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Southbank

Chateaubriand at Rockpool Bar & Grill.
Good Food hat15/20

Rockpool Bar & Grill

High steaks dining.

Hacienda aims to remove itself from the taco crowd.
13.5/20

Is this new Mexican eatery the quality Southgate venue we’ve been waiting for?

Some of the food at this riverside restaurant left our critic giddy with excitement. But there were a few spills amid the thrills.

  • Besha Rodell
Tasmanian produce-focused restaurant Pure South celebrates two decades in business this year.
Good Food hat15/20

This 20-year-old restaurant showcases Tassie, but its riverside setting is pure Melbourne

Pure South has matured into a great Melbourne restaurant: committed, consistent, creative and, in the right light, prone to making a person emotional.

  • Dani Valent
Strato faces the CBD, with a view over the Convention and Exhibition Centre.
12.5/20

Melbourne's Strato is a dining room with a killer view

It's got the look and the chef can cook, but why do we tend to get hotel restaurants so wrong in this country, asks Besha Rodell.

  • Besha Rodell
A selection of dishes from the kaiseki tasting menu at Komeyui.

Choose your own Japanese adventure at Komeyui

There are three ways to eat at this Melbourne restaurant: you can sit at the counter for an omakase sushi degustation, order from a concise a la carte menu, or succumb to the charms of the kaiseki tasting menu.

  • Dani Valent
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Go-to dish: Smoked oysters.
14.5/20

Freyja is refreshingly different in a sea of similar openings

Nordic influence meets Australian ingredients at this refreshingly unique new Melbourne restaurant.

  • Besha Rodell
The bloody mary (left) and celery seed martini.

Is this Melbourne's best bloody mary?

You get a history lesson and a magic show at the Dinner by Heston Blumenthal bar.

  • Michael Harden
Hotcake with strawberries and cream.

P.S. Bar + Kitchen: Easy, breezy brunching by the river

Pure South's all-star team massively over-delivers breakfast, and the cafe's outlook is as Melbourne as a tram.

  • Dani Valent
Meals on wheels: the Colonial Tramcar Restaurant.

A magic compartment ride aboard the Colonial Tramcar Restaurant

What exactly happens beyond the tassled veil? Gemima Cody climbs aboard the travelling tourist attraction.

  • Gemima Cody
Go-to dish: Tipsy cake (brioche basted in brandy caramel with pineapple).
Good Food hatGood Food hat16/20

The Duck is dead. Long live Dinner

Don't expect the Fat Duck, only cheaper. Dinner is a contemporary bistro bookended with a couple of tricks for the fans.

  • Gemima Cody

Original URL: https://www.smh.com.au/goodfood/topic/southbank-fd3