Where to find the best food with a view in Victoria
There’s nothing better than eating a great meal with a glass of wine in front of a spectacular view. From vine-filled vistas to inner city sights, here’s where to find the best food with a view in Victoria.
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There’s nothing better than eating a great meal with a glass of wine in front of a spectacular view.
From vine-filled vistas to inner city sights here’s our list of where to find the best food with a view in Victoria, taken from the Sunday Herald Sun’s Delicious.100.
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CAPTAIN MOONLITE
It was a big win for the Surf Coast when chef Matt Germanchis and his partner, front-of-house pro Gemma Gange, upped stumps from Melbourne to open Captain Moonlite.
Germanchis (ex-Pei Modern, Movida) clearly knows what it takes to make a great dish, yet opts to keep it simple here, letting local ingredients — particularly seafood — shine bright with a sense of place in a menu that’s at once cool, casual and classy.
Like its namesake bushranger, the wines are Victorian, and that unbeatable view from the Anglesea Surf Lifesaving Club — plus nearby accommodation in the works — makes this one of the best year-round coastal hangouts.
CAPTAIN MOONLIGHT
100 Great Ocean Road, Anglesea
5263 2454
Must-eat dish: Scallops, celeriac & curry leaf
Cuisine: European
Chef: Matt Germanchis
Price: $
Bookings: Yes
Open: Breakfast and lunch Fri-Mon; dinner Thu-Sun
Instagram: @captain_moonlite
BYO: No
Licensed: yes
Separate bar: yes
PT LEO
Who would’ve thought that a $50 million winery-cum-modern sculpture park would be Victoria’s most accessible, most exciting, most welcoming and yes, most delicious, venue?
But such is the decades-long vision philanthropists Pauline and John Gandel had for Pt Leo Estate, brought to laser-focused realisation by some of the very best in the game on both sides of the pass.
From the sweeping, dramatic entry of the Jolson-designed building to the sweeping, dramatic views across the vines and sculptures to Western Port beyond, Pt Leo is a carefully considered wine-dine good time that has every sense covered.
There’s an extensive cellar door where you can taste wines from the 50 acres of estate vines, and all that art to explore with glass in hand, but beforehand there’s so much good food to eat, whether in the bustling 110-seat restaurant or in the quieter, more refined 45-seater called Laura.
PT LEO
3649 Frankston-Flinders Rd, Merricks
5989 9011
Must eat dish: Wood-roasted snapper, Hawkes Farm braised broccoli, fennel cream
Chefs: Phil Wood and Joel Alderson
Price: $$/$$$
Cuisine: Contemporary
Bookings: Yes
Open: Pt Leo Restaurant: lunch daily; dinner Thur-Sat // Laura lunch Thur-Sun; dinner Thur-Sat
Instagram: @ptleoestate
BYO: No
Separate bar: Yes
OAKRIDGE
Gosh, it’s good. Being seated in the dining room with postcard vine vistas and the light pouring in, deciding on a something-for-everyone estate wine, and then the main act — Matt Stone and Jo Barrett’s brilliant food.
Team this with service that’s sharp and informed but with country charm, and you’ve got one of the best winery restaurants going.
OAKRIDGE
864 Maroondah Hwy, Coldstream
9738 9900
Must-eat dish: Smoked trout, caviar, cultured cream, caraway croissant
Cuisine: Contemporary
Chefs: Jo Barrett and Matt Stone
Price: $$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Lunch Thu-Mon
Instagram: @oakridgewines
BYO: No
Separate bar: Cellar door — Oakridge Estate wines only
WICKENS AT ROYAL MAIL
The Grampians have never looked better from Dunkeld’s Royal Mail Hotel. It’s new, ravishingly beautiful fine dining room — rebadged as Wickens at Royal Mail Hotel — now has the view to complement Robin Wickens’ exciting, seasonally attuned food and a cellar of worldly wines curated by sommelier Matthew Lance.
Five- and eight-course menus are offered, matched if you wish with exceptional drops on display in the walk-in wine room, but Wickens, whose accomplished cooking seems more spontaneous than ever, sends out loads of unlisted extras.
Add assured, intuitive service and a sublime setting — especially at dusk — and you have a Royal Mail experience that really delivers.
WICKENS AT ROYAL MAIL
98 Parker Street, Dunkeld
03 5577 2241
Must-eat dish: Steamed King George whiting, parsnip, kohlrabi juice
Cuisine: Contemporary
Chef: Robin Wickens
Price: $$$$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Lunch Sat 12-2pm; dinner Wed-Sat 6-9pm
Instagram: @royalmailhotel
BYO: No
Licensed: Yes
Separate bar: Yes at Parker Street Project at Royal Mail Hotel
STOKEHOUSE
With its covetable pastel-pretty dining room and iconic real estate, this reborn seaside siren still turns it on.
A recent menu overhaul has seen the biggest changes on the plate since its 2016 reopening, and snacking is stand out.
STOKEHOUSE
30 Jacka Blvd, St Kilda
9525 5555
Must eat dish: Black pudding roll
Cuisine: Contemporary
Price: $$$
Chef: Ollie Hansford and Richard Ousby
Bookings: Yes
Open: Lunch and dinner daily
Instagram: @stokehouserestaurants
BYO: No
Separate bar: No
VUE DE MONDE
There is an unrivalled sense of occasion to a meal at Vue de monde that remains undiminished even after almost two decades. From the moment you are welcomed on the ground floor of the Rialto before being whisked 55 levels up to be greeted by name upon arrival, until descent hours later with a breakfast bag for the morning, this is a choreographed show of extraordinary finesse.
Vue is still one of the most expensive dining experiences in the country — which makes the shouting from the open kitchen all the more intrusive — but for a vision of contemporary Australia on the plate, it’s still one of the best.
VUE DE MONDE
Level 55, Rialto
525 Collins St, Melbourne 3000
03 9691 3888
Must eat dish: Marron with Jerusalem artichokes and geraldton wax
Cuisine: Contemporary
Chef: Justin James
Price: $$$$$
Bookings: Yes
Open: lunch Thur-Sun; dinner daily
I nstagram: @vuedemonde
B YO: No
Separate bar: Yes
LAKE HOUSE
Thirty years young, the Lake House dining room remains the quintessential country manor. Its comfortable opulence and understated elegance makes a long lunch — or longer dinner for those staying in-house — a celebratory affair.
Country-style generosity of spirit plays out in food that’s refined but not fussy. Best-in-season produce shines bright, and Alla Wolf Tasker — long a champion of ethical, sustainable, seasonal eating — ensures a meal here in Daylesford is as current and delicious as any you’d be served elsewhere in the state.
Lake House remains one of Victoria’s essential dining destinations.
LAKE HOUSE
4 King St, Daylesford
5348 3329
Must eat: Ocean trout with fennel custard
Cuisine: Contemporary
Chef: Alla Wolf Tasker
Price: $$$$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Lunch Fri-Wed; dinner daily
Instagram: @lakehousedaylesford
BYO: No
Separate bar: Yes
PORT PHILLIP ESTATE
In a gourmet wine region not short on exciting newcomers, Port Phillip Estate is as evergreen and impressive as ever.
Its curved bunker-like digs are Bond movie-cool, and inside, clever design and wowing water and vine views are matched by set-price menus that fly the flag for affordable luxury and beautifully balanced global flavours.
PORT PHILLIP ESTATE
263 Red Hill Rd, Red Hill South
5989 4444
Must-eat dish: Caramelised apple dome
Cuisine: Contemporary
Chef: Stuart Deller
Price: $$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Lunch Wed-Sun, dinner Fri-Sat
Instagram: @portphillipestate
BYO: No
Separate bar: No
PARINGA ESTATE
Paringa Estate may not have the big money bling of some winery restaurants nearby, but its recently refurbished dining room overlooking raked vines in a bucolic corner of Red Hill is supremely comfortable and compact.
Chef Adam Beckett’s food is quietly impressive, too.
It’s as assured and refined in its own way as the McCall family’s impeccable award-winning wines which have guided Paringa since the 1990s.
PARINGA ESTATE
44 Paringa Rd, Red Hill South
03 5989 2669
Must eat dish: Whiting and Jensens Red potato
Cuisine: Contemporary Chef Adam Beckett
Price: $$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Lunch Wed-Sun, dinner Fri and Sat
Instagram: @paringaestate
BYO: No
Licensed: Yes
Separate bar: No
HOGGET KITCHEN
With its glorious views across the valley of vines to lush green paddocks dotted with Black Angus quietly going about their business, there are few better places to while away an afternoon than at Hogget Kitchen.
Here in the stylish country dining room, chef Trevor Perkins champions the best of Gippsland produce, ably backed up by top drops from trailblazing winemakers Pat Sullivan and William Downie.
Service is smart, value is great (three courses are $65), and that view is unbeatable.
An oft-unsung region has found its hero to deliver a wonderful treat. Set the GPS to Warragul.
HOGGET KITCHEN
6 Farrington Cl, Warragul
5623 2211
Must eat dish: Gippsland lamb
Cuisine: Contemporary
Chef: Trevor Perkins
Price: $$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Breakfast Sun; lunch Wed-Sun; dinner Wed-Sat
Instagram: @hogget_kitchen
Wine list: Jessica Martin
BYO: No
Separate bar: Yes
TARRAWARRA ESTATE
They come for the art — displayed in a marvellous purpose built museum — and the wine, sampled in a state of the art cellar door. Now visitors to Tarrawarra Estate are embracing its restaurant again.
Handsomely refurbished, with a new chef (Mark Ebbels) making best use of the estate’s expanded kitchen garden, this superbly situated dining room is serving food worthy of winemaker Clare Halloran’s celebrated pinot noir and chardonnay.
Tarrawarra Estate is worth exploring.
TARRAWARRA ESTATE
311 Healesville-Yarra Glen Rd, Yarra Glen
03 5957 3510
Must eat dish: Rare kangaroo, broccoli, celeriac
Cuisine: Contemporary
Chef: Mark Ebbels
Price: $$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Lunch Tues-Sun
Instagram: @_TarraWarra_
BYO: No
Licensed: Yes
Separate bar: Yes — cellar door
THE BATHS MIDDLE BRIGHTON
It’s hard to imagine fighting fit Brighton Icebergers settling in for a leisurely lunch after their morning dip in the Middle Brighton Baths.
Should they ever feel inclined, The Baths Upstairs Restaurant will reward them with hearty food, seriously good wines and a wide angle view of their preferred swimming hole.
A lot of us have already discovered the charms of this recently refurbished place, not the least families who are well served with a sprightly Kids Menu (12 and under).
THE BATHS MIDDLE BRIGHTON
251 Esplanade, Brighton
9539 7000
Must-eat dish: Cassoulet of confit duck leg
Cuisine: Contemporary
Chef: Martin Bleich
Owner: Paul Rayner
Price: $$ Bookings Yes
Open: Breakfast Sat-Sun; lunch and dinner daily
Instagram: @thebathsmiddlebrighton
BYO: Sun-Mon only
Separate bar: Yes
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