Australia’s capital of cool is the home of some knockout fine-dining restaurants, from sky-high sophistication at Vue de Monde to expertly executed regional Indian plates at Enter via Laundry. But for the days when your wallet – and your stomach – aren’t geared up for a multi-course marathon, there are plenty of lower-key ways to taste some of the city’s best cooking.
Auterra Wine Bar
Chef-owner Clinton McIver of Armadale fine-diner Amaru and its ‘little sibling’ over the road, Auterra Wine Bar, has no blinkers on about the way people use his two venues. Amaru, with its multicourse tasting menus and sincere fine-dining flourishes, is for big special occasions, while the laidback Auterra is the sort of neighbourhood spot you’ll add to your weekly roster, whether just for a cocktail or glass of grower Champagne, or for something substantial enough to call dinner. The same Amaru-level produce and cooking is evident in every bite, from fish sandos with yuzu and organic lettuce, to prawn tacos.
Enter via Laundry
The main restaurant of chef-owner Helly Raichura offers multicourse explorations of India’s vast culinary landscape – five- or ten-course feasts that focus on a different region of the subcontinent, rotating seasonally. But if you’re looking for a quicker, lighter bite, there are always delicious things available for snacking at the bar. Regulars book or walk in for batata bhajiya – sliced red potato and besan patties served with housemade ketchup – or patra poda: prawns wrapped in nasturtiums, charred and served with a wedge of lime. Add a ginger spritz and some good conversation and you’ve found yourself the ultimate low-key night out.
Florentino Cellar Bar
There are multiple ways to explore the Florentino dining complex at the elegant end of Bourke Street. For full-throated fine dining, it has to be the Florentino Dining Room; white tablecloths, old-world Italian dishes and a mesmerising heritage mural that needs to be seen to be believed. There’s also Caffe Florentino on the ground floor, a more casual grill. But for a tiny taste with maximum ambience, head to the Cellar Bar for daily aperitivo hour. It’s got all the glamour of its more formal siblings but without the commitment. A plate of salumi and pickles sidling up beside a garibaldi? Why on Earth not?
Flower Drum
Classy and classic, the ethereal Flower Drum is often cited not just as Australia’s best Cantonese restaurant, but the country’s best restaurant full stop. Owned by the Lau family for almost 30 years, then passed into the hands of head chef Anthony Lui and his son Jason, who have steered the ship for another 20, it’s one of those magical places where you sense equal parts history and heart in every bite. The chef’s signature banquet will set you back $300 – worth doing at least once, for the famous Peking duck if nothing else. But guests hoping to sample a small sliver of the magic for less can opt for the two- or three-course weekday set menus at $60 and $80, respectively.
Gimlet
If you go to Melbourne and you don’t spend some money at a venue run by Melbourne’s kitchen maestro, Andrew McConnell, then you’ve wasted a perfectly good plane ticket. The industry veteran, along with wife Jo McGann, simply knows how to create truly exceptional – and very Melbourne – restaurants. The jewel is Gimlet, housed inside an historic 1920s building. Fans come here to indulge in platters of vadouvan chicken, tableside tartare and one of the most extensive wine lists in the country. But from 10pm on Friday and Saturday nights, a suave ‘supper’ menu kicks in, best enjoyed at the bar. Order nothing more than a neat little plate of anchovy toast, paired with the restaurant’s eponymous cocktail, and your Melbourne moment is complete.
Photo credit: Sharyn Cairns
Lui Bar
There are many reasons to visit this casual sidekick to epic fine diner, Vue de Monde, on the 55th floor of one of Melbourne’s tallest buildings, the Rialto. There’s the 360-degree rooftop-to-coastline view, but also the chance to sample much of the same high-quality local produce you’ll find at Vue, but in a more casual, snackable format. The kangaroo snag – that’s a sausage in the local lingo – is an elevated play on an Aussie classic, and you truly haven’t experienced Australia unless you’ve tried cocktails featuring native ingredients such as sunrise limes, Geraldton waxflower or quandongs.
Photo credit: Jason Loucas
Maison Bâtard
Arrive on the ground floor of Maison Bâtard and you’ll think yourself in a grand Parisian bistro: shimmering seafood on ice, and waiters rushing past with platters of steak frites and canard rôti. But whisk yourself up to the top floor and you’ll emerge in an airy, tiled terrace, anchored by the pretty fronds of a maple tree. There, you can sample the restaurant’s more low-key menu, which lends itself to the sunshine-dappled surrounds, along the lines of a club sandwich or salade niçoise. The smart money zeroes straight to the sub-$30 cheeseburger: it’s neat, craveable and smothered in remoulade. So chic.
Photo credit: Pete Dillon
Pipis Kiosk
It doesn’t get much more Aussie than fish and chips on the beach. You can pick up some of the city’s crispiest at the little window to the side of Pipis Kiosk, on Friday through Sunday. Bonus points if you add on a potato cake – known as a potato scallop in neighbouring states – a deep-fried potato patty. For the more elevated version, the main dining room serves a maritime menu of seafood classics, including bucatini with the eponymous pipis – a small, native Australian clam – and a very nice take on an oyster martini. The best part? Whichever way you do things, it all comes with glittering seafront views.
Photo credit: Jana Langhorst
