Where should I eat and drink in Melbourne?

I will now just send you this link.

I’ve said before that this Substack is meant to be more than just a place for me to list all the places I like to eat and drink at. But I’m asked often where is good to eat and drink in Melbourne. I’m not sure why people think I’m an authority on the subject, but I suppose if Melbourne food and drink was a pub quiz category I’d do okay. I could correctly name the Head Chef at Etta, Rosheen Kaul, and tell you that the name of the popular Thai restaurant housed in an inner-city carpark is Soi 38. I could tell you that Andrew McConnell owns most of the good spots in town and that Supper Inn in Chinatown opens until 2.30 in the morning.

This list is by no means comprehensive, and indeed there are many, many other places I have on my must- and still-to-visit list, some of which I’ve popped down here, so you can go, and I can live vicariously through your Instagram posts. When I visit Melbourne I tend to spend most of my time in the central city, or in Fitzroy and Collingwood, so most of the places on this list are in those parts of town. I’ve tried to group everything by purpose, but you’ll see that several of the places on this list are multi-purpose ones.

I haven’t bothered providing addresses or phone numbers for making reservations or links to websites for you to pore over the menu. Google’s good for that, and this isn’t a Restaurant Directory. It’s just my list of places I like, in one place, so I can simply send people this link every time I get asked, rather than writing out the same goddamn list 50 times a year (okay, I’m not that sought after).

Let me finish by saying this list is highly subjective. It’s a list of the places I like, and think are good. Some of you will think that some of the places I’ve included here aren’t worthy. That’s fine.

Starting the day

Journal Café

My favourite spot in the CBD for coffee. It’s housed in the public library and full of books, newspapers, and magazines, which I like. The big communal tables are good for listening into other people’s conversations because I am nosy. I generally prefer making breakfast at home or buying pastries from a bakery, but Journal’s breakfast is good – big generous plates of scrambled eggs on toast with sides, or toasted sandwiches.

Also open for lunch and apperitivo a few nights of the week (I’ve only been for breakfast or coffee)

Morning Market

Morning Market is a bakery/coffee shop/posh grocer/shop for buying ‘gift food’ as my friend Suzi put it. I’ve only been to the one in Fitzroy, but there’s one in Prahan too. I like going to Morning Market to buy Baker Bleu croissants, packets of sourdough crumpets, jars of marmalade, punnets of berries and bottles of juice for breakfast back wherever I’m staying. They also do very good chorizo quiche and greens quiche, which are excellent breakfast options. I’m told their sandwiches are good.

Also good for buying bottles of wine, little bottles of pre-mixed gimlets from Gimlet and posh snacky food.

Lune

Google “essential places to eat in Melbourne” or something like that and I’m sure Lune will come up. The whole place is a bit hype-y and Instagrammed to the high heavens, but it’s sort of understandable – the croissants are exceptionally good. The original Lune is out in Fitzroy, and there’s an outpost downtown now. Be prepared to queue, though I think the queue downtown is worse now than the one in Fitzroy. I’m a sucker just for the classic plain croissant.

Napier Quarter

Probably my favourite place for breakfast in Melbourne. It’s beautiful, it’s calm (I try to be perpetually calm, rarely succeed, but always feel it here), and the service is excellent. I like the boiled egg, greens, and anchovy on toast a lot. I also like their boiled eggs with soldiers. The coffee is good, and they don’t let you get a takeaway coffee because they think you should just take the time to enjoy your coffee, rather than constantly being on the run. I like that. They also give really good book recommendations here. Once the owner told me to buy Isobel Beech’s book, Sunbathing, because the butcher’s shop in it was loosely based on a pink-lit Italian butcher’s shop with flowers on the counter in Carlton. I liked that.

It’s also very nice here for tins of Peroni or glasses of natural wine with salty snacks like homemade focaccia and olives and salami.

A1 Bakery

I am the kind of person who is quite prepared to eat all manner of savoury things for breakfast, which is why a place that sells haloumi pies and za’atar covered pizzas makes it to my list of spots to go to for the first meal of the day. You could of course go for lunch or to pick up pre-dinner snacks too. I’ve only been to the newest A1 on Brunswick Street, which is smaller than the original (and most famous) spot in the suburb of Brunswick (which Brunswick Street is not in). Please note: the haloumi pies are excellent.

For a sip of something

Market Lane Coffee

Any of the Market Lane Coffee spots are reliably good. I’ve been to ones in South Melbourne, Carlton and at the Queen Victoria Market.

Pellegrini’s

Most people would tell you to go to this famous inner-city café for coffee or plates of cheap pasta with slightly stale white bread rolls. Those things are all very good, and you should go there for them, but principally you should go for a $4.50 glass of icy watermelon granita. I like to have mine sitting up at the bar. Be sure to go to the two very good bookshops nearby – Hill of Content and The Paperback Bookshop.

Also good for pasta, coffee and cake.

Builder’s Arms

A great pub on Gertrude Street, Fitzroy. Good for a beer, a glass of wine, a gin and tonic, anything really. And a bowl of fries. I like sitting outside in the courtyard out the back or on Gertrude Street if there’s room.

Also does good pub food, though it’s a while since I’ve eaten there. I think they have a bunch of good weekly specials.

City Wine Shop

Probably don’t need to tell you that this is a nice spot for a glass of wine with a very long list for you to pick from. The snacks here are also excellent. I particularly like the homemade blini with whipped cod roe and the bowls of fries.

Also does good looking plates of gnocchi, which I’ve never tried, but always wanted to.

Kirk’s Wine Bar

No need to muck round – another good spot for wine and fries. The outdoor seating is best – excellent people watching.

Think you can have lunch and dinner here, but don’t know anything about either of those.

Gimlet

When we were in Melbourne in 2022 everyone told us to go here. They told us the service was phenomenal, the space was beautiful and the cocktails were great. It all seemed a bit hyped up and overpriced to me. But everyone else was right and I was wrong. Go, go, go. Sit at the bar, get a gimlet and know that sometimes it’s good to just trust other people’s judgement.

The food here looks excellent, though I’ve never had anything other than the bar nuts (which were good). I’m told they do late night supper on Fridays and Saturdays, and that their cheeseburger – pretty much the only thing on the supper menu – is a thing of beauty.

Mario’s

Some people might think it’s controversial to put Mario’s under the heading “For a sip of something”, since Mario’s has a really extensive menu of brunch dishes and pasta. But I like coming here for strong black coffee, or for glasses of pinot grigio with plates of Italian snacks like calamari or arancini balls or polenta fries or all three. I especially like these snacks because they all come with ridiculous amounts of aioli. This place is a Melbourne institution. It’s been around forever, and actually still a bit stuck in the early 1990s, but that’s its charm. The service here is solid.

I’m told this place is very good for “trashy” plates of pasta and garlic bread.

Siglo

I didn’t think I’d like a bar where the cigar menu is about as long as the drinks menu, but I do. This place is crazy. You must go to understand it. The views are amazing. The service is amazing. The drinks are amazing. Siglo is amazing.

Great for cigars if you like cigars (apparently).

Cam’s Kiosk

Cam’s Kiosk at the Abbotsford Convent is somewhere you can go for breakfast or a sandwich or a plate of pasta, but my suggestion is to go to Julie for lunch instead (more on that below) and have a glass of wine outside under the arches at Cam’s afterwards. It’s a beautiful setting, and the wine list is fun. Our waiter was a bit smelly (lol) but we’ll forgive him, it was hot.

Breakfast here looks really yum. Better than lunch in my Instagram-stalker opinion.

T Cavallaro & Sons

I’m going to be honest: the coffee here is pretty shit. You’re not here for that, you’re here for the homemade cannoli, freshly filled to order with ricotta. But it’d be rude not to order a cup of the mediocre espresso to go with your cannoli, because that’s what real Italians would do.

Note, this joint is in Footscray, which is obviously a little trek from the city, though it’s not a difficult one. If you find yourself out here, be sure to visit the Footscray market and many of the very, very good Vietnamese restaurants in this neck of the woods. It’s like a little Vietnam.

Places for a very good meal – that won’t cost you much

Florian

Florian is a lovely little café in suburban Carlton North that is – as I always used to say in posts when I wrote cliched pieces for Neat Places – worth travelling for. I’ve been for lunch and loved it. You could do that, or you could go for breakfast, or you could go for dinner on Friday nights, which looks like such a great affair. When I went for lunch, I had a very good niçoise salad, but their menu changes a bit. The omelettes do look very good, and that’s coming from someone who has their own resident omelette chef. If you can sit outside that’s nice. Be sure to make heaps of noise if you do – apparently some of the neighbours are NIMBYs. Fuck ‘em.

Soi 38

Everyone will tell you to go here to eat Thai food in a car park building. Rightly so, it’s delicious. We’ve only been a couple of times for bowls of noodles at lunch, which are really good and only $10 a pop. Apparently dinner is good – lots of raw seafood (if you’re into that, I’m not), grilled meats (into that) and Thai salads (definitely into that). The little grilled beef balls with spicy chilli sauce and an iced tea are excellent additions to your lunchtime order of noodles. Expect to queue a bit to get in here, but they do turn over tables quickly.

If you go for dinner it’s BYO and you can buy wine from a nearby parking ticket booth that’s been turned into a little wine shop.

Abla’s Lebanese

This Lebanese restaurant in Carlton, started by a marvellous sounding woman called Abla in 1979, is, I’m told, a bit of a Melbourne institution and it all makes sense. The food here is very, very good, and generous. When we went with friends we did the set menu banquet, and of course took the option of adding fish. I think we paid $82 a head, which got us multiple courses, more food than we really needed actually, and baklava, Turkish delight and tea or coffee to finish. So while $82 might be getting up there it was actually very good bang for your buck. The walnut stuffed fish, the kibbeh, the spicy Lebanese sausages and the chicken and rice are all a must. Also rate the dips.

I think this is open for lunch a couple of days a week too.

Nico’s Deli

Great, great sandwiches from a garage in Fitzroy. Don’t really need to say much more to sell the place, but I will. The sandwiches are fucking delicious. We’ve had the chicken schnitty and the salad sandwich, both excellent. Get two and go halves. And if you’re really clever, pick up your sandwiches to takeaway and take them to the Fitzroy Pool just up the road and round the corner. One of the best spots to sit in the sun in the city. There’s also a Nico’s Deli in the Melbourne CBD.

Shandong Mama

One of my great achievements in life is going to Shandong Mama for lunch on my wedding day. I ate plates and plates of dumplings with an ‘up-do’, as you do. The dumplings here are delicious, especially the mackerel dumplings. Trust me. And be sure to get the cucumber salad and a big flask of tea. Very cheap, very good.

Open for lunch and dinner. Not sure if it’s BYO. Check before you go if you need alcohol.

Ling Nan Chinese

I have a soft spot for Australian Chinese restaurants, especially the Ling Nan. It’s very brightly lit, which is perhaps its least redeeming feature, but that does make it easy to spot all of the other diners’ antics. There’s a lot of Crown Lager and Tsingtao here. The food is good and reasonably priced and generous and all those things. And they have crispy quail and prawn toast, which is really all I never need. Good for late night dining, though they’ll have you at more reasonable hours too.

I think this is BYO – but I caution you to check!!

Seafood Street

I was told that this place was good for messy plates of XO clams and youtiao (fried Chinese donuts) in the wee hours of the morning. That is correct. Those are the only two things I’ve eaten here, but I’m sure everything else is good.

You can eat here earlier than 1.30am.

Marquis of Lorne

This is one of my favourite pubs in Melbourne, even though I’ve only been once. It’s everything I expect a classic Melbourne pub to be. The chicken schnitzel here is very good, which is the hallmark of a perfect pub. The potato cakes are also excellent. The rockling burger looks great. I like that they have decent wine, works for a pleb like me who isn’t that great with beer. A great spot for a long Sunday lunch, or to go for your final lunch in Melbourne (which is usually a mournful time).

Good for dinner and drinks/snacks too.

China Bar

I’ve ummed and ahhed about whether to include China Bar on this list, but decided I’d be dishonest to myself – and also to you – if I didn’t include it. Let’s be clear from the outset: this is not the best place you will eat in Melbourne. Truth be told, the food isn’t even that amazing. But this place is open until like 4 or 5am in the morning and when you’ve finished up late at the tennis or the bar and you need plates of salty, ever-so-slightly greasy noodles or deep-fried snacks, then China Bar is the place for you. It’s a bit hectic, it’s a bit weird, it’s a vibe.  

Suggest only eating here late.

Meatsmith and Donati’s Fine Meats

It’s perhaps weird to include a butcher’s shop here, and not one, but two! But there’s method to my madness: if you’re staying somewhere where you can cook, then you must visit Meatsmith in Fitzroy or Donati’s Fine Meats in Carlton, buy yourself some very good sausages, and cook them at your Airbnb for breakfast. There are, of course, other good meat products you could buy too, especially at Meatsmith, which does incredible charceuterie, pate and terrine. You have my word that both places are two of the most beautiful butcher’s shops in the world. Donati’s is the pink-lit place with flowers on the counter I mentioned earlier, and they play classical music for god’s sake.

Butcher’s Diner

The day we went to Butcher’s Diner there was a massive fascist protest passing by. That was fucking vile. But most of the time you’ll be able to go to the Butcher’s Diner and just enjoy the cheeseburgers and fries. The cheeseburger is really good. And it’s cheap. There are big fridges of meat about the place because I’m pretty sure this is genuinely a butcher as much as it is a diner. Cool!

Open until the wee hours of the morning. Perfect.

Any of the markets – Queen Victoria, Prahan, South Melbourne

I love the deli stalls at all three of these markets for the assortment of dips. There are so many dips. I wish we had as much appreciation for dips in New Zealand. Also look out for cheap mozzarella and delicious snacky bits like feta stuffed peppers and dolmades.

Alimentari

We’ve been known to buy salads and sandwiches from Alimentari to picnic on at the tennis or the cricket. The salads are excellent and if there’s a chicken schnitzel sandwich or wrap on offer, you’re of course going to get it. This is also a good spot for an afternoon spritz or a morning coffee. The original (and big!) Alimentari on Smith Street is best, I think, but the one on Brunswick Street is totally fine for takeaway salads and sammies.

Breakfast, lunch, coffee, drinks, takeaways, cake, the lot (except dinner).

Places for a very good meal – that will cost you a bit

Marion

Marion used to open for breakfast, and I loved it. I got the pip when they stopped doing breakfast and so for years I never went back. But just this January I went, and it was superb. So, so good. Everything tasted like summer. The service was amazing. Sitting outside on Gertrude Street watching the world go by was joyous. The octopus and tomato toast that I ate was one of my best bites of the summer. If they have the baked pipe rigate with tomato vodka sauce on the menu please get it.

Lunch, dinner, drinks and snacks – all three are a goer here.

Julie

Once we got over how beautiful Julie was (it’s a converted space at the old Abbotsford Convent, lots of duck egg blue and yellow tiles and bright red piping) we got onto obsessing over how delicious everything was. Our lunch here also tasted like summer, which isn’t surprising given a lot of the produce we ate came from the restaurant’s very own garden that sunny January morning. Things I especially liked about Julie were, in no particular order, the dinner rolls with butter, the presence of a ”bowl of hot chippies” on the menu, that you can start your meal with a glass of sherry and that they do excellent roast chicken. I think this is one of the more perfect spots in Melbourne for a long lunch.

You can also come for dinner or sit at one of the white tableclothed tables on the sunny terrace for a drink and a bowl of said hot chippies.

Flower Drum

I had been curious about Flower Drum for years – a Chinese fine dining restaurant, down an alleyway off Melbourne’s main Chinatown drag (Little Bourke Street). I finally bit the bullet and went in January for the lunchtime banquet deal. It was extraordinary. The food was so refined, fresh, and delicious. The service was outstanding. The restaurant itself was ridiculously opulent and for the nearly three hours we were there sipping on gin and tonics and glasses of soave we felt like a King and Queen. This place will totally change your perception of what Chinese food can be – as much as you’ll also recognise many of the dishes on the menu from your neighbourhood Chinese takeaway.

Also open for dinner. The lunchtime banquet is a good deal! You don’t leave hungry (especially if you opt for four courses plus extras like this glutton).

Public Wine Shop

I love Public Wine Shop in Fitzroy North. It’s beautiful, in fact, I want a kitchen and dining room just like it. You sit at a big communal table and get brought all sorts of delicious plates of food and glasses of wine. You could just come here for a glass of wine, bread and butter, perhaps a little bowl of crisps, maybe a tin of fish. But I reckon it’s best to come for lunch or dinner because the cooking is really good.

Lunch, drink and snack, or dinner. Or all three in the one day, which I’d happily do.

Supernormal

The rule of thumb is that any eating establishment that’s run by Andrew McConnell is good. Supernormal is no exception. I always hate describing food as modern Asian, because what the fuck even is that, but that’s probably the best way to describe things here. It’s a bit Chinese, a bit Japanese, a bit Korean. The lobster rolls and katsu sandwiches are very delicious. So are the dumplings and the roast duck leg bao.

Good for both lunch and dinner.

Jeow

I am slightly confused about whether Jeow will continue to exist or not, because recent Instagram posts suggest it may be reverting to Anchovy, which it was before it was Jeow. Anyway, if Jeow’s still round, please go. They make really delicious Laotian food that will knock your socks off (in all senses). Just do some Googling to work out what’s what before you go. If it’s Anchovy I’m sure it’ll be good too.

The Sunday lunch deal looks really good.

Carlton Wine Room

A very good spot in Carlton that some might say is a wine bar with good food, others might say is a restaurant. It can be whatever you want it to be. Everything we ate and drank here was delicious, and the service was very good. I remember the rum baba and the bread and butter being particularly good. I’m easy to please. Julia Busutil Nishimura likes it here.

Good for dinner or for drinks and snacks.

Manze

Mauritian food, not something I’d tried before I went to Manze a few years ago. Surprisingly very good! Strong Indian influences and a lot of seafood and vegetable, so what’s not to love? Manze is very cool. The food’s great, it’s loud and fun and they have good drinks. When we went, they were only running a set menu, but now you can go a la carte, as well as pick a set menu option. I reckon go with the set menu to get a little bit of all of the good stuff. If they have the bouillon bredes, you want it.

Open a few days a week for lunch, I think, with, I’m pretty sure, lunchtime deals. Google to be sure. I am not Broadsheet.  

Tonka

I first went to Tonka when I was a student, which in hindsight is utterly ridiculous. I decided I wanted to save up 4x pay cheques from my weekend job at a deli to go because I thought it looked so good. I had great taste as a 21-year-old, albeit champagne taste on a lemonade, not even beer, budget. I’ve been back a couple of times since – for dinner, and for the thalli deal they do at lunch time in the bar, which was probably more within reach when I was that poor student. The food is here modern Indian, and it’s actually good. Sometimes I think don’t fuck with classics, but here I’m okay with them doing that.

Embla

We ate at Embla on a 40 degree night, were sat right by the wood-fired oven, and I had a cold (this was pre-Covid when eating out whilst sick was normal). But I loved it. The food here is extraordinary. Stand out dishes that night were creamed corn and ice cream made using leftover sourdough. The service is v, v good too. I think they offer a nice wee Sunday lunch deal if you’re that way inclined.

France Soir

I tend to spend most of my time in Melbourne on the Northern side of the river, but don’t let that make you think there’s nothing good on the South side. There is! My friend Suzi will insist I tell you this (she lives there). France Soir is especially good – a French bistro that has been round for years, has excellent service, a ridiculously good (and long) wine list and very good steak frites. It’s white tablecloths and waiters in waistcoats and black ties here, so it’s very French, and it’s all very good.

Open for lunch and dinner.

Places I want to go to, ASAP

Etta – am told the food here is extraordinary, and Rosheen Kaul who is the Head Chef seems pretty cool.

Bar Bellamy – apparently v good for drinks and snacks, including a particularly good devilled egg. Looks like they do a nice wee Sunday lunch deal too.

La Pinta – this is all the way out in Reservoir (fuck knows where that even is) but the food looks amazing. They make everything in house – like kabana sausage and ricotta – and all the food looks ridiculously cheap. Their desserts look hot too.

Stefanino Panino – the sandwiches here look ridiculously good. They always seem to be doing sandwich and a can of Coke deals.

Leonardo’s Pizza Palace – my mate Tom reckons this place was great and he’s one to trust.

Toddy Shop – this place does amazing looking Keralan food, and v good looking cocktails.

Supper Inn – I am a sucker for an Australiana, open until 3am in the morning, Chinese restaurant. I can’t believe I’ve never been here.

Bar Liberty – this place in Fitzroy does interesting looking food and a great looking Sunday set lunch. I like that they serve skewers of pieces of kabanosi sausage to snack on (a detail I know because of my fetish for perving at Melbourne restaurants on Instagram).

Kafeneion – this was a Greek pop up that opened in 2023, closed just before NY, and then reopened in new permanent digs only a matte of days after I left Melbourne at the end of January. The food here looks amazing. I gather they’re big on using a lot of olive oil. Fun!

Good Days Hot Bread – looks like pretty good banh mi to me.

Walrus – they do trashy American-style breakfasts, like hot cakes with butter and syrup and sausage patties. And cheeseburgers too. It looks a bit like a spot for cool kids who wear the kind of clothes I wore in 1995, but it looks YUM.

Ca Com Banh Mi Bar – run by the same people who run Anchovy/Jeow. These banh mi look incredibly good.