The Best Restaurants in Melbourne Right Now

Melbourne's claim as Australia's food capital is backed by the density and quality of its restaurant offering, which spans from the world-class tasting menu institutions of the CBD to the neighbourhood dining rooms of Fitzroy, Carlton, and South Yarra that sustain the city's food culture across the daily reality of resident dining rather than just the special occasion market.

Attica — Ben Shewry's Attica in Ripponlea is consistently ranked among the world's 50 best restaurants, with a menu rooted in Australian native ingredients and the chef's own kitchen garden in Ripponlea. The tasting menu format has remained radical and personal across more than a decade at the top level, and Attica's commitment to telling the story of Australian food and country through its dishes is intellectually as well as gastronomically compelling.

Vue de Monde — Shannon Bennett's Vue de Monde on level 55 of the Rialto Tower provides the most spectacular dining room view in Australia alongside a tasting menu of considerable technical ambition and Australian produce focus.

Gimlet at Cavendish House — Andrew McConnell's return to the European brasserie form at Gimlet in the CBD has produced Melbourne's most celebrated new restaurant of the last five years, with a menu of classic French and Italian dishes executed at a standard that makes the room difficult to book and easy to return to.

Tipo 00 — the Collins Street pasta restaurant that launched Carlton's pasta trend is now a city institution, with house-made pasta at a quality level that justifies the difficulty of securing a table. The simplicity of the menu — pasta, wine, tiramisu — executed with this level of attention is a statement about what restaurants can be when they commit to one thing completely.

Embla — Dave Verheul and Christian McCabe's natural wine bar and kitchen on Russell Street maintains its position as Melbourne's most influential restaurant, not for any single dish but for the wine programme and the kitchen's intelligence in pairing food with the natural wine list that has shaped a generation of Melbourne hospitality.

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