Melbourne’s suburban superstar restaurants you need to eat at
If you’re looking for a dining adventure in Melbourne beyond the tramlines, here’s a list of the most delicious restaurants making tastebuds sing in the suburbs.
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If you’re looking for a dining adventure in Melbourne beyond the tramlines, here’s a list of the most delicious restaurants making tastebuds sing in the suburbs.
All pulled from the Sunday Herald Sun’s delicious. 100 — a ranked list of the best restaurants across Victoria — these places are worth making the trip for.
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AMARU
In the wrong hands, a set course menu can be a hard slog rather than a culinary adventure. Not at Amaru.
First, snacks (a dim sim with black garlic; fermented carrot with smoked duck ham). Then, cracking sourdough and larger dishes. A tile of dry-aged hapuka coddled in fermented honey. Red kangaroo dusted down with salted licorice. And shimmeringly memorable cheesecake, shaped like a medallion. The cooking – full of wonders and strange tangents – enthrals and McIver, who has an artists’ eye, shapes his many courses into a coherent whole. The cumulative effect is one of escalating deliciousness.
And an eclectic wine list supports the Amaru experience.
AMARU
5/1121 High St, Armadale
03 9822 0144
ATTICA
Attica is like your favourite boss – brilliant at their job and at the top of their game, but knows how to loosen the tie.
No cutlery needed for the opening snacks. Presented in a retro tin, steamed Vegemite scrolls deserve their own food truck, while An Imperfect History of Ripponlea is an ode to the suburb’s indigenous, English and Jewish heritage in three painstakingly created, two-bite tarts.
Over 17 or so courses, there are also carrots slow-smoked for 12 hours to chewy deliciousness, marron tail steeped in seaweed butter to jiggle from the shell, and the sweetest, freshest spanner crab and macadamia sauce to daub wattleseed bread.
ATTICA
74 Glen Eira Rd, Ripponlea
03 9530 0111
Must-eat dish: An Imperfect History of Ripponlea
Cuisine: Contemporary
Chef: Ben Shewry
Price: $$$$$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Dinner Tue-Sat
Instagram: @atticamelbourne
BYO: No
Wine list: Jane Lopes
Separate bar: No
NAVI
Behind the ghostly gauze curtains of a small converted shopfront on a quiet residential street where the docks rumble in the background, you’ll find Navi, Melbourne’s newest destination fine diner.
Across eight courses on an artful procession of handcrafted ceramics (by Hills himself), you might find wallaby tartare wrapped in salted yolk and capers and bush tomato served in a tiny tart, before butter-poached marron cleverly sauced in a shellfish caramel and Murray cod tartare perfectly seasoned with finger lime and horseradish-spiked buttermilk.
It’s approachable, elegant fare that is technically dexterous yet never forgets to be delicious – see Macedon duck served on salted plum with a savoury duck custard on the side – or to have fun, such as a blue cheese-take on an old-school jelly slice.
Matched drinks, if you so choose, are as equally clever as the food, or select from wines on the tight, local-leaning list, obviously chosen with care.
NAVI
83B Gamon St, Yarraville
03 9939 9774
Must eat dish: Duck in two parts
Cuisine: Contemporary
Chef: Julian Hills
Price: $$$$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Wed-Sat dinner
Instagram: @restaurantnavi
BYO: Special bottles on request
Separate bar: No
O.MY
Youth might be wasted on the young, but go along for the ride at O.MY, the impressive no-waste hero redefining farm fresh. Five years ago, the three 20-something Bertoncello brothers opened their degustation-only restaurant in an old butchers shop on the urban fringe and this 25-seater continues its ascent.
Dishes are inspired by fresh produce from the family farm in nearby Cardinia.
The opening flurry of snacks (tomato tarts, sourdough tea, pickled veg among them) soon fills the table, explained with pride by the charming, easygoing crew. Later, there’s a memorable slab of crusty sourdough, with cultured butter and a waistline-expanding but nevertheless compelling beef-fat butter like 2018’s version of dripping. The procession continues with three radishes, their leaves fried and shattery, ready to swipe through a thick lick of apple tapenade, and strands of turnip fettuccine luscious with chicken fat and rich jus.
O.MY
23 Woods St, Beaconsfield
9769 9000
Must eat dish: Pumpkin pasta
Cuisine: Contemporary
Chef: Blayne Bertoncello
Price: $$$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Lunch Sat-Sun, dinner Thu-Sun
Instagram: @omyrestaurant
BYO: No
Licensed: Yes
Separate bar: No
ALTAIR
Shaking the pompoms for putting the ’burbs on the culinary map, there’s Altair. Five years in, and husband-and-wife team Kelvin and Michelle Shaw’s Zone 2 gem in Warrandyte opposite the Yarra is a truly exciting place to dine.
The room might look sedate, yet Kelvin’s dishes are anything but, letting fly with quirky combos and curious native ingredients over multi-course and a la carte menus.
Dishes range from a congee of al dente fermented grains folded with sweet spanner crab, finished with a warm crocodile tea which gives a luscious mouthfeel, to a delightful pumpernickel tart filled with yabby and potato, with crisped wakame shards and the lemony pop of green ants.
Elsewhere, there might be magpie goose, smoked emu in a tartare, kakadu plum and bunya nut.
The passion here is palpable, with deeply imaginative and intricate cooking presented with care and elegance for a dining adventure beyond the tramlines.
ALTAIR
152 Yarra St, Warrandyte
9844 5548
Must-eat dish: Spanner crab and fermented grain congee
Cuisine: Contemporary
Chef: Kelvin Shaw
Price: $$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Breakfast Sat-Sun; Lunch & dinner Wed-Sun
Instagram: @altair_restaurant
BYO: Yes ($10 corkage)
Licensed: Yes
Separate bar: Yes
GREASY ZOES
Greasy Zoes, a humble 15-seater out at Hurstbridge on Melbourne’s northern gumtree-d fringe, punches way above its weight.
Greasy Zoes delivers a succession of dishes full of spark and invention. Seriously good snacks to begin with (a Brussels sprout tartlet, a pumpkin puff), then some eclectic starters (blue cod, parsnip and smoked mackerel jerky), a marvellous main (woodfired scotch pork with quinces) and two sensational sweets.
The line up can often change every week, so that house-made croissant you enjoyed with citrus marmalade and buffalo cheese might not be there next time you call in.
Greasy Zoes runs on real passion. Seek it out.
GREASY ZOES
3/850 Heidelberg-Kinglake Rd, Hurstbridge
03 9718 0324
Must-eat dish: Blue cod, parsnip and smoked mackerel jerky
Cuisine: Contemporary
Chef: Zoe Birch
Price: $$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Dinner Thurs-Fri 5-11pm, Sat-Sun 3-10pm
Instagram: @greasyzoes
BYO: No
Licensed: Yes
Separate bar: No
THE BATHS MIDDLE BRIGHTON
It’s hard to imagine fighting fit Brighton Icebergers settling in for a leisurely lunch after their morning dip in the Middle Brighton Baths.
Should they ever feel inclined, The Baths Upstairs Restaurant will reward them with hearty food, seriously good wines and a wide angle view of their preferred swimming hole. A lot of us have already discovered the charms of this recently refurbished place, not the least families who are well served with a sprightly Kids Menu (12 and under).
Beer-battered fish and chips with crushed peas is clearly the crowd favourite, but The Baths kitchen punches out more adventurous fare as well. Roasted barramundi comes with braised witlof and a tarragon veloute; meltingly soft braised beef cheek sits atop a reef of creamy mash; and a cassoulet of confit duck leg is well stocked with beans and sausage.
Portions are generous, so an entree of mushroom risotto with mascarpone or smoked eel with glazed turnips may suffice. Still, you’d be wise to leave room for cheese – an enticing list – and dessert. Not even an Iceberger could resist the ‘Floating Island’ with caramel brittle and toasted almonds.
THE BATHS MIDDLE BRIGHTON
251 Esplanade, Brighton
9539 7000
Must-eat dish: Cassoulet of confit duck leg
Cuisine: Contemporary
Chef: Martin Bleich
Price: $$ Bookings Yes
Open: Breakfast Sat-Sun; lunch and dinner daily
Instagram: @thebathsmiddlebrighton
BYO: Sun-Mon only
Separate bar: Yes
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