Where to eat
Gimlet at Cavendish House
Every city has its restaurant that seems reserved for the grandeur of life. The place where you book a table to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, promotions – or simply just to feel a little bit special for a while. In Melbourne, that place is indisputably Gimlet at Cavendish House. The kind of restaurant where your beef tartare is prepped tableside, and the namesake cocktail is made with a considered blend of local citrus. Add in a gorgeous, brasserie-adjacent dining room and affable Aussie service and you have the perfect venue for a long lunch or gluttonous supper.
33 Russell Street; gimlet.melbourne
Embla
Dining at Embla
The kind of wine bar that wouldn’t look amiss in London’s Hackney, Embla is a cracking restaurant that manages to feel at once universal and quintessentially Melbourne. Here, the wine and food are given equal attention – so expect dishes like soured cucumbers on whipped feta with a dusting of dill, a whopper of a tiger prawn in a peppery, sour-orange sauce, and squid with globe artichoke, Meyer lemon and sorrel, alongside a wine list featuring rare-find Victoria bottles, big-hitting global names and locally made vermouths to boot.
122 Russell Street; embla.com.au
Kafeneion
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Melbourne is home to the largest Greek- speaking population outside of Greece, so it would track, then, that the city is awash with some cracking Hellenic fare. Kafeneion, opposite Parliament House in the city centre, is like a door to the sun-soaked Aegean shores. With a menu full of dishes you rarely find outside the country’s borders – and cooked almost exactly as they would be at any local taverna – it’s a beautiful homage to the country’s expat community, thrumming with energy every night of the week. Pop by late night to get your hands on the soup selection – a steaming bowl of avgolemono is the perfect savoury-packed punctuation to any evening. Yiamas!
First Floor/161 Spring Street; kafeneion.com.au
Etta
Cantonese style BBQ pork, Etta
Expectations were high going into Etta; the wine bar’s reputation preceded itself, which is usually a recipe for disappointment – but not here. Owner Hannah Green and chef Lorcán Kan have a little nugget of gold in Brunswick East, thanks to Green’s exceptional service and wine list and Kan’s superlative cooking. Fusing the flavours of his Malaysian heritage and neighbouring Southeast Asian countries with Aussie ingredients, Kan’s menu is a powerhouse of big hitters – rare beef and sambal, Cantonese-style barbecue pork, and chilli oil parfait with lime leaf sorbet, to name a few. Settle in for the evening, let Green and her front-of-house team guide your wine choices and prepare to eat very, very well.
60 Lygon Street; ettadining.com.au
Aru
The banh mi pâté en croute at Aru fuses banh mi flavours with the French dish
Kristoffer Paulsen
You just know it’s going to be good when the queen of gluttony, Nigella Lawson, raves about a restaurant you simply must visit – and she is absolutely on the money when it comes to Aru. Mixing Australian ingredients with Southeast Asian flavours and then cooking it all over a wood-fired grill, the food at Aru is exciting and dynamic and doesn’t shy away from going bold with the flavour. From the sticky, dense, dessert-esque forbidden rice and palm sugar sourdough bread to the lick-the-plate-good spanner crab toast, the mind-bending banh mi pâté en croute, and the rich, unctuous and bold native curry-glazed kingfish collar with orange kosho, the menu is just home run after home run. Be sure to leave space for the Moreton Bay bug fried rice – an indulgent twist on the classic dish.
268 Little Collins Street; aru.net.au
Where to drink
Above Board
Inside Above Board cocktail bar
There is a certain amount of adrenaline PÂTÉ ON THE BACK: The banh mi pâté en croute at Aru fuses banh mi flavours with the French dish involved in locating a purposefully hidden bar – a modern-day speakeasy. You have to swallow your pride and walk through unknown corridors, fully aware that, should you fail, your inability to find the entrance will weigh on you for weeks. That is dialled up a notch at Above Board, where you have to navigate to the back of Beermash, past many merry revellers, up a nondescript staircase and, finally, hopefully, through the cocktail bar’s door. Once inside, the effort is worth it. Unlike any bar I’ve ever been to, Above Board is curiously free of branding – instead, spirits are all decanted into unlabelled vessels and kept in a strict order in unassuming drawers. Confusing, perhaps, but it also means the team can make things via muscle memory, leaving more time for conversation – of which there is an abundance. The menu is split between ‘Classics’ and ‘Signatures’ and runs the gamut of the alcohol spectrum, so there’s something for everyone.
1/306 Smith Street; aboveboardbar.com
Caretaker's Cottage
A cocktail at Caretaker’s Cottage
It’s not often that bars down under make it onto the World’s 50 Best list, so when one does, and stays there, it’s worth paying attention to. Housed in a dinky little cottage, formerly the home of the caretaker for the adjacent church – hence the name – and dwarfed by the CBD’s surrounding skyscrapers, Caretaker’s Cottage doesn’t even really call itself a cocktail bar. Instead, it’s a ‘pub’ – albeit one that serves arguably the best martini in town, with owners that come swinging with mixology pedigree. It is everything a bar should be: riotous, fun, with a legendary sound system to boot. Come on a weekday evening and pile up outside with suited and booted post-work revellers, or weave your way into a nook after dark for a post-meal Guinness. Either way the purpose of Caretaker’s Cottage is clear: have fun.
139-141 Little Lonsdale Street; caretakerscottage.bar
What to do
Eat world-famous croissants at Lune
An almond croissant from Melbourne bakery Lune
Trading in Formula 1 aerodynamics for precise pastry lamination, Kate Reid founded Lune in 2012 with one clear, straightforward end goal: creating the perfect croissant. Unsurprisingly, her attention to detail helped her not only achieve that but also earned her work the title of ‘world’s best croissant’ according to the New York Times, and legions of fans along the way. Now, Lune shops can be found in three Australian cities, with Melbourne’s Fitzroy location being a worthy pilgrimage for any committed patisserie devotee. Once you’re suitably fuelled up with carbs, sugar and butter, explore surrounding Fitzroy and its many great shops and restaurants.
119 Rose Street; lunecroissanterie.com
Visit Queen Victoria Market
The Queen Victoria Market at night
The largest open-air market in the Southern Hemisphere, Queen Victoria Market is a cornucopia of gluttonous goodness. Not simply a food-focused tourist attraction, this is a genuine market where locals head for the best fruit, veg, meat and fish in town. While you could easily lose hours ogling the abundance of food, you might want sustenance, too. Do it like a local and grab a bag of hot jam doughnuts from American Doughnut Kitchen, and snack as you stroll.
Queen Street; qvm.com.au
Mooch Melbourne's iconic laneways
Melbourne's iconic laneways
Street art? Check. Vintage stores? Double-check. Secret bars and cafes to uncover? Triple-check. Melbourne’s inner city laneways are like catnip for hipsters and Instagram fanatics alike, but there’s good reason this higgledypiggledy array of pedestrian streets is such a popular spot to visit. From an alley named after Australian rock band AC/DC to the graffiti-strewn Hosier Lane and Parisian-esque Degraves Street, the best way to discover the heart of Melbourne is to get yourself off the main roads and suitably lost.
Where to stay
The Lyall Hotel
The interior courtyard at The Lyall Hotel, with a rabbit sculpture in the lobby
Melbourne’s CBD is well-cushioned by the borders of the Yarra River and the Royal Botanic Gardens – sweeping expanses of green and pedestrianised space that separate the skyscrapers from the white picket fences. To the southeast of the city centre lies South Yarra, a cushy neighbourhood where capacious, sprawling homes make way for tidy, glossy boutiques and well-bedded neighbourhood eateries. In the heart of it all sits The Lyall Hotel, the perfect bolthole for visitors who like to be near the action while still feeling like they can breathe easy. Gaining a reputation for being the in-the-know spot in Melbourne after twenty years of hosting guests, The Lyall recently undertook a facelift, retaining all of the things people loved about it for two decades – spacious suites, comfortable rooms, quiet luxury – and giving it a bit of a spring clean. Framed by two grand oak trees draped in fairy lights, the hotel’s exterior feels almost European. Service is friendly and personable, and breakfast is, unsurprisingly, wonderful – this is Australia, after all. We’ll stay tight-lipped on the famous former guests we were told have graced its halls, but let’s just say they are absolutely fabulous, darling.
Rooms from £150 per night. 16 Murphy Street; thelyall.com
Qantas offers return economy fares from London Heathrow to Melbourne from £738; price is valid until 3 September unless sold out before. Visit the website for more information, qantas.com
To read our full coffee lover's guide to Melbourne, head here.
