Melbourne’s Top 5 Eats (and the 5 Districts That Explain Them)
Melbourne didn’t become a food city by declaring itself one. It went the slow way – migrants cooking the food they missed, cafés opening because someone needed a job, restaurants evolving because regulars demanded better. Because of this, the city’s restaurant culture doesn’t just keep you well fed; it acts as a kind of guided tour to the southern hemisphere’s most marvellous metropolis.
So if you’re visiting for the first time, follow these restaurants and the geography reveals itself – suburb by suburb, mood by mood, appetite by appetite. By the time you leave, you’ll feel like you know where to go without needing to ask.
Studio Amaro, Collingwood – Day-to-Night Dining with Italian Flair
Set among the vintage, thrift and antique stores of Collingwood, Studio Amaro mirrors the neighbourhood’s split personality: industrious by day, hedonistic by night. Upstairs, the restaurant serves confident Italian sharing dishes; downstairs, the DJ booth hums Thursday to Saturday, and the room fills with people who look like they planned to stay for one drink and failed.
On weekends, it’s worth booking your day around their bottomless brunch Piatti menu — a set spread with endless focaccia and drinks. The whipped ricotta and preserved zucchini stand out among the plates, but the real pleasure is how naturally the meal slides from lunch into evening. Very Collingwood. studioamaro.au
Yum Sing House, CBD Laneways – Fine Food, Salubrious Sing-alongs
Some nights in Melbourne don’t need a plan. Yum Sing House is built for exactly that. Tucked down a CBD laneway on the edge of Chinatown, the ground-floor restaurant delivers refined Asian cooking with a sense of humour – prawn toast and Omni meat wontons that look like Instagram bait but taste far better than they need to, and a roast duck glazed with caramelised orange and soy that borders on dessert before you even get to the Ma Lai Gao with Hong Kong milk tea anglaise and boba.
The room downstairs is polished but never stiff – come on a Tuesday and you might roll the house’s lucky dice and have your bill wiped. Upstairs, things loosen considerably: an open-plan bar, DJs, and karaoke rooms named after Hong Kong neighbourhoods, available for private dining or unapologetic group singalongs. yumsinghouse.com
Officina Gastronomica Italiana, Hawksburn Village, Prahan – Understated Local Luxuries
Hawksburn Village runs on routine: morning dog walks, afternoon coffees, dinners that start early and end politely. OGI is woven into that rhythm. It began life as an espresso bar before doubling in size, but the spirit never shifted.
The pasta arrives exactly as it should — confident, unshowy, made by someone who has done this thousands of times and doesn’t need applause. Sit under the pergola and watch locals greet each other mid-sentence while you work through the slow-braised wagyu beef ragù rigatoni, their undisputed champion dish. This is Melbourne’s Italian culture where it actually lives: suburban, daily, quietly excellent, and well worth the tram ride. ogi.com.au
New Quarter, Richmond – Vietnamese Variations Before a Big Night Out
Richmond is where old and new Melbourne constantly negotiate. New Quarter sits right at that intersection, along Swan Street’s hip strip, a few paces from the iconic Corner Hotel music venue and not far from the sports precinct and its old-world gravity.
This Neo-Vietnamese kitchen pulls off a rare trick: innovating a much-loved cuisine without losing what makes it so comforting. Slider-style snacks dominate — rockling scallop in brioche with mint and caviar, a banh mi finger with whipped chicken liver pâté, even a fried chicken sando that nods toward Japan. You may be full before mains arrive. It’s not trying to shock — it’s simply showing what Vietnamese food looks like when it grows up in Melbourne. newquarter.com.au
Pipis North, Fitzroy – Here for a Good Time, Not a Long Time
Fitzroy loves things that won’t last: pop-up bars, half-formed bands, doomed romances, and aesthetics that feel urgent precisely because everyone knows they’re temporary. Pipis North understands this and leans in – it closes at the end of February.
Enter via Victoria Street, grab a seat if you can, and order seafood that tastes like summer regardless of the weather. Oysters, small plates, and wines chosen because they work, not because they’re famous. People drop in “for one” and stay for three. When it disappears, you’ll tell people you were there – and if you miss it, there’s always the slightly more permanent older sibling, the much-loved Pipis Kiosk in Albert Park. pipiskiosk.com.au
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