With people queuing for a table at 7pm on a Wednesday, you can tell there’s got to be something damn good about Melbourne’s Bar Lourinha. The wine list is heavily focused on European offerings, and the food is served tapas style. 

As Mr Miyagi hits a decade of trade on Chapel Street, it’s proof that despite Melbourne’s ever-rotating door of hospitality venues, the best restaurants endure. 

St Kilda’s Stokehouse is home to fabulous seafood dishes, uninterrupted views of the beach and some of the best private dining rooms in Melbourne. First off is the Palm Room. 

This fine-diner opened at the tail end of 2023, bringing refined dishes that marry contemporary Australian cuisine with Chinese-Canto influences to the CBD. It’s also home to a series of private dining rooms. 

Tucked away in Flinders Lane is one of the best Japanese restaurants in Melbourne. Here, you can eat your way through the extensive a la carte menu or try one of the luxe omakase experiences at the bar. 

In early 2023, the small Collingwood brewery Molly Rose stepped things up a few notches, taking over the two adjoining Wellington Street buildings to create a sprawling new home with a suite of supercharged offerings. 

You can dine on some of the best Japanese eats in Melbourne when hitting up Kisume, but the team here takes it up a notch with its ten-person private dining room. Here, guests sit around a small bar and try the restaurant’s intimate omakase experience. 

This Gertrude Street pub has existed in many a form over the years. But its 2018 renovation saw it become a quintessential locals’ pub with enough style to impress your mum. 

This beloved Fitzroy wine bar sits within a legendary Aussie crime boss’ old underground casino. Alphonse Gangitano left this spot back in the 90s, and it was left untouched for about 20 years, until the current team took over.

In a two-level subterranean space beneath sibling Yugen Tea Bar, sits the luxurious Japanese restaurant Yugen Dining. It’s a multi-faceted drinking and dining destination with a dramatic aesthetic and an impressive commitment to detail.

Yet another hit from legendary chef Andrew McConnell (Cumulus Inc, Cutler & Co, Marion), Gimlet is a suave Melbourne restaurant and cocktail bar located in the 1920s-built Cavendish House.

From the minds behind Sunda, this restaurant draws culinary inspiration from those early days of trade between Indonesian seafarers and northern Australia, championing the flavours of Southeast Asia, Japan and China.

Like many a Fitzroy pub, the Marquis of Lorne has been through a few refurbs over the years. On the ground floor, you’ll find your classic public bar with a tele in the corner and all your usual suspects on draught.

Society sports a timeless (and dramatic) aesthetic fusing elements of art deco, mid-century, art nouveau and brutalist sensibilities across its two restaurants — Society Dining Room and Lillian Terrace, plus the upmarket Society Lounge bar. 

Omakase is so hot right now. And Minamishima has to be the best place to experience it in Melbourne. Sushi master Koichi Minamishima is the man behind this incredible multi-course odyssey, training all the other chefs who are mastering the craft.

Opening in 2017, Brunswick east’s Etta was an instant hit among both local food and wine lovers. Hannah Green (Rosetta) runs the show and is supported by Rosheen Kaul in the kitchen and Ashley Boburka in the wine cellar. 

Located on the second level of the spruced-up Prince Hotel, Prince Dining Room has taken over the space previously home to Circa, which closed its doors after 20 years in 2017. 

From the mind of Chris Lucas (Chin Chin, Hawker Hall, Kisume, Grill Americano, Society) comes the 80 Collins venture, Yakimono — a two-storey Japanese diner with a street food menu that’s fuelled by fire. 

On one of Jason Jones’ trips to Paris, he stumbled upon three rules of Parisian dining worth abiding by. Keep it simple. Serve it till late. And never shirk on the fries. Thus Entrecôte was born.

A pop-up turned perennial favourite, Supernormal first opened the doors to its current Flinders Lane digs in early 2014 and has been earning fans ever since for its crafty fusion fare — including the famous signature lobster roll.