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Pasta Poetry
Photograph: Simon Shiff

The best at-home meal kits to try this lockdown

Bring the experience of a restaurant home with these heat-and-eat numbers

Written by
Rushani Epa
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Is your pantry looking a little bare? Are you tired of recreating the five recipes you know off the top of your head? Or are you simply craving a top-notch steak with potatoes coated in an ungodly amount of duck fat? Whatever your reason to bring the restaurant experience home, we're here to help.

Below you'll find some of the best meal delivery kits by Melbourne's best restaurants and brands. There are some that include a simple heat up, while others are a little more involved. Competition in the meal kit world has never been more fierce so to help you navigate this crowded space, we've picked out a few of our favourites for you to try.

Need more? Check out our guide to celebrating in lockdown with cakes that can be delivered, shows you can stream and more.

The best at-home meal kits

  • Restaurants
  • Fairfield

Craving fresh pasta? Pasta Poetry in Fairfield has you covered, with an ever-changing menu of both filled and unfilled pasta and sauces available for pickup and delivery. Choose from 12 weekly dishes including gnocchi with ragu bolognese; saffron tagliatelle with mushroom ragu; and slow-braised ox cheek cappelletti. Each box comes with freshly made pasta and a matching sauce, which are easy to reheat. Just boil the pasta for a few minutes and heat the sauce in a saucepan and you're good to go. Order here.

  • Restaurants
  • Carlton

Scopri offers a seasonally rotating menu comprised of produce from the team's own biodynamic farm in the Macedon Ranges. While the restaurant is often booked out, you can now experience a taste of the Italian bistro at home. Scopri is offering an a la carte box that allows you to choose from any of its winter warmers to add to your own personalised box. Think pappardelle with duck ragu, braised beef cheeks, DIY cannoli kits and more available via the website. There's a minimum order of $80.

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  • Restaurants
  • Restaurants

Providoor offers ready-made meals from many of Melbourne's best restaurants. All you need to do is heat and assemble before serving up. Completing the dish at home means there's less disconnect between what you’re eating at home and what you would have eaten at these top-notch restaurants. There are plenty of acclaimed diners like Tipo 00, Cumulus Inc and Hardware Club onboard – many of which aren't doing straightforward takeaway like other restaurants in Melbourne. Browse the entire list of venues and order via Providoor's website.

  • Shopping

Make-Out Meals is a Melbourne initiative that combines the meal kit model of Hello Fresh and Marley Spoon, with the expertise of local chefs and restaurants. Here’s how it works: like a regular meal kit, you choose what you want to cook based on a database of available recipes, and the company then sends you the pre-portioned ingredients and instructions to make that meal. Make-Out Meals’ point of difference is that all the recipes were designed by the folks behind your favourite eateries: Bomba, Simply Spanish, Tipico, Fancy Hank’s, Ish, Babajan, La Tortilleria and others. And every time someone chooses to cook a particular recipe, that restaurant gets a cut of the sale, which helps support that venue during lockdown. Find out more about Make-Out Meals here.

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  • Restaurants
  • Melbourne

CBD-based South Indian-Sri Lankan eatery Indu, one of the best restaurants in Melbourne, is dishing up heat-and-eat meals for you to enjoy at home. ​​Boxes serve two people comfortably with three courses and are delivered ready to simply heat and serve. Some very limited cooking may be required but full instructions are provided. Check it out via the website.

  • Restaurants
  • Japanese
  • Melbourne
  • price 3 of 4

Japanese eatery Akaiito is offering a seafood shabu shabu banquet that you can cook at home. It comes with Australian abalone, scampi, scallops, king prawns, sashimi-grade fish, seasonal vegetables, tofu, house-made shabu shabu soup, ponzu and udon noodles for you to pop into your pot and cook away as you please. Order here.

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  • Restaurants
  • Carlton

This Carlton eatery is still offering takeaway which can either arrive hot or cold for you to finish at home. On the menu there are freshly shucked oysters or charcuterie to start with and hot roasted chicken, duck or beef short rib with roasted duck fat potatoes to follow. There's also a tiramisu with a bottled cocktail to finish. Place your orders here.

  • Restaurants
  • Southbank

A fancy Nobu feast to heat and eat at home? Yep, it's one of the fanciest you'll likely have. This Japanese fine diner has revived its popular "Nobu at Home" menu which includes two finish-at-home omakase boxes with Wagyu tacos and black cod miso. Plus, there are bottled cocktails to match.

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Hello Fresh is so synonymous with meal kits that it's now become a household name. The process is simple: You choose your meals, pick a date for them to arrive and they appear on your doorstep, colour-coded and foolproof. While there are cheaper traditional meal kits on the market, you really do get what you pay for so it’s well worth the extra couple of dollars for the highly varied recipes and overall experience. Read a bit more and order here.

Rather leave it to the professionals?

  • Restaurants
  • Bars
  • Melbourne
  • price 3 of 4

The 1920s architecture of the Cavendish House building carries through to the interiors, delivered by Sydney design house ACME. Art deco flourishes, marble countertops, chandeliers and leather booths combine to create a nostalgic bistro look – a conscious nod towards the clubby dining rooms of Chicago. And the good news is that Gimlet is open the entirety of the Easter long weekend.

  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Restaurants
  • Vietnamese
  • Prahran

Everything tastes better charred – and Firebird got the memo. A restaurant dedicated to smoke, flames and fire that opened on the brink of the pandemic, with every dish in some way, shape or form having been licked by the fire, and it’s all the better for it. To celebrate Easter, Firebird is offering a ‘Fin to Fin’ pescatarian menu add on. Priced at $75 for 2 people and available from Good Friday to Easter Sunday, it includes kingfish served three ways and grilled pippies.

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  • Bars
  • Melbourne

Already home to Shane Delia’s iconic modern Middle Eastern restaurant Maha, the Bond Street laneway in Melbourne’s CBD has welcomed a new and elegant sister venue, Jayda. It's the perfect spot for a cocktail and fancy snack this Easter long weekend, and is open all four days as per normal trading hours with an 18 per cent surcharge.

  • Restaurants
  • Fitzroy
  • price 3 of 4

At its core, Cutler and Co is about simple, refined food. The menu is influenced by the seasons, an amalgamate of quality local produce and the well-practised cooking techniques of its team of chefs. This Gertrude Street institution is open on Good Friday, Saturday and Easter Sunday. 

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Builders Arms Hotel
  • Bars
  • Fitzroy

As a rule your local pub probably shouldn’t be your first port of call when you crave dumplings, but if you’re in Fitzroy it’s a whole different story. Head to Builders Arms Hotel all Easter long weekend to satisfy your cravings.

Harlow
  • Bars
  • Pubs
  • Richmond

What was once Richmond's old and crumbling Great Britain Hotel is now Harlow: an old-school pub with new-school sensibilities. It'll be open as normal all long weekend, and you can swing by on Easter Saturday and Sunday for a brunch sesh that includes two hours of bottomless drinks and a menu item of choice. On Easter Sunday you can also score $15 Bloody Marys, Espresso Martinis and Tommy’s Margaritas from 2-6pm while DJs play. To book, head to the website

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  • Bars
  • Cocktail bars
  • Cremorne

Fargo and Co is offering two-hour bottomless brunch packages on Easter Saturday and Sunday. The cost is $79 per person (there is a $69 sesh on Sunday, too) and includes prosecco, Mimosas, house wine, seasonal cocktail jugs, schooners of house beer, Frosé and one brunch item of choice. DJs will be playing from 3pm. To book, head to the website

  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Bars
  • Wine bars
  • Brunswick

Old Palm Liquor is probably as Brunswick as you can get with its daggy-but-beautiful fit-out, natural wine list and menu imparted with flavours we rarely see, but it’s a winning formula that should definitely be experienced this Easter. It's open Good Friday to Easter Sunday from noon to midnight, and there is a 15 per cent surcharge.

 

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  • Restaurants
  • St Kilda
  • price 2 of 4

A true St Kilda gem, the Newmarket Hotel is celebrating the long weekend with a two-hour bottomless brunch on Easter Sunday. For $60 per person, you'll score an Eggspresso Martini on arrival, endless seltzers, bubbles, Mimosas and beers, a bottle of sparkling on arrival, and a brunch item of your choice. To book, head to the website.

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  • Restaurants
  • Bistros
  • Brunswick East
  • price 2 of 4

Etta is a the handsome 70-seater ex-fish shop that epitomises the maturation of the area and whose sharing-is-caring menu is about as date night as it gets. This Easter long weekend it's open on Good Friday 4pm to late (with a 15 per cent surcharge) and Saturday 12pm to late (with a 15 per cent surcharge). It's closed on Easter Sunday and Monday.

  • Bars
  • Wine bars
  • Fitzroy
  • price 2 of 4

One of the things the A-Mc does very well is create venues (Cumulus Inc and Cumulus Up spring immediately to mind) that are what you make them, and while Marion could be used as a pre-dinner pit-stop, it deserves more loving. Revert to the hip term bistronomy, if you must, which is another way of saying it has excellent food and wine values while trying really hard not to show how hard it’s trying. It's open on Good Friday, Saturday and Easter Sunday.

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  • Restaurants
  • Melbourne
  • price 1 of 4

Il Bacaro serves up a modern twist on classic Venetian fare in its small, crowded restaurant. This Easter long weekend it's open on Good Friday for dinner from 6pm (a 15 per cent public holiday surcharge applies) and Easter Saturday for lunch and dinner (a 15 per cent public holiday surcharge applies). It's closed on Easter Sunday and Monday.

  • Restaurants
  • Melbourne
  • price 2 of 4

Shane Delia's flagship restaurant is a much-loved icon of Melbourne's dining scene, and this Easter long weekend it's open as per normal trading hours with an 18 per cent surcharge. 

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  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • Restaurants
  • South Melbourne

An Easter brunch doesn't get much better than the fare on offer at the Kettle Black. See what all the hype is about for yourself this long weekend – it's open 8am-4pm every day with a 15 per cent surcharge.

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  • Restaurants
  • Melbourne

There’s a lot going on at Her, Lonsdale Street’s four-concept mega-venue. At street level is Her Bar, a French-inspired all-day cocktail spot, and on level one you’ll find the Music Room, an ode to whisky and vinyl. BKK is on level three, it’s a “turbocharged Thai BBQ canteen” that also caters for Her Rooftop, a relaxed garden terrace for drinks, lunches, dinners and nightcaps. The quadruple threat is open as per usual this Easter long weekend, from 8am until late with a 15 per cent public holiday surcharge

  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • Restaurants
  • Cafés
  • Melbourne

Things don’t get much more Melbourne than everything about Higher Ground café. However, by virtue of an experienced team, consistently top-quality food and drink, excellent service, high energy and an unmatched atmosphere, Higher Ground personifies our city in the best way possible. It's open 8am-4pm every day of the Easter long weekend with a 15 per cent surcharge.

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  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Restaurants
  • Italian
  • South Yarra
  • price 2 of 4

Bar Carolina exudes Latin charm from its terrazzo foyer to its bar clad in charcoal steel. And we haven’t even mentioned the quorum of liltingly accented waiters who marshal the crowds one ‘ciao bella’ at a time. This Easter long weekend it's open on Good Friday for dinner from 5pm (a 15 per cent surcharge applies) and Easter Saturday for lunch and dinner (a 15 per cent surcharge applies). It's closed on Easter Sunday and Monday.

 

  • Bars
  • Hawthorn

The Easter festivities kick off on Good Friday, with the Auburn Hotel open from 12pm. Bring the kids along on Easter Sunday to enjoy a petting zoo, egg hunt and a special appearance from the big bunny himself. See out the long weekend on Monday with lunch, dinner or drinks. For more information, head to the website

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  • Things to do
  • Games and hobbies
  • Tullamarine

This all-day venue located at Urbnsurf will be serving up a range of special dishes over the Easter long weekend. Think whole prawns served with XO butter and lime and mains like slow-roasted lamb shoulder with smoked honey, salsa verde and almonds. To book in, head to the website

  • Bars
  • Cocktail bars
  • Fitzroy
  • price 2 of 4

Enjoy the start of your Easter weekend at this intimate cocktail bar that is inspired by the golden era of fine drinking. The bar wlil be open across the long weekend, and the expert team will be at the ready to deliver world-class drinks.   

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  • Bars
  • Melbourne
  • price 1 of 4

This massive outdoor eatery and beer garden sandwiched between two Melbourne icons (the Yarra River and Flinders Street Station) stretches for 120 metres along the river bank and is officially Melbourne’s longest bar. This Easter long weekend it will be open as per usual, 11am until late with a 15 per cent public holiday surcharge.

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  • Restaurants
  • Melbourne
  • price 2 of 4

'Eating house' doesn't quite cut it. ‘All-day diner’ falls worryingly short. In fact, when trying to sum up the place Cumulus Inc plays in Melbourne’s hungry heart, ‘favourite clubhouse’ comes as close as any description. Over the long weekend, Cumulus Inc will be open on Good Friday, Saturday and Easter Sunday. 

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Hawthorn Hotel
  • Bars
  • Hawthorn

Across the entire long weekend at the Hawthorn Hotel, visitors can score one free kids meal with every main meal purchased. Talk about a bargain! To book, head to the website

  • Bars
  • Carlton

With commanding views over the city skyline, Johnny’s Green Room is the most picturesque place in Carlton to sip Peroni and smash pizza this Easter. It will be closed on Good Friday and Easter Monday, but open as per usual on Saturday and Sunday.

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  • Restaurants
  • Italian
  • Carlton

Have you ever tried to style your hair into a ‘messy bob’, or attempted to cook paella at home? As it turns out, looking effortless requires a lot of work. With Agostino, about four years’ worth has resulted in a restaurant that’s breezily confident from the outset, ready to elbow its way into Melbourne’s Italian canon. This Easter, you can pop by on Saturday and Sunday during normal hours. 

  • Restaurants
  • Asian
  • Melbourne
  • price 2 of 4

Dining on Flinders Lane requires a game plan because more often than not, you’ll be lining up for a table. This is especially true for Supernormal, which is one of those restaurants people are willing to wait hours to eat at. The same goes for Easter long weekend when the venue is open on Good Friday, Saturday and Easter Sunday.

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  • Restaurants
  • Thai
  • Melbourne
  • price 2 of 4

Chin Chin is open all Easter weekend long (with a 15 per cent public holiday surcharge), but it's notorious for boasting huge queues so be sure to make a booking ahead of time or be prepared to wait. 

  • Bars
  • Pub dining
  • Richmond

Richmond's Prince Alfred is the ultimate local pub, ticking all the boxes that a solid neighbourhood watering hole should. On Easter Sunday you can enjoy $13 cocktails, roast with all the trimmings for $22 and live music from 4-7pm.

 

 

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  • Restaurants
  • Modern Australian
  • St Kilda
  • price 3 of 4

The fitout here runs with the beach shack theme, with wide, rough-sawn boards and tubular glass chandeliers that undulate just slightly in the breeze. The tables are well-spaced and linen-clad, which is like the Stokehouse of yore, as are the waiters, a full battalion of them, who are uniformly good. All is as it should be, and punters can dine in from 12pm every day of the Easter long weekend with a 15 per cent public holiday surcharge.

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  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • Restaurants
  • Italian
  • Melbourne

First impressions count, and Grill Americano delivers plenty of good ones. Chris Lucas’ latest restaurant distils a retro-glam brief into a squelchingly expensive fit-out of terrazzo floors and royal blue leather seats, a sweeping white marble bar lit by individual deco-ish lamps and the sultry backdrop of ink-blue walls. It's open as per normal trading hours across the entire Easter long weekend with a 15 per cent surcharge.

  • Restaurants
  • Japanese
  • Melbourne
  • price 2 of 4

Architects Wood Marsh have created three levels of Flinders Lane dining power that is determined to bring the bling (and the some of the best sushi you've ever eaten). Kisumé will open as per normal trading hours with a 15 per cent surcharge.

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  • Restaurants
  • Melbourne

Whatever the size of your night, you really can’t go wrong with a late-night souva. That includes every night of your Easter long weekend, when Stalactites will have an extended closing time of 2am with a 10 per cent surcharge. 

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  • Restaurants
  • Bars
  • Fitzroy

On the ground level of dining and drinking wonderland 127 Brunswick Street, you’ll find Ichi Ni Nana, one of the few places in Melbourne where you can enjoy an authentic Izakaya dining experience. It will be open all throughout the entire Easter long weekend.

  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • Restaurants
  • Collingwood
  • price 3 of 4

Ides is all about fun fine dining, and you can experience it for yourself this Easter long weekend. It will be open as per usual with a 15 per cent surcharge.

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  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Restaurants
  • Chinese
  • Balaclava

Good for dates and family outings alike this Easter weekend, Moonhouse invites you to linger over some of its best seafood dishes. On Good Friday and Easter Saturday, you can even indulge in the restaurant's famous lobster fried rice. 

  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • Bars
  • St Kilda

Save yourself for a Saturday sesh at the Village Belle in St Kilda, which is hosting live acoustic tunes from 12pm, with optional bingo – prizes include a round of shots, a $100 voucher plus much more. You can also enjoy two hours of bottomless sips paired with a brunch feast to share.

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  • Restaurants
  • Pub dining
  • Armadale

Standing tall on the corner of Orrong Road and High Street is Armadale's Orrong Hotel, a pub that's been pouring pints since 1875. It will be closed on Good Friday, but you can pop in on Saturday, Sunday and Monday as per normal trading hours for a beer and counter meal (just be aware there's a 15 per cent surcharge).

Hawker Hall
  • Restaurants
  • Windsor
  • price 1 of 4

Hawker Hall is completely dizzying, in that patented Lucas fashion: visually arresting, olfactorily pleasing thanks to the hard-working woks in the open kitchen, and packed to the rafters with a well-dressed sliver of humanity. It will be open all Easter weekend as per normal trading hours with a 15 per cent surcharge.

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  • Restaurants
  • Japanese
  • Melbourne

Tucked inside the swank-fest of the 80 Collins development, Yakimono is a love letter to the futuristic excess of Tokyo: dimly lit, suffused with the exotic glow of pink and purple neon, and thrumming to a soundtrack that has every second person activating their Shazam app. It's open all Easter weekend as per normal trading hours with a 15 per cent surcharge. 

  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Restaurants
  • Cremorne

Top Paddock is a former car park reborn as a dapper Jetsons-era cantina that looks right at home among its fancy-pants neighbours at the furniture showroom end of Church Street. It's open every day of the Easter long weekend from 8am-4pm with a 15 per cent surcharge. Hot tip: order the hotcake, you won't regret it.

 

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  • Restaurants
  • South Yarra
  • price 2 of 4

The fitout is so luxe you can almost smell the expense. There’s a fire and charcoal-driven kitchen, a botanical-filled glass cabinets and a dining room of rough-edged wooden-topped tables and the fattest, softest leather banquettes that elicit a gasp of surprise from more than one diner. It'll be open on Good Friday, Saturday and Easter Sunday.

  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Bars
  • Cocktail bars
  • South Yarra

If the purpose of a local bar is to reflect its neighbourhood, then Tetto di Carolina obviously got the memo. The rooftop bar component of the Carolina complex on Toorak Road is smooth, suave, expensively dressed and comfortably luxurious. Check it out this long weekend, it's open on Saturday and Easter Sunday from 3pm until late, and a 15 per cent surcharge applies.

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  • Hotels
  • Luxury hotels
  • Melbourne
  • price 3 of 4

The hotel's Lobby Lounge & Bar will be transformed into an Easter oasis, with a decadent high tea buffet on offer. Think sweet and savoury delights like Champagne-cured salmon finger sandwiches and bubble gum panna cotta. Bookings can be made here

  • Restaurants
  • Melbourne

Located inside the 80 Collins Street precinct, Society is a paean to the old-fashioned dining virtues. It's open Good Friday and Easter Saturday for dinner only with a 15 per cent surcharge.

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  • Restaurants
  • European
  • Melbourne

As if Society could get any more sophisticated, enter Lillian – restaurateur Chris Lucas' refined brasserie that also holds residence in the luxe 80 Collins Street venue. It's open Good Friday and Easter Saturday for dinner only with a 15 per cent surcharge.

  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • Restaurants
  • Windsor

Hungry for a modern Japanese take on your Easter feast this year? Tokyo Tina has you sorted. It's serving up a pescatarian special served with a side of Easter-themed bingo. For $6 per person you can dine on devilled eggs and spanner crab through-out the game, with plenty of prizes to be won. It's happening from Good Friday to Easter Sunday. 

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  • Restaurants
  • Modern Australian
  • Northcote
  • price 2 of 4

This former bistro is now a slick modern Australian restaurant where you can dine in style. Over the long weekend, it will be open on Good Friday, Saturday and Easter Sunday. 

Longrain
  • Bars
  • Melbourne
  • price 2 of 4

Fancy a taste of Thailand this Easter? Look no further than a stalwart of Melbourne's culinary scene: Longrain. It's open over the Easter long weekend with a 15 per cent surcharge on the public holidays.

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  • Restaurants
  • Collingwood

If you’ve been to—or even just heard of— Ides, you’ll be familiar with Peter Gunn’s culinary flair. Gunn opened March right next door, and while it shares a kitchen, wall, and cellar with its older sibling, the moody space offers something entirely different. Find out what it's all about this Easter long weekend – it's open as normal with a 15 per cent surcharge.

  • Restaurants
  • Vietnamese
  • Richmond

With exposed bricks, retro Vietnamese watercolours, empty beer cans and party lights, Hanoi Hannah is a fun place to dine this Easter. It will be serving up seafood specials all weekend long, and will be open on Good Friday (for dinner only), Saturday and Easter Sunday (for dinner only).

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Hanoi Hannah Express Lane
  • Restaurants
  • Windsor
  • price 1 of 4

If you've got a hankering for Hanoi Hannah's hawker-style fare but don't have the time to spare for a sit down meal, head two doors down to Hanoi Hannah Express Lane. It'll be open all Easter long weekend to satisfy your cravings. 

  • Restaurants
  • Italian
  • Melbourne
  • price 2 of 4

Marameo is giving Italian party vibes – what more could you want this Easter long weekend? It's open on Good Friday from 5pm (a 15 per cent surcharge applies) and Easter Saturday (a 15 per cent surcharge applies). It's closed on both Easter Sunday and Monday.

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