10 Best Restaurants in Melbourne
Melbourne’s restaurant scene rewards curiosity at every level, from polished fine dining to lively, informal meals. In Ripponlea, Attica treats Australian ingredients and native flavours as a story to be explored; in Richmond, Minamishima offers a precise omakase built on Edomae traditions and Australian seafood. Central Melbourne brings its own range: Cantonese classics at Flower Drum in Chinatown, elevated dining room theatre at Vue de monde on the Rialto’s 55th floor, and the sociable, contemporary energy of Supernormal and Gimlet on Flinders Lane and Russell Street. Add the pasta focus of Tipo 00, the wine-led ease of Marion in Fitzroy, and the accessible Thai warmth of Dodee Paidang, and the city’s breadth becomes clear.
Attica
Australia
Attica approaches Australian food as a subject still full of possibilities. Ben Shewry’s menu gives native ingredients and their cultural context sustained attention, using the meal to tell stories as well as demonstrate technique. The restaurant’s own examples range from crocodile ribs to marron with wattleseed-inflected flavours, making clear that its definition of luxury is closely tied to place. The Ripponlea setting keeps this ambitious project at a human scale. Attica’s approach to hospitality allows humour, music and informality into an otherwise highly considered experience, with occasional invitations to eat by hand reinforcing the connection between guest and food. The tasting menu changes, while the restaurant’s commitments to producers and the broader context of Australian ingredients remain consistent. Visit Victoria recognises Attica as a significant destination restaurant. It leads this Melbourne selection because its identity is unusually complete: ingredients, ideas and hospitality all contribute to an experience that could not readily be transplanted elsewhere. For international visitors, it offers a thoughtful and memorable introduction to the range of contemporary Australian cooking.
Melbourne’s most distinctive culinary voice, combining Australian ingredients, cultural curiosity and an ambitious experience that retains humour and warmth.
Vue de monde
Australia
Vue de monde turns arrival into part of the experience. The ascent to the Rialto’s 55th floor brings Melbourne into view at a scale few restaurants can offer, setting the scene for an extended meal above the city. Within that dramatic location, the kitchen places Australian ingredients at the centre of a contemporary fine-dining format. The restaurant’s culinary identity combines classical discipline with a particular interest in local produce and native flavours. A tasting menu allows those ideas to unfold through a sequence of preparations, while service and the surrounding panorama contribute to the sense of theatre. It is a restaurant best approached with time available, allowing the meal and the changing city outside to develop together. Vue de monde retained three hats in the 2027 Good Food Guide awards, announced in October 2026, with Hugh Allen also recognised as Chef of the Year for Yiaga. Its high position here reflects the completeness of the occasion: a major Melbourne restaurant whose setting is matched by the ambition and standing of its cooking.
Three-hat cooking and an exceptional city setting make Vue de monde Melbourne’s leading choice for a grand restaurant occasion.
Amaru
Melbourne, Australia; 5/1121 High Street, Armadale, Melbourne VIC 3143, Australia
Amaru’s scale is central to its appeal. With space for just 34 guests, the Armadale restaurant creates a close relationship between the dining room and Clinton McIver’s kitchen. The open arrangement lets the preparation remain part of the experience, while the whole team participates in presenting a menu shaped by Australian produce and techniques drawn from several culinary traditions. The sequence is designed to be discovered as it arrives, encouraging attention to the ingredients and ideas within each course. Wine is one route through the meal, but house-made infusions and ferments offer another, reflecting the same interest in flavour and transformation. The room’s intimacy gives these details room to register without requiring a grand architectural setting. Amaru retained three hats in the 2027 Good Food Guide awards announced in October 2026. It earns its high ranking here because the restaurant’s ambition remains concentrated and coherent: a small venue pursuing a complete experience with considerable care. For visitors, it is a persuasive reason to explore Melbourne’s dining beyond the central business district.
Three-hat recognition, a coherent culinary approach and an intimate setting make Amaru a compelling destination for an extended tasting menu.
Minamishima
Melbourne, Australia; 4 Lord Street, Richmond, Melbourne VIC 3121, Australia
Minamishima is built around the judgement of a specialist. Chef Koichi Minamishima draws on Edomae sushi traditions, working with Australian seafood and ingredients from Japan to create an omakase experience whose progression is determined by the kitchen. The pleasure lies in noticing how preparation, seasoning and the handling of rice change the character of each piece. The Richmond restaurant’s restrained, softly lit setting encourages that concentration. At the counter, the chef’s work becomes part of the meal, while composed Japanese dishes extend the experience beyond nigiri. Gourmet Traveller’s recent review highlights preparations involving mackerel and Tasmanian abalone, examples of the breadth within a restaurant that remains tightly focused on its chosen culinary language. Three hats in the 2027 Good Food Guide awards, announced in October 2026, confirm its standing. Minamishima belongs in this selection because Melbourne’s excellence is as much about depth of specialisation as breadth of cuisines. It offers visitors a major Japanese dining experience whose precision and pacing make a substantial evening feel unusually concentrated.
A three-hat specialist whose sushi craft and controlled dining experience represent the depth of Melbourne’s Japanese restaurant scene.
Flower Drum
Melbourne CBD, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; 17 Market Lane, Melbourne VIC 3000
Flower Drum’s importance to Melbourne extends beyond longevity. Since opening in 1975, the restaurant has helped establish Cantonese cooking as an essential part of the city’s fine-dining identity, pairing precise preparation with a notably considered style of hospitality. Its Market Lane address places that tradition within Chinatown, where the surrounding streets give the meal a broader cultural setting. The dining room’s formal character suits an occasion, but the food encourages the sociability of a shared table. Peking duck is a natural reference point, alongside seafood and other Cantonese preparations that reveal the kitchen’s attention to texture and timing. Ordering across the menu allows the experience to develop through contrasts rather than around a single oversized centrepiece. Flower Drum was named Restaurant of the Year in the 2026 Good Food Guide awards. That recognition is particularly meaningful for an established institution, suggesting continuing relevance rather than reputation alone. It belongs in this selection because visitors can encounter both a distinctive cuisine and a restaurant that has helped shape Melbourne’s understanding of hospitality.
A landmark Cantonese institution whose sustained relevance and major recent recognition make it essential to any balanced account of Melbourne dining.
Gimlet
Melbourne CBD, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; 33 Russell Street, Melbourne VIC 3000
Gimlet understands the pleasure of a great dining room. Within the 1920s Cavendish House building, the restaurant gives central Melbourne a setting with the scale and polish to turn an ordinary evening into an occasion. Large windows, generous proportions and carefully arranged seating contribute to a room designed for both looking around and settling in. Andrew McConnell’s culinary direction brings together the ingredients of a classic metropolitan restaurant: oysters and other seafood, wood-fired cooking, substantial dishes to share and a serious approach to wine. Cocktails are part of the identity, with the namesake drink providing an obvious starting point. The menu allows different degrees of commitment, from a relatively concise meal to a more expansive dinner. The City of Melbourne’s dining coverage recognises Gimlet as a notable destination. Its place in this guide reflects the balance between food and atmosphere, rather than a single technical speciality. For visitors, it offers a particularly persuasive version of the city at table: sociable, assured and comfortable treating dinner as an event in its own right.
A complete metropolitan restaurant experience, balancing confident cooking, strong drinks and a room with genuine architectural character.
Tipo 00
Melbourne, Australia; 361 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia
Tipo 00 takes its name from finely milled flour, establishing pasta as the restaurant’s central subject before guests even sit down. In its compact Little Bourke Street room, the appeal lies in the relationship between dough, sauce and carefully chosen ingredients. The cooking is recognisably Italian, while Australian produce gives the menu a sense of its Melbourne location. Documented favourites include ink tagliolini and duck gnocchi, preparations that show how different shapes and textures can determine the character of a dish. The restaurant’s interpretation of tiramisu provides another point of interest, extending the same confidence into dessert. A seat at the bar or a table in the small room keeps the experience close to the kitchen’s activity and the surrounding city. The City of Melbourne includes Tipo 00 in its dining recommendations. It earns its place here by pursuing a focused idea with enough personality to make a relatively straightforward meal feel like a destination. For travellers, it is an especially useful reminder that Melbourne’s restaurant reputation also rests on places built around the pleasure of a well-made plate of pasta.
A focused pasta specialist whose accessibility, local reputation and clear culinary identity balance Melbourne’s elaborate tasting-menu restaurants.
Supernormal (Melbourne)
Melbourne, Australia; 180 Flinders Lane, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia
Supernormal draws on the food cultures of Japan, China and Korea without presenting itself as a traditional representative of any one of them. Andrew McConnell’s restaurant uses those influences to create a contemporary Melbourne menu, where dumplings, seafood and shared dishes fit naturally into a lively, flexible meal. The lobster roll has become a particularly recognisable expression of that approach. The Flinders Lane room centres on an open kitchen and a long counter, making the preparation and movement of the restaurant part of its atmosphere. Guests can build a meal around smaller plates or order more extensively, with a peanut-butter parfait among the documented desserts. A private karaoke space extends the restaurant’s sociable character for groups looking for a different kind of evening. The City of Melbourne recommends Supernormal as a notable dining address. It belongs in this guide because its appeal is broad without being anonymous: the food has a clear point of view, the room has energy, and the format works for many kinds of visitor. It is an assured introduction to a distinctly Melbourne way of eating.
A distinctive, flexible restaurant whose menu and setting capture Melbourne’s enthusiasm for contemporary cooking shaped by several Asian food traditions.
Marion
Fitzroy, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; 53 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy VIC 3065
Marion makes wine the beginning of a meal rather than an accompaniment chosen at the end. The Gertrude Street restaurant draws guests towards an extensive, varied selection, with staff able to shape an evening around the bottles that interest the table. Seasonal plates provide enough substance for a full dinner while remaining flexible for a shorter visit. Part of Andrew McConnell’s restaurant world, Marion occupies a characterful Fitzroy setting with whitewashed brick and a sense of the neighbourhood’s former industrial life. The room encourages a relaxed pace, making it equally plausible to begin with a glass and order gradually or arrive ready to explore the kitchen. Its proximity to other Gertrude Street addresses adds to the feeling of being within a lived-in food district. Marion appears in 50 Best Discovery and remains part of Broadsheet’s current Melbourne coverage. It earns its place here because a useful restaurant guide should include somewhere that responds to the mood of the evening. The combination of wine knowledge, proper cooking and neighbourhood atmosphere makes it particularly valuable to visitors.
A wine-led restaurant with substantial food credentials, adding Fitzroy’s neighbourhood character and a flexible dining format to the selection.
Dodee Paidang (Little Collins)
Melbourne, Australia; Basement, 353 Little Collins Street, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia
Dodee Paidang builds its identity around tom yum noodles, using the familiar combination of sourness, chilli and aromatic broth as the starting point for a broader Thai menu. At the Little Collins Street branch, diners descend into a basement restaurant that offers a distinctly different experience from Melbourne’s formal tasting rooms. The appeal is immediate: vivid seasoning, plenty of choice and an accessible central location. Noodles are the natural introduction, but the restaurant’s repertoire extends to other Thai dishes, allowing a table to combine individual bowls with shared plates. The breadth makes it useful for groups, while the price level encourages a spontaneous meal between other plans. Heat is part of the restaurant’s character, so discussing preferences when ordering is sensible. The City of Melbourne includes this specific Little Collins Street branch in its dining coverage. Dodee Paidang completes the selection by representing the importance of everyday Asian restaurants to the city’s food culture. It gives international visitors a practical, enjoyable way to experience that diversity without requiring a major financial commitment.
A popular Thai specialist whose accessible pricing and distinctive noodle repertoire ensure the selection includes Melbourne’s everyday dining strengths.