chef’s chef is serving up the best technique-driven French seen through Australian eyes. And that means, yes, Philippe’s rotisserie chook is back, but his new restaurant is so much more than that (though it remains a wonder of burnished, jus-drizzled delight).
6. OTER
137 Flinders Lane, city.
OTER proves less really is more. The name of this “contemporary” French restaurant means “to remove’’ or “take off’’ and owners Tom Hunter and Kate and Mykal Bartholomew honour this by stripping their basement digs of all clutter, keeping the service unfussy and serving fare that distils French classics “to their core ingredients’’. This is not a place for everyone. The room itself is not one to sink into. But when it comes to simplifying things, Oter is simply great.
7. EZARD
187 Flinders Lane, city.
TEAGE Ezard is the quiet achiever of Melbourne’s fine dining scene. Seventeen years after he opened his eponymous restaurant in the Adelphi basement, he remains something of a mystery man. But on the food front, Ezard has never looked brighter. With young gun chef Jarrod Di Blasi working the stoves, the cooking here is more elegant and adventurous. The Asian leaning “Australian freestyle’’ of early days has given way to a more rounded repertoire best enjoyed as an eight-course tasting menu.
8. MAHA
21 Bond St, city.
A GENEROSITY of spirit is the backbone of this mod Middle Eastern, where the food is as personality packed as its owner-chef Shane Delia. By night, choose from two, four, five or six hearty courses served as shared banquets or degustation dining. All will feature Maha’s signature 12-hour lamb shoulder, perfectly yielding and perfumed with coriander and cumin, though plant-based dishes — pumpkin kibbeh, and pilaf with zucchini and olive — also star.
The sumptuous basement dining room has a buoyant energy, while eating here is a homely, value-for-money experience. The bill comes with packets of za’atar spice to take home — a small touch ensuring you’ll feel the love long after you’ve left the building.
9. GROSSI FLORENTINO
80 Bourke St, city.
TO ascend Grossi Florentino’s curving staircase and dine in its glorious Mural Room is to enter a world of classic Italian hospitality. But time has not stood still at the “Flo”. Guy Grossi — its proud custodian since 1999 — is a quiet moderniser who describes his food as “Melbournese cooking’’. And while this gentle tug between tradition and modernity might not please every Florentino diner, there are many joys to be had.
Guy Grossi will design and cook the HEAT Homeless Longest Lunch at St Kilda’s Luna Park on March 31 as part of the Melbourne Food and Wine festival. Book tickets here.
10. TIPO 00
361 Lt Bourke St, city.
FROM the moment the rosemary-flecked warm housemade focaccia served with a scoop of fresh ricotta hits the table unbidden — and gratis — through to the “ciao, mille grazie” that waves you goodbye from the door, it’s clear you’re in seasoned hands at Tipo 00, where big-hearted — and good value — hospitality is the order of the day. That they’ve named their restaurant after the flour that makes up the tortellini and pappardelle and spaghetti at this “pasta bar” explains how seriously Andreas Papadakis and Albert Fava take their specialty in the kitchen.
Tipo 00 is hosting two sold out events as part of this month’s Melbourne Food and Wine Festival. Book tickets to other Festival events here.
11. MOVIDA
1 Hosier Lane, city.
ONE of the original laneway haunts and still up there with the best. The terracotta and timber fitout might be taverna lo-fi, but flavours pack the punch of Spanish conquistador. The anchoa (hand-filleted anchovy with smoked tomato sorbet on crispbread) remains a Melbourne must-eat, while thick-crunch croquettes are the town’s top. Move onto beef cheek, braised to sticky tenderness in Pedro Ximenez sherry on a bed of cauliflower puree, before going out on churros with chocolate dipping sauce. Or, better still, the flan in all its caramelly glory. This bolthole began the MoVida empire, which today takes in airport and Balinese offshoots. But dance with the one that brought you because whether it’s been five days or five years between visits, eating here is like a big warm hug from an old amigo.
12. MASSI
445 Lt Collins St, city.
JOSEPH Vargetto’s CBD sibling to Kew’s Mister Bianco has written a fine new chapter to one of the city’s storied spaces. Named after his son, Massi is timelessly while the cooking is timelessly elegant. A short pasta section is a highlight but the wobble-tastic mascarpone panna cotta with coffee syrup should not be missed. Service is as sharp as the pricing is fair, with interesting Italians by bottle and glass complementing the shelves of Campari that make taking a place at the bar with a plate of salumi such an appealing proposition.
13. LUCY LIU
23 Oliver Lane, city.
BUSY, buzzy and nightclub cool, Lucy Liu is a place to see and be seen. It also happens to serve up one of the CBD’s best offerings of pan-Asian cuisine with on-theme cocktails and a tight curation of beers and wine well pitched to the food. Border hop with kingfish sashimi, Korean fried chicken and beef short ribs in rendang curry, but top of your dance card should be pan-fried barramundi and scampi dumplings swimming in a sharp soup of vinegar, ginger and spring onions. The pork hock won’t win any beauty contests, but is Lucy’s signature for good reason — marinated, braised then flash fried for fork-tender flesh and a gloriously crisp outer. Enjoy as you would Peking duck, with pancakes, apple kimchi salad and hoisin sauce.
14. BECCO
11-25 Crossley St, city.
CAN it really be 20 years since Becco opened behind Pellegrini’s? Sure can. And this sophisticated Italian bistro is wearing well. Start at the bar where swishy Bellinis can be matched with superior “cicchetti” (snacks): mixed olives, arancini balls and San Daniele prosciutto. Then step into the tiered dining room — another engaging mid-century space where vibrant tiles add pops of colour.
15. IL BACARO
168-170 Little Collins St, city.
TWENTY years young, Il Bacaro is still Melbourne’s most romantic restaurant. The lovely venetian-shaded room, anchored by its distinctive U-shaped bar, remains darkly glamorous — a place for flirting and quiet whispers — with intuitive waiters who know how to “read” diners’ body language: when to recite a “special”, remove a plate, and retreat. As for chef David Dellai’s food, its still a deft marriage of tradition and innovation. Pasta favourites such as chilli-flecked spaghettini with Moreton Bay bugs stand the test of time. But how easily we are seduced by rabbit tortellini and chestnut maltagliati, allied to wild mushrooms and dried buffalo curd.
16. NOBU
Crown complex, Southbank.
IT’S hard not to get caught up in conspicuous consumption at Nobu. There’s its A-lister connections, both as a celebrity hangout and with Robert De Niro among the owners of this international empire that spans Malibu to Moscow. Its Melbourne outpost continues the flashy glamour with a ground-level bar offering river views along with cool cocktails and a great sake list. For more of those famed Nobu signature dishes, decamp to the basement dining room, seductively lit and lined with wood. Order with abandon and you’ll need a win on a nearby roulette table at Crown, but there are some must eats starting with the justly famous black miso cod, glazed to glistening in mirin, sake and miso and caramelised to just-so sweet.
17. PASTUSO
19 ACDC Lane, city.
WHILE the excellent boozy cloud that is a pisco sour is reason enough to visit this neon pop-bright bustling Peruvian restaurant at the bottom of colourful ACDC Lane, it’s the ceviche bar that brings the crowds back. Perch on stools and watch the team create versions of Peru’s national dish of chilli and citrus-dressed fish that are as authentic as they come, thanks to chef Alejandro Saravia. Service keeps the mood light and drinks flowing, completing a picture of Peru in Melbourne that’s as pretty as it is a pleasure.
18. GROSSI FLORENTINO GRILL
80 Bourke St, city.
IT was out with the tablecloths and in with custom light fittings, brass features, handsome American oak floorboards — oh, and a stonking great Josper oven and Asado grill — when Florentino Grill reopened at the start of last year. And with its new look came a focused dedication to the fare of Tuscany, where smaller dishes to start segue seamlessly into out-of-the-norm pasta including fat ribbons of testaroli drizzled in olive oil, basil and parmigiana, or little pici twists tossed through wild boar ragout.
19. TONKA
20 Duckboard Pl, city.
REACHED down a graffiti-scrawled lane, Tonka is Melbourne’s best passage to modern Indian food. Here you will find a hotly priced menu reinterpreting classic tastes of the subcontinent while respecting tradition. Tonka’s tandoor ovens see to that with quail, chicken and naan springing from their hot clay hearts. But elsewhere, executive chef Adam D’Sylva keeps things fluid. Among the chargrilled lamb cutlets and housemade palak paneer, you may find spanner crab salad with puffed rice or a Port Phillip scallop with Jerusalem artichoke puree.
20. SUPERNORMAL
180 Flinders Lane, city.
ANDREW McConnell’s crisp-lined, bustling, pan-Asian canteen continues to pack ’em in.
And for good reason. Three years on and Supernormal has settled into a well-oiled groove, where it’s as busy on a Monday lunch as it is a Saturday night, so pervasive is the appeal of pan-fried spicy beef buns and plates piled high with DIY duck bao (and, yes, there’s that lobster roll that still flies out the door).
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