Overview
Melbourne Place was one of the city's most anticipated new openings in 2024, and it more than delivered when it opened towards the end of the year.
The new hotel on Russell Street is 14 stories high, boasts 191 luxury rooms and suites, and houses a basement bar and rooftop restaurant that are already destinations in their own right.
When it comes to places to rest their heads, guests can choose from a number of room formations, from simple studios to a totally lavish penthouse purpose-built for the rich and famous. The team isn't shying away from colour or multiple textures throughout the rooms (you won't find a white wall anywhere in the building), and is adding luxury elements with bespoke finishes and furnishings. Mars Gallery has also been brought on to fill the hotel with local art — even though the entire building is more or less an art piece as it is.
Melbourne Place is taking its drinking and dining destinations very seriously as well. Hatted Young Chef of the Year Nicholas Deligiannis (ex-Audrey's) has been enlisted to run the hotel's culinary program, giving particular attention to its 150-person restaurant Mid Air.
Located up on the 12th floor, Mid Air is championing Mediterranean eats throughout its breakfast, lunch and dinner menus. Either tuck into these bites inside or out on the terrace when Melbourne's weather is behaving.
When it comes to the ground-floor dining room and basement bar, Ross and Sunny Lusted (Sydney's Woodcut and Aman Resorts) are in charge. They're running the Portuguese restaurant Marmelo and late-night bar My Mills, which are well worth individual visits — whether you're staying at Melbourne Place hotel or not.
Marmelo (the Portuguese word for quince) features vibrant snacks like silver-served anchovy fillets and two savoury takes on the much-loved pastel de nata. The first version comes with crab meat and custard, and the second is filled with sheep's cheese crisp and salted pork.
Ross is also well-known for cooking with charcoal and wood, so you can expect plenty of flame-kissed eats to slide across the pass. You'll find dishes like wood-grilled southern calamari with green coriander seeds and goat milk butter; suckling pig shoulder served with oranges and bitter leaves; whole john dory with kale; and O'Connor grass-fed beef with pickles.
You can also head down a grand chartreuse-hued staircase to find the duo's Mr Mills basement bar. It has an altogether moodier and cosier feel with intimate booths as well as the option to dine at the bar or open kitchen. Here, the inspiration is also Spanish and Portuguese, but drinks are more the focus. Small plates of Iberian classics and more substantial bites are paired with an extensive cocktail menu and wine list showcasing drops from Victoria and Europe.
This Melbourne hotel might be a newbie, but it is already one of the city's finest — much thanks to the food and drink lineup and the next-level interiors. Seriously, this has got to be Melbourne's most beautiful hotel.