Looking for the ultimate steak experience in Melbourne? There's a particular kind of restaurant confidence that comes from building an entire menu around one ingredient and daring you not to be impressed. La Madonna, perched on Level 3 of Next Hotel Melbourne, has done exactly that with An Ode to Westholme Wagyu - a five-course dégustation that we sat down to on a quiet Tuesday evening, curious whether a menu this singularly focused could actually sustain five courses without repeating itself. It can. Comfortably.
Westholme is one of Northern Australia's most respected Wagyu producers, prized for marbling that holds its structure under heat rather than simply melting into oiliness, and for a flavour that reads as savoury and mineral rather than one-note rich. Handing that raw material to Michelin-trained Executive Chef Jacopo Degli Esposti was always going to produce something worth writing about, and this menu is his love letter to the breed - carpaccio to consommé to crème brûlée, with barely a non-Wagyu ingredient in sight.
By popular demand, Melbourne's most talked-about winter dining escape isn't going anywhere just yet. Fern's Hidden Winter Garden, the botanical conservatory experience at Fern Bar & Dining inside Hotel Indigo Melbourne Little Collins, has been extended through to Sunday 4 October - with a fresh spring makeover to match the change of season.
Melbourne is "family friendly" and is one of those rare cities that genuinely delivers for families, whether you're visiting for a weekend or you've lived here for years and are always hunting for the next outing that will impress a six-year-old and a teenager in the same afternoon. From hands-on science museums to a zoo that's been delighting kids for over 160 years, the city and its surrounds pack an enormous amount of family-friendly fun into a compact, walkable footprint. Best of all, a lot of it is either free or very affordable, and almost everything is connected by Melbourne's iconic tram network.
Here's our definitive guide to the best family activities in Melbourne, covering everything from full-day adventures to short, sweet strolls you can slot in between meals.
There's a particular kind of Melbourne dinner where the phone comes out before the fork does. I don't say that as a criticism — some rooms genuinely earn it. After 15-plus years reviewing this city's restaurants in person, the venues that photograph best are almost always the ones that were designed with real intent, not just a feature wall bolted on for the socials. We have eaten our way through most of the CBD's grand dining rooms and the inner suburbs' moodier corners chasing exactly this list, and what follows are the Melbourne restaurants that consistently deliver the shot and the meal.
From a 300-metre-high dining room over the MCG to a century-old mural-lined institution on Bourke Street, here are Melbourne's most Instagrammable restaurants worth booking a table — and charging your phone — for.
Melbourne just crowned the best spirits in the country, and the winners' list reads like a who's who of Australian distilling - with a couple of genuine celebrity surprises thrown in. The 2026 Australian International Spirits Awards (AISA), presented by Melbourne Royal, brought together more than a thousand entries from Australia and, for the first time in the competition's history, international producers, all vying for the title of the nation's benchmark spirits event. And we were invited along to enjoy a stellar evening of celebrating "the best of spirits".
With a new immersive, roaming format at the Victoria Pavilion, Melbourne Showgrounds, the night ditched the traditional sit-down ceremony in favour of guests wandering between tasting stations, sampling Gold and Trophy-winning spirits, and meeting the makers behind them. I went along to see who took home the silverware - and the results are a genuinely great snapshot of where Australian gin, whisky, rum and tequila are heading in 2026.
Perched above the Melbourne CBD, Elará Melbourne is the city's newest rooftop destination for luxury celebrations, elevated guest experiences and events that were never meant to be ordinary. Architectural, immersive and effortlessly refined, the space pairs sweeping skyline views with a striking glass atrium centrepiece, creating a setting that feels iconic from every angle. We attended the spectacular launch and felt this venue has a unique and desirable vibe and location in the city, and is more than ready to deliver for your next function.
Purpose-built for premium weddings, luxury social events, brand launches and sophisticated corporate experiences, Elará Melbourne strikes a rare balance of indoor and outdoor atmosphere without sacrificing comfort, flexibility or flow. From intimate gatherings to large-scale productions, the venue accommodates up to 180 guests seated or 300 cocktail-style, with the option to connect seamlessly into Evoqé Events below for immersive, multi-level events on an even grander scale.
Looking for a standout bar and restaurant in Port Melbourne? There's a particular kind of restaurant that Melbourne does better than almost anywhere else in the world, and it's not the degustation temple or the hatted fine-diner chasing a third chef's hat. It's the neighbourhood room that shines so that locals want to keep coming back - a bar you'd happily prop up alone with a negroni, and a restaurant serious enough to warrant a special occasion booking six weeks out. The Gilroy, tucked into Bay Street in Port Melbourne, is exactly that rare, difficult-to-pull-off thing. And having spent an evening working my way through its menu, I can say with some confidence that Port Melbourne has just landed one of the best openings anywhere in Melbourne this year. It's a bold claim in a city that produces new contenders for that title every month, but The Gilroy backs it up with a level of consistency, from front door to final course, that's genuinely hard to fault.
Melbourne loves its doughnuts and we are somewhat of a "doughnut capital" of Australia. We queue for them at 7am in the cold outside a vintage van, we drive across town for a "bronut" stuffed with brioche and Biscoff, and we still argue about whether a hot jam doughnut from a market van beats an artisan number with a name longer than the ingredient list. We enjoy institutions like American Doughnut Kitchen, the Queen Victoria Market icon behind Melbourne's most famous Hot Jam Doughnut, who marked 75 years in business in recent times.
Every venue below is one we celebrate - from the third-generation family van that's been frying dough since 1950, through to the newer wave of Melbourne doughnut specialists doing genuinely inventive things with brioche, brûlée and everything in between. Whether you want nostalgia, novelty or something dangerously close to dessert, here's where to go.
Truffle lover? Then let me tell you about the night four of us sat down at Lord Lygon Dining + Bar at Zagame House for their Truffle Dinner Experience - and walked out convinced it's one of the ultimate truffle events of the Melbourne winter.
Running 1 July to 22 August, the Truffle Dinner Experience at Lord Lygon pairs a four-course, truffle-driven menu at $85 with a flawless matched wine list for an extra $45 - and after working through all four courses I can tell you every dollar of it is worth it.
Melbourne is fast becoming a city of aperitivo excellence and at the forefront is the Italian community. We enjoyed a stellar evening (invite) at the Italian International Chamber of Commerce (ICCI) hosted Una Cena Raccontata - "a dinner, told" - at Al Dente Enoteca in Carlton, one of Melbourne's best Italian restaurants and a venue I've appreciated for years.
This great event was a guided journey through the Italian aperitivo tradition, built around a bespoke four-course menu from Al Dente Enoteca and Carnegie's Nuvoletta Gelateria, paired course-by-course with Cocchi Vermouth - the storied Piedmontese house that's been quietly shaping Italian drinking culture since 1891.
Upstairs at the old Melbourne Supper Club on Spring Street, this authentic Greek taverna is quietly one of the city's most underrated dining experiences — and our second visit only confirmed it.
We were invited to dine at Kafeneion. As always, our thoughts and opinions are entirely our own.
Melbourne has a little slice of Athens hiding above Parliament, and we couldn't wait to return. Kafeneion — a play on kafeneio, the traditional Greek coffee house — occupies the first floor of 161 Spring Street, in the storied space long known as the Melbourne Supper Club. Created by acclaimed restaurateur Con Christopoulos (City Wine Shop, The European, Siglo) alongside Stavros Konis, the taverna began life as a pop-up before proving popular enough to become a permanent fixture. Our second visit confirmed why: this is home-style Greek cooking, made with heart, in one of the city's most atmospheric rooms — and one of the standouts in our guide to the best Greek restaurants in Melbourne.
Truffle season in Melbourne is one of the great annual rituals for anyone who loves food — and this year Cha Ching on Flinders Lane has jumped headfirst into the celebration with a limited-time Winter Truffle Banquet that makes a strong case for being the city's most exciting truffle dining event right now. I've long been a fan of Cha Ching's bold modern Asian banquets — the venue consistently punches well above its price point — and this seven-course truffle feast at $99 per person confirms everything I love about eating here.
The menu showcases premium Western Australian black truffles across every course, weaving them through the kitchen's signature flair for big, confident flavours. It's indulgent without being overwrought, and it captures exactly what truffle season should feel like: luxurious, seasonal, and best shared with people you like.
Some nights in Melbourne's food scene remind you why this city punches so far above its weight. Monday, 6 July 2026 was one of them. At Il Caminetto in Moonee Ponds, two of Australia's most awarded pizzaiolos — both ranked among Asia's Top 50 Pizza makers — joined forces for a one-night-only collaboration dinner. The result was one of the finest pizzas I've eaten in fifteen years of doing this.
Winter means one thing for Melbourne food lovers: truffle season. From decadent long lunches and luxurious banquets to affordable cheese-laden indulgence, Melbourne knows how to celebrate one of nature’s most prized ingredients. Whether you’re after fine dining or comfort food elevated by generous shavings of black truffle, the city offers no shortage of memorable experiences.
Here are four of the best truffle dining experiences in Melbourne this winter.
Melbourne's City Loop isn't just the easiest way to get around the CBD — it's also your gateway to some of Australia's best restaurants. Whether you're heading to a show, catching up with friends after work, or simply exploring the city by train, there are outstanding dining options just minutes from every station.
This guide features our favourite restaurants within an easy walk of Flinders Street, Parliament, Melbourne Central and Flagstaff stations. From award-winning fine dining to hidden laneway gems, every venue has been personally experienced by The World Loves Melbourne.
Forget expensive parking. Jump on the train and let Melbourne's food scene do the rest.
Melbourne's laneway bar scene is one of the great urban drinking cultures anywhere in the world. Behind unmarked doors, down cobblestone alleys, through wardrobe doors and bookshelves, hidden inside shipping containers and 19th-century heritage buildings — this city has spent decades perfecting the art of the hidden bar. These are not gimmicks. The best laneway bars in Melbourne are serious cocktail destinations: venues with world-class bartenders, rare whisky collections, impeccable food and atmospheres you will not find anywhere else on earth.
Sam and I have visited every bar on this list personally, some many times. We've drunk whisky behind bookshelves, sipped dirty martinis in moody basement rooms, sat elbow-to-elbow with 11 other guests at a bar where every cocktail is a masterpiece and the bartender knows your name by your second visit. This guide covers the very best — the venues that define what Melbourne's laneway bar culture is all about in 2026.
Whether you're after hidden speakeasies, world-class cocktails, intimate whisky bars or just the thrill of finding a great bar down an alley most people walk straight past, this is your guide. Also see our guide to the best bars in Melbourne and best rooftop bars in Melbourne for more.
Melbourne is one of the world's great dining cities, and when you combine exceptional food with a spectacular backdrop — whether that's a glittering skyline from 300 metres up, the silver shimmer of the Yarra River, or a rooftop panorama stretching across the suburbs — you have something genuinely unforgettable. I've been fortunate to dine at some of Melbourne's finest view restaurants over the years, from iconic skyscraper dining rooms to casual waterfront gems, and in this guide I'm sharing the ones that have earned a genuine place on my personal list.
These aren't restaurants chosen purely for the scenery. Every venue here also delivers on food, wine, and experience — because a view without substance is just a window. This is my personally curated guide to the best Melbourne restaurants with a view, updated for 2026.
Melbourne is extraordinarily well positioned for day hikes. Within an hour or two of the city you can be standing on wild ocean clifftops, deep in ancient fern gullies, gazing across Victoria's volcanic plains from a jagged ridgeline, or walking a peaceful lakeside circuit with coffee in hand. I've explored all of these with family over many visits — some destinations I've returned to a dozen times, others reward a first visit in a way that immediately makes you plan the next one. Here are the best day hikes from Melbourne, drawn from personal experience.
Melbourne is home to one of the largest Greek communities in the world outside of Athens — and it shows at the table. From late-night souvlaki institutions that have fed generations of Melburnians to refined modern Greek kitchens reinterpreting Hellenic classics, and from the buzzing tavernas of Oakleigh's 'Little Athens' precinct to the fireplace-centred dining rooms of the inner west, the city's Greek food scene is extraordinary. I've eaten my way through a good portion of it, and here are the restaurants I keep returning to and recommending.
Melbourne's pie scene has come a long way from the servo warmer. These days you'll find chef-driven fillings, artisan pastry, and proper provenance behind the meat — sitting right alongside the classic suburban bakery pie that's been getting it right for decades. I've been working my way through the city's best, from Collingwood bakeries to CBD pub kitchens, and here's where to go.
Melbourne's pub scene is one of the finest in the world. I say that having spent fifteen years exploring the venues of this city — from its legendary institutions to its most exciting new openings. Whether you're chasing a pint poured straight from a working brewery, a Sunday roast that could silence a table, a chicken parma worth making a reservation for, or elevated gastropub dining that rivals any restaurant in town, Melbourne delivers. These are the best pubs in Melbourne right now — personally visited, personally assessed, and listed with the honest opinions that fifteen years of drinking in this city earn you.
Straddling the Murray River on the Victoria–New South Wales border, Echuca Moama is one of the most satisfying slow tracel close-to-home weekend escapes from Melbourne that doesn't feel compromised. Ancient river red gums line the banks, paddlesteamers churn slowly past historic wharves, and a genuinely excellent food and wine scene has quietly grown up alongside it all.
We spent a sunny weekend escape here recently - and came back wondering why we'd waited so long. The river is calming. The town moves at its own pace. And the eating and drinking, it turns out, is seriously good.
Melbourne’s hospitality scene turned out in force for one of the most talked-about events of the year as the launch of innovative new bottle shop Drop Shop rolled seamlessly into a spectacular celebration at Daphne, one of the city’s hottest dining destinations.
The evening brought together great wine, martinis, exceptional food, music and some of Melbourne’s best hospitality talent, proving once again that Melbourne does hospitality better than almost anywhere else.
