The Best Places in Melbourne to Take Your Mum this Mother's Day (or Any Day)

From luxuriously long lunches to boozy brunches, and everything in between.
Libby Curran and Sarah Templeton
May 10, 2023

You love your mum, and if you're looking for ways to spoil the leading lady in your life, we're here to help. Because let's face it — your favourite underground bar is a bit too dingy. Your go-to ramen joint is a bit of a lazy pick for the woman who gave you, you know, life. This is your chance to deliver something momentous. Something memorable — and earn some serious brownie points on the side.

From luxuriously long lunches to boozy brunches and everything in between, we've rounded up the best places for Mother's Day in Melbourne, and for every weekend after it. Go forth and really make mum's day.

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Kristoffer Paulsen

FOR A CHIC LUNCH: CUMULUS INC.

Mother's Day is the perfect excuse for a spot of weekend wining and dining, and where better to celebrate than Melbourne institution Cumulus Inc? Its four-course Mother's Day lunch is well-priced, coming in at $90 per person and including lots of gorgeous seafood. Expect highlights like tuna tartare with goats curd and green pea, octopus matched with wild fennel, and a Black Angus porterhouse done with sansho pepper and pine mushrooms. Bookings are available online.

FOR THE GIN-SIPPING MUM: BROGAN'S WAY

Richmond's very own gin distillery is raising a glass — or five — to the mums in our lives with a gin-infused Mother's Day high tea. It'll run from 2–4pm on Sunday, May 14, coming in at $66 per person, and with both vegetarian and gluten-free options available. Guests will each score a Mother's Day cocktail on arrival, before sitting down to a spread of cakes, tarts and dainty finger sandwiches. Matching sips will include two G&Ts, plus bottomless bubbles. Missed out on tickets? Brogan's Way also has a range of gift packs to delight gin-obsessed mums, available online.

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FOR A DAY SPENT SOAKING UP NATURE: BOTANICA FESTIVAL

If mum's got a thing for flowers, plants and gardening, this one will be right up her alley. The National Trust of Victoria's Botanica Festival descends on Rippon Lea Estate on Sunday, May 14, for its annual celebration of nature and gardening. The fest has something for everyone, including an openair market where you'll be able to shop locally-made wares, an exhibition by the Bonsai Society of Victoria, a gardening book sale, loads of stunning floral displays and a huge plant sale. Once you've worked up an appetite, you'll find an array of food trucks to tickle your fancy, while Edenvale pours tastings of its alcohol-removed vino. And of course, you can't leave without dropping by the verandah to tuck into some classic CWA scones with lashings of jam and cream.

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FOR A SWEET TREAT: MARY EATS CAKE

We've found just the thing for all the cake-loving mums out there: a sweet little Mother's Day menu from the Mary Eats Cake crew, which'll be available exclusively from Wednesday, May 10–Sunday, May 14. The high tea experts are serving up this Amalfi Coast-inspired feast at both their Brunswick and Montrose venues, with adult tickets from $115. That'll get mum a limoncello spritz to kick things off, followed by a sweet and savoury high tea spread, bottomless scones with all the trimmings, a flute of French sparkling wine and a selection of house-blended teas. There's even gelato included for dessert.

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FOR CHEESE-LOVING MUMS: THAT'S AMORE

Make a gouda decision this Mother's Day and book a spot at this indulgent five-course feast hosted by That's Amore's Thomastown cheesery. Designed with help from acclaimed chef (and new brand ambassador) Darren Purchese, it'll be a suitably cheesy affair featuring bites like burrata teamed with a snow pea purée, ricotta gnocchi with basil pesto, crispy porchetta and a peach melba-inspired dessert. The menu comes in at $100 for adults, with three sittings available (11.30am, 2pm and 5.30pm).

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FOR A LUXE LUNCH WITH VIEWS TO MATCH: PRINCE DINING ROOM

The newly reimagined Prince Dining Room makes for an elegant backdrop to any long lunch with loved ones, framed by views across the bay and overlooking St Kilda's iconic palms. And on Sunday, May 14, it'll be the ideal setting for a feed with the mama figure(s) in your life. The kitchen's whipping up a special $105 menu for the occasion, featuring plates like spanner crab tartlets, burrata paired with smoked tomato jam, and wood-roasted spatchcock with zucchini and pinenuts. It's available from 12pm — make a booking online.

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Aerial shot of Grazeland's main food hall

I in the Sky Productions

FOR A WINE-MATCHED BANQUET: GRAZELAND

Spotswood's permanent food-stall precinct is dishing up some mum appreciation of its own this Mother's Day, hosting a special three-course lunch banquet on Friday, May 12. Held in collaboration with renowned Aussie winery Petaluma, it'll be capped at just 100 diners — so you'll have to nab your $125 tickets quickly if you want to secure a spot for mum. The feast will showcase dishes from much-loved vendors including Claw & Tail, Que Rico Paella and Cannoleria, with each course matched to a different Petaluma pour. The wine label's also running a pop-up wine bar across the weekend if you're after something a little more casual.

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FOR A SPECIAL SEAFOOD SPREAD: KICKIN'INN

This Cajun-inspired seafood spot offers a bibs-and-gloves sort of experience, so prepare mum for some messy dining and dive right on in. Not only is Kickin'Inn serving up a couple of cracking Mother's Day specials at all of its restaurants from Friday, May 12–Sunday, May 14, but it's doing so for a great cause. The group is teaming up with the National Breast Cancer Foundation, with $2 from each special sold going to support the organisation's important work. Choose from the $57 meal deal (a stack of prawns, ten baby octopus and two potatoes), or the loaded $99 offer, which stars all of the above as well as two half lobsters.

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Pete Dillon

FOR A TASTE OF EUROPE: CITYFIELDS

If your mum likes to keep her finger on the pulse, she'll certainly be stoked to join you for a feed at one of Melbourne's hottest new dining spots, Cityfields. Latest addition to Chadstone's new Social Quarter precinct, this one's a sprawling, light-filled venue with a menu full of fresh Euro flavours. From 12–6.30pm on Mother's Day, it's serving up a special three-course feast for $65, starring dishes like kingfish crudo matched with native lime and pomelo, wood-roasted chicken with a fennel and olive salad, and house-made soft serve ice cream. You can book seats online.

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Top image: Brogan's Way. Cityfields, by Pete Dillon

Published on May 10, 2023 by Libby Curran
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