Welcome to The Wanderbug, a travel blog written for humans, by a human. I’m Genevieve, and every guide is personally written by me and based on my firsthand travel experiences.

Melbourne is Australia’s capital of food & dining, so picking the best restaurant in Melbourne to try on your visit can seem overwhelming. Luckily, it is very hard to go wrong!

The best restaurants in Melbourne include world-renowned restaurants like Attica and Gimlet, glamorous fine dining in gorgeous surrounds like at Reine & La Rue and Grill Americano, and local favourites such as Carlton Wine Room, Embla, MoVida and Mamasita, to name just a few.

I’ve lived in Melbourne for nearly a decade and also have the pleasure of working in the hospitality industry, so I’ve dined at more restaurants in Melbourne than I care to count – these are some of the best.

Explore More: Melbourne Travel Guide 

1. Attica

Attica is not just the best restaurant in Melbourne, it is the best restaurant in Australia. Renowned internationally as well as locally, make a reservation at Attica for one of the most spectacular dining experiences in Australia. Attica may be fine dining, but it’s far from stuffy – expect a warm, laidback and irreverent approach to Australian fine dining. It is one of the most unforgettable dining experiences I’ve ever had. Attica only offers a set menu, you’ll need to make a reservation far in advance.

2. Reine & La Rue

Reine & La Rue is one of the most beautiful restaurants in Melbourne, housed in a neo-gothic former bank that feels like a cathedral. The spectacular setting is matched by the elegant yet inventive menu (leans French) and attentive service. I love Reine & La Rue, and have dined there twice – for a girls night, and for a long lunch with visiting relatives, but it would also make an excellent special occasion or date spot. Reine & La Rue offers an a la carte menu.

3. Gimlet

Gimlet is one of the best restaurants in Melbourne, and a near-impossible reservation after it took out a place on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants shortly after opening. Chef-Owner Andrew McConnell is one of Melbourne’s favourite restaurateurs, and he has pulled out all the stops at Gimlet. Opulent, old world interiors and classic cuisine make dining at Gimlet an unforgettable experience. Book early! Gimlet offers an a la carte menu.

4. Cutler

Cutler is Andrew McConnell’s longstanding fine dining restaurant in Fitzroy, which has been a flagship restaurant on Melbourne’s fine dining scene for over a decade. The menu doesn’t conform to a particular cuisine, but celebrates modern cooking, which might be the secret to its longevity in the fickle Melbourne hospitality scene. We celebrated one of our wedding anniversaries here, and it was such a perfect long lunch. The hospitality team are true professionals, the menu is exciting without being silly, and the atmosphere is stylish yet surprisingly relaxed.

5. Grill Americano

Grill Americano is one of my favourite restaurants in Melbourne, because it reminds me so much of New York City – in fact, the moody, dark blue velvet interiors remind me specifically of a fine dining restaurant I used to work for in New York, 701West (sadly now closed). Melbourne restaurateur Chris Lucas has a slew of super successful, talk-of-the-town restaurants, but Grill Americano is far and away my favourite. If you can’t get a reservation, try your luck for a spot at the bar. Grill Americano offers an a la carte menu.

6. Carlton Wine Room

Carlton Wine Room is one of the best restaurants in Melbourne for visiting a longstanding local favourite. Located in Carlton, just north of the city, Carlton Wine Room is an elegant, modern Melburnian restaurant with a European-inspired menu. I love this spot, and have visited a few times now, with friends and with friends visiting from overseas.

7. Embla

Embla is one of Melbourne’s most beloved restaurants, becoming an instant classic when it opened a few years ago. Embla is one of the best restaurants in Melbourne for having a “very Melbourne” dining experience – it’s a small, busy dining room, permanently busy, and has lovely share plates. Always a winner!

8. Tipo 00

Tipo 00 remains one of the hottest reservations in town, which is no small feat for an Italian restaurant in Melbourne, after more than a decade. Officially a pasta bar, Tipo 00 is the perfect Melbourne laneway restaurant – it’s charming, it’s unfussy, it’s cosy and the food is exceptional.

9. Bar Lourinha

Bar Lourinha was the first “good” restaurant I visited in Melbourne, courtesy of my uncles Matt & Thomas, who took me for dinner when I was visiting Melbourne, a couple of years before I moved there. I’ve returned several times since and it never fails to surprise and delight. This tiny Iberian tapas bar has been a mainstay on Little Collins for more than a decade – not an easy feat in Melbourne’s competitive and fickle hospitality landscape. Book a table or try your luck with a walk in for tapas and raciones such as queso san simon & congo potato cigars, spring bay mussels with fino, mojo picon & spicy crumbs and  morcilla & walnut migas.

It’s owned by Chef Matt McConnell, who is one of the three chef-restauranteur McConnell brothers.

10. Trattoria Emilia

There is no shortage of great Italian food in Melbourne, but Trattoria Emilia is my absolute favourite. Opened in 2015 by Chef-Owners Francesco Rota and Luca Flammia, Trattoria Emilia is exactly as the name suggests: a trattoria is a slightly more casual and inviting version of a restaurant, and the cuisine focuses on Emilia-Romagna, Italy’s most celebrated food region. It manages to make every meal feel like a special occasion, at the same time as nailing that perfect warm, inviting and unfussy atmosphere that makes you want to linger for hours. In true Melbourne style, this cosy restaurant can be found down a CBD laneway – in Gills Alley off Little Collins Street.

11. Osteria Ilaria

Can’t get into Tipo 00? Little sister Osteria Ilaria is much more than just a consolation prize. This stylish Italian restaurant also books out early, but you’ve got a better chance of getting a table, as well as still enjoying a very special meal. The modern Italian restaurant is the second from Executive Chef Andreas Papadakis (ex-Vue de Monde), Luke Skidmore and Alberto Fava, and takes a more open-minded approach to European cuisine, borrowing ideas from here and there, to support it’s solid Italian foundations.

12. San Telmo

Named after the bohemian barrio in Buenes Aires, San Telmo is a lively and romantic Argentinian steakhouse, tucked away in an alleyway off Little Collins Street. I don’t even eat meat, but I still found so much to love on the menu, especially the selection empanadas and ceviche. The owners, brothers Dave & Mickey Parker and Jason and Renee McConnell, started with San Telmo and have since brought the flavours of other parts of South America to Melbourne with Palermo and Pastuso.

There’s still a line out the door every night, so put your name down early and then head to a nearby bar to wait it out – if the weather is nice, try the nearby rooftops at Siglo or Imperial Bourke Street.

Mamasita is often credited as starting the craze for modern Mexican restaurants in Melbourne, and has inspired dozens of imitators since opening in 2010. Argentinian Head Chef Martin Zozaya draws upon his childhood in Mexico and what’s current in the Mexican food scene, to deliver a modern and slightly experimental take on regional Mexican cuisine. My favourite dishes are the street style corn on the cob, the crab & prawn tostaditas and the fish tacos. Mezcaliers (like sommeliers, for mezcal) will happily guide you through their lengthy tequila and mezcal lists, but don’t skip their signature tamarind margarita.

13. Mamasita

14. MoVida

MoVida is a Melbourne icon, and is credited with introducing Austalian diners to authentic tapas and raciones since opening in 2003. Barcelona-born, Australian-raised Chef-Owner Frank Camorra has become one of the city’s most celebrated modern chefs, and the restaurant’s popularity has endured to this day, nearly twenty years later – no small feat in a fickle, big-city dining scene.

It’s success has led to two additional Movida locations in Melbourne and one in Lorne on the Great Ocean Road. If you’re in Melbourne, you can’t beat the location of the original Movida in graffiti-covered Hosier Lane, the city’s most famous (and tourist-clogged) laneway. The newfound popularity of tapas and raciones also played no small part in driving Melbourne’s obsession with small plates and restaurants tucked away in laneways and alleyways.

15. Pastuso

Pastuso comes from the same team as San Telmo, and has a similar upbeat energy and ethos, despite offering a different South American cuisine. Tucked away at the end of famous AC/DC Lane, off Flinders Lane, Pastuso is a gorgeous restaurant that celebrates the food of Peru from the coast, to the mountains, to the jungle. Peruvian-born Executive Chef Alejandro Saravia is widely credited with introducing Peruvian cuisine to Australian dining, and Head Chef Juan Berbeo, has been recognized in a leading newspaper in his native Colombia, as pioneering the cuisine in Australia.

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