Where to eat and drink in Melbourne’s CBD this summer
Kingfish, crocodile, and char-grilled meats are some of the hottest dishes in the CBD — these are the best new restaurants to try to this summer.
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Locked-down Victorians have waited a long time to enjoy dinner and drinks in the CBD.
Now as the city wakes from its pandemic slumber, punters hungry to try new restaurants are in luck with a slew of new venues quietly opening during the past 20 months.
Here are some Melbourne restaurants you may have missed, plus new places to eat and drink this summer.
BIG ESSO
Federation Square
Saltbush and pepperberry crocodile and chargrilled emu fillet are among the Indigenous dishes taking centre stage at Nornie Bero’s new restaurant Big Esso by Mabu Mabu. Torres Strait Islander Bero has been triumphing with Aussie flavours since opening her pop-up stall at the South Melbourne Market and Yarraville cafe Mabu Mabu in 2018 and 2019, respectively. In July, on the cusp of another lockdown, Bero opened her new day-to-night restaurant in Federation Square.
TIPPY-TAY
Flinders Lane
Sand Hill Road transformed iconic St Kilda pub The Espy into a multi-level venue with separate bars and dining spaces in 2018, with modern Asian restaurant Mya Tiger a crowd favourite. Now the group has launched its most daring restaurant yet – Tippy-Tay, an Italian diner inside the popular Garden State Hotel in the heart of the CBD. Think plenty of pizza and pasta, negroni fountains and a roaming dessert trolley.
ROBATA
Exhibition St
The San Telmo group is best known for slinging meat over flames across its suite of South American restaurants Pastuso, San Telmo, Palermo and Asado. Now it swaps the parrilla grill for the binchotan at new Japanese venue Robata, where there’s more sashimi, sake and yakitori than you could poke a stick at.
SOCIETY
80 Collins
The joint venture between Chin Chin boss Chris Lucas and Sydney hospo royalty Martin Benn and Vicki Wild was 2021’s most anticipated restaurant opening. But after four years of planning and building, Benn and Wild announced in September they were stepping away from the multimillion-dollar project, which had only been open for five days before the state’s last lockdown. No doubt the venue will still be a hit. Benn’s creations will continue to grace the menu and Lucas’s status in the hospo game will continue to pull crowds.
LILLIAN TERRACE
80 Collins
Flying under the radar of the Society hype, Lillian Terrace was touted as the more casual dining experience inside the 80 Collins building. The space opened for the first time last Friday, after a slated August launch – two weeks after Society opened in July. Ex-Woodlands House chef Thomas Woods helms the kitchen, offering a Euro-style menu of classics, such as oysters, salads and pastas, washed down with champagne and wine.
YAKIMONO
80 Collins
Huxtaburger co-founder Daniel Wilson plays with fire at Yakimono, which also opened last Friday. The fast-paced Japanese eatery was the third and final of Lucas’s restaurants to open at the glam 80 Collins site, behind Society and Lillian Terrace. Expect plates of noodles, sushi, sashimi and grilled meats to fly from the open kitchen. There’s even a menu section dedicated to delicious things coated in panko crumbs, such as chicken katsu, prawns and a tofu mozzarella croquette.
MISS MI
Godfrey and Bourke St
Movenpick Hotel opened in August, with chef Darren Lauder in charge of food across the 172-room hotel and new modern Asian eatery Miss Mi. The restaurant softly opened between the state’s fourth and sixth lockdowns and until now, Lauder and head chef Esca Khoo hadn’t served anyone inside the 47-seater. Miss Mi serves Asian flavours with a modern twist, such as a kangaroo satay thrown over coals and dressed in a creamy macadamia sauce.
CHANCERY LANE
Little Collins St
Hospo saviour Scott Pickett has opened a slew of restaurants and saved a city icon since the start of the pandemic. He opened Euro-bistro Chancery Lane this January, after saving city haunt Longrain from the brink in 2020. Chancery Lane’s standout dishes include ricotta gnocchi with spring vegetables, the Cape Grim porterhouse and smoked kingfish with pickled cucumber.
LUCI
Bourke St
Hilton Melbourne opened a new city hotel on Little Queen St in March, along with Italian-inspired Luci restaurant helmed by executive chef Sam Moore. The space copped a double-whammy of pain when the domestic travel and restaurant industries were put on the backburner in lockdown.
COMING SOON
BAR BAMBI
November 11
Brothers Nick and Daniel Russian will open a glamorous new bar in the old Cherry Bar on AC/DC Ln, which has been touted as the type of place to come for a bite, drink, singalong or boogie.
NOMAD MELBOURNE
November 15
The popular Sydney Mediterranean-inspired restaurant will open its Melbourne outpost in the former Ezard restaurant space on Flinders Lane, with executive chef Jacqui Challinor leading the charge.
PATSY’S
Late November
The team behind the Mornington Peninsula’s Bistro Elba and Donna Maria will open meat-free wine bar Patsy’s in the CBD this month, serving northern Mediterranean inspired cuisine from its double-storey, Art Deco space on Franklin St.
270 LONSDALE ST
December 2021
The team behind riverside drinking magnets Arbory Bar and Arbory Afloat will open four new venues across five levels inside the old hand-rolled cigarette factory, opposite Emporium. The HQ Group will celebrate food, drink, art, design and music in the space, from morning ’til night.
GRILL AMERICANO
Early 2022
Chris Lucas will open Italian-leaning Grill Americano for breakfast, lunch and dinner opposite Chin Chin early next year. Think Italian classics Bistecca a la Florentina and handmade pasta cooked over a wood grill and oven imported from Naples.
CUCINA POVERA VINO VERO
Early 2022
Sicilian chef-restaurateur Joseph Vargetto (of Mister Bianco and Massi fame), Melbourne chef Maurice Terzini (behind Sydney’s Icebergs Dining Room) and his son, Sylvester Terzini, will open a new Italian restaurant in early 2022. Vargetto’s CBD venue Massi on Little Collins St will close to make way for the venue.
BOTSWANA BUTCHERY
Late February
The popular New Zealand restaurant will open another two venues across the ditch in Melbourne and Sydney early next year. Seafood, meat and wine will lead the way when it opens on the Paris End of Flinders Ln.
TOMASETTI HOUSE
TBC
Sydney billionaire Justin Hemmes planted hospitality group Merivale’s first stake into the Melbourne dining scene when he bought Tomasetti House in April. There’s no word yet on what will fill the Flinders Lane space, previously occupied by the Mill House Bar and Restaurant.
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