Hottest New Places to Dine: The Best Melbourne Restaurants Right Now

Melbourne diners are spoilt creatures. Pampered and cosseted, they're wooed by some of the finest food in the land, and the list of chefs behind the top restaurants reads like a who's who of the culinary world.

From silky street noodles to new-wave Greek, foamy French classic or a joyous butter chicken fest, the latest crop of best new Melbourne restaurants includes talented newcomers as well as some of the city's hottest hospo teams. To survive in this town, you've gotta be good.

Good news for the hungry, who are in for a wild ride, safe within practiced hands. These are the best newcomers onto Melbourne's sizzling food scene.

If you judge a restaurant by its pedigree, Harriot gets the blue ribbon; its siblings are amongst some of Melbourne's best loved Euro classics, including pasta master Tipo 00 and polished Osteria Ilaria.

Channelling continental bistro vibes, white tablecloths set the scene for a whirl through such classics as duck-liver parfait, poached John Dory with beurre blanc, truffle-blanketed gnocchi or lamb sweetbreads.

At home in Melbourne's financial district, it could be a classy lunch date, but the dialled-down lighting and exploratory French and Italian-led wine list, with plenty of options by the glass, put it firmly in the swanky 'stay-late, date-night' category.

The pared-back bar menu, with oysters, beef tartare and bluefin tuna, is a stylish pick before a show. On the hunt for a special drop? Don't miss the sommelier's short, sweet 'feature pours' list.

555 Collins St, Melbourne

Up a back alley (that's so Melbourne, right?) Sydney hospo dream team Ross and Sunny Lusted's first foray into Melbourne is a love note to Portuguese food. Here, Ross cranks up the charcoal grill to lay the table with dishes inspired by the Portuguese and Spanish coastlines.

Buckle up for jamon, salted Murray cod, Skull Island prawns and the classic arros de marisco (Portuguese seafood rice), while that smokin' grill sizzles with the fish of the day, rib eyes and Australian wagyu rump.

Close by Melbourne's theatre district, snap up the bargain fixed-price menu before 6pm, and it has a dedicated vegetarian menu with ash-grilled potatoes, tomato rice and mushrooms with manchego cheese. It's not compulsory to end with a pastel de nata (Portuguese tart) and coffee... but it should be.

130 Russell St, Melbourne

Sometimes, it's just got to be butter chicken. You know it, and chef Mischa Tropp knows it, too. Dubbed a chef to watch, Tropp brings Bengali and Indian flavours to the table of this fun-packed restaurant in the Crown casino complex.

Hot naan fresh from the oven, cold beers on tap, butter chicken; what more could you need? Well, you could add the chingri malaikari (wood-fired king prawns in a turmeric and coconut curry), maybe some scallops with posto butter, fenugreek and lime, or a little macher bhorta (smoked kingfish salad).

Vegetarians, the essential eat is the saag paneer, the paneer is made in-house and is an absolute winner, winner (for those not into chicken dinner). Can't choose, won't choose? Order the standard or vegetarian set with all the hits, both end on a high note with mishti doi, a smoked and whipped yoghurt with preserved figs and an orange and Darjeeling granita.

The fun runs into the drinks menu - stay with the cricketing theme and order the LBW (iced tea, lemon and mustard oil) or maybe a Ceylon sour cocktail with coconut-flower arrack, peach and lemon. Stand-outs on the wine list include wines made by Indian producers in Australia.

8 Whiteman St, Level 1 Casino, Crown Melbourne, Southbank

Playing with fire is the name of the game at II.II.VI ('Two Two Six', if your Roman numerals are rusty). Head down to the moody basement space, sink into the pink leather banquette seats and loosen your belt, the drama's about to unfold in the open kitchen, where fire reigns.

Robata, parrilla, wood, charcoal, expect fire cooking across cultures, with premier Australian ingredients from the team that brought you Sri Lanka's Ministry of Crab, upstairs.

If caviar and oysters are your thing, you're in the right place. If fancy little bites like white anchovies and fois gras are your jam, ditto. But you're really here for the meat, right? Grass fed or grain fed, scotch, striploin, sauces, II.II.VI's menu sings to the steak-loving choir.

226 Flinders Lane, Melbourne

There are two things Peruvian-born chef Alejandro Saravia is deeply, madly passionate about; Latin American food and Victorian produce.

At Barra, he marries the two in an explosion of flavours for a meal that will delight. Inspired by Latin America's cantinas (bars), here you can enjoy all-day sharing plates; perfect even if you're solo and sitting up at the bar, because you won't want to share the braised ox tongue skewer with Peruvian dried chilli. 

73 Little Collins St, Melbourne

You couldn't make a list of the best Melbourne restaurants without a Greek inclusion. The world's third largest Greek-filled city after Athens and Thessaloniki, Melbourne is surfing a neo-Hellenic wave, with classic taverna dishes to the fore.

First opened in 1969, three generations of the Konis family have run Salona, now enjoying a new iteration, bigger and more tasty, eschewing mod-Greek for homestyle deliciousness.

Start with an aperitif of iced ouzo and fairy-light calamari rings or eggplant, move into the saganaki (because, hot cheese) and flip a coin between the Berkshire pork tomahawk and the wild king prawn youvetsi (prawn risoni), and finish with Salona's Old Fashioned, spiked with baklava syrup. Keep living the dream and create the cocktail at home; Salona's daily cocktail classes will teach you how; great fun for groups.

260A Swan St, Richmond

From rooftop to restaurant to street cafe, these three venues are all part of what chef Junda Khoo calls his own 'multiverse'.

You could go budget and grab a classic Malaysian nasi goreng from Da Bao, the street-food-focused ground-floor diner, head up to the rooftop beer hall Ho Liao ("good stuff") for southeast Asian beers and loh bak (deep-fried pork rolls) or go in between, on the first floor, and score one of the banquettes in Ho Jiak.

Warm up with a rich roast bone marrow and roti paratha, or cool down with a light kingfish with pineapple salsa, and see why everyone's talking about Penang-born Khoo's Laksa Bombs. Just a sidestep off Swanston Street, Khoo's personal playground is right in the heart of the city.

Rainbow Alley, Melbourne

The fancy name is a little tongue-in-cheek, but don't worry, this bar and bottle shop is keeping it real. Its blackboard menu of counter meals includes a pie of oxtail, snails and bone marrow, fish & chips and schnitzel from one of the tightest hospo teams in town. Add to that Australian craft beers on tap, a lively central location and a vast takeaway wine selection (you can buy and drink in, for a corkage fee), and you're on a winner.

Le Bar is true to its roots; the 19th-century building started life as a pub, so it's no great stretch to find wood panelling, a snug, red leather stools and a downstairs cellar, ideal for groups. Keeping it sweet and simple, mains don't go past $30, and they don't take reservations. Long lunches are the order of the day.

380 Little Bourke St, Melbourne

Ruled by salt and fermentation, Sogumm is in the inner-city suburb of Cremorne; put it into your street maps for healthful, contemporary Korean fare. Go trad with husband-and-wife chef team Changhoon and Suhyun Kim's mixed-rice dish bibimbap, or the deeply flavoured beef soup Naju gomtang.

If you're new to the Korean food scene, Changhoon suggests warming up with slow-braised brisket galbijjim. In good news for those who eschew meat, the signature dish is their vegetarian bibimbap and the vegan gang-doen-jang (soybean stew) follows the principles of Korean temple cuisine - without onions or garlic - for clean, flavourful food.

Wash it all down with a yuzu soda, made inhouse, and enjoy the simple space in this burgeoning neck of the woods.

466 Church St, Cremorne