Melbourne restaurant and café reviews

This review was originally published in May 2013 and since has been updated to reflect any changes in operation. Since 2011, the Last Jar has been flying under the radar as one of the best pubs in Melbourne. Sitting on an unassuming corner of North Melbourne, surrounded by nondescript commercial buildings, this could be mistaken for just another run-of-the-mill local. But the striking black-and-red exterior, reminiscent of a small-town European pub, gives a clue to the Irish heart that beats within. The pints you get here of Guinness or Kilkenny are among the very best in town: yeasty and sour-sweet rather than bitter and metallic. There’s also a good selection of imported and local craft suds by the bottle, and Cooper’s Pale on tap, so you don’t have to think too hard on a hot day. The warm interior is clean and simple, clad in dark wood and frosted glass, small framed photos the only adornment on the deep red walls. There’s also Irish traditional music on Sundays and their movie club showcases the likes of Veronica Guerin and The Crying Game on the last Thursday on the month. But the real draw here is the food. The menu is based on house-made seasonal ingredients and five-star creativity, while firmly rooted in Irish cooking traditions. With a pedigree that includes Michelin-starred restaurant the Commons in Dublin and Gordon Ramsay’s Petrus, head chef and co-owner Tim Sweeney is not here to mess around. Guinness Welsh Rabbit (rarebit) sees big slabs of dense and hearty hou

 A Fitzroy staple since 2013, the beloved Industry Beans has officially moved into a new building just around the corner from its original location. The new space is a light-filled warehouse that features a larger cafe, a dedicated retail store, a coffee quality and training room and a roaster.After you've ordered your coffee, you can take a peek through the large glass windows from within the cafe to catch a glimpse of the roasting process.  Those familiar with Industry Beans' other stores in Syndey, Brisbane and Melbourne should feel right at home in the new location. The venue is the brand's fourth project with Melbourne architects March Studio, who have also designed spaces like the Jackalope Pavilion. The interior is meant to reflect the journey of the brand over the past ten years and celebrate its triumphant return to Fitzroy. Think industrial features, steel mesh, recycled timber tabletops paired with sleek white booths and a lot of plants.  The menu includes Industry Bean staples like smashed avocado on toast as well as new additions like the very Instagrammable porcini nest. Perhaps most importantly, you can also grab a cup of Industry Beans' signature coffee with options like espresso, filter or even cold-brew.

While our city is filled with a labyrinth of outstanding and historic establishments, few really deserve the coveted title of being a Melbourne culinary institution – an overused and often meaningless phrase. However, after experiencing a meal in the tranquil yet dynamic dining room at Kenzan, the Collins Street restaurant that has been serving traditional Japanese fare since 1981, you leave with the feeling that there aren’t many ways more apt to describe the place.  The restaurant's modest nature begins with the nondescript glass entrance within the Collins Place food court. A carpeted dining room gives away its age, and while there isn’t much going on in terms of décor, the gentle touches of low-hanging lanterns and traditional Japanese flower arrangements help create a grounded and serene space within which it feels wrong to be wearing your outside shoes. Its fitout, or lack thereof, is an undeniable part of Kenzan’s charm.   Arriving for the early sitting on a school night, the quiet is almost jarring; having become so used to the distraction of riotous playlists and chaotic fitouts in modern restaurant spaces, it is a welcome reprieve to engage in old-school dinner conversation as we sip on a cold semi-dry Sho-un Junmai Daiginjo sake. The service is impeccably understated; there is not much in the way of conversation, but you are never left wanting, or waiting. The drinks list is extensive, and the menu is self-explanatory: rotating specials such as scampi sushi and lob

Pontoon is a glamour model masquerading as a breezy beach shack. The fit-out by George Livissianis, whose stamp is on the trendy Sydney joints Apollo and the Dolphin Hotel, hits a Scandi nautical-but-nice vibe with consummate ease. Thick rope is twined around pillars on the deck, eyeballing the beach just metres away, while inside it’s all textured surfaces, from herringbone concrete tiles on the floor to a honeycomb of rattan suspended above a long central bar.  Seating options? Tale your pick from skinny clusters of tall tables – perfect for posing around in best Mad Men guise –along with picnic tables and low banquettes. It’s a party place (ably transmitted by its Instagram tagline “40 speakers. DJs. Outdoor deck”), and the prism is also a good way to understand the menu, which is strictly Mediterranean with a focus on share plates. You'll find heaps of cured meats, pickles and seafood as well as wood-fired offerings and hand-made pasta.  With all the salt floating around the place – and we’re not just talking about Port Phillip Bay – you’ll be needing a drink. There are enough taps to satisfy the beer nerds, while the wine list makes a virtue of local heroes without neglecting the Old World (and jugs of Pimms are a note-perfect addition to the cocktails list). You’ll need to remember your table number when you go up to order everything at the bar. It’s a time-consuming process on a quiet Wednesday lunchtime, so clearly it’s something that will need to be ironed out before

Fenton is unusual for a few reasons. Among a sea of old-school Italian cafés on RathdowneStreet, owners Nesbert Kagonda and Ruby Clark are revolutionising the strip’s breakfastgame – alongside their sister venue Tanaka and much-loved neighbourhood eatery Florian. Like many cafés, it has a focus on seasonal, zero-waste produce, but unlike a lot of them, itworks within its own closed-loop system alongside the team-operated Tanaka Farm Projectto ensure everything grown is used. And as a day-to-night operation open several days a week, it mirrors an increasing raft of cafés like Ascot Food + Wine that are satisfying not only their patrons’ breakfast and lunch needs, but their dinner ones, too. Unlike sandwich destination and community grocer Tanaka, which predominantly does atakeaway game, Fenton’s light-filled space (it used to be an architect’s office) is designed for dining in. Gunmetal walls frame repurposed barn doors, while ornate ceilings, recycled tabletops and interiors lined with bottles of fresh produce add to the café’s farm feel. Fenton’s menu is a seasonally changing one, reflecting its garden-to-plate ethos. Its springmenu is enlivened by pickles, preserves and seasonal greens, while soft-boiled eggs fromKagonda’s parents’ farm in South Gippsland and sourdough feature in nearly every breakfast dish. Sustainability is the focus at Fenton, so you’re likely to find the same ingredients replicated across multiple different dishes, albeit always in new and exciting ways

Part of the small but mighty hospitality group behind Takeaway Pizza, Dexter, Kenny Lover andthe much-anticipated the Keys, Dom’s is the only venue to penetrate the inner-city bubble. And it’s so good, it may just trigger die-hard northsiders to do the same. Sure, there are plenty of other spots to grab a slice, but one worth venturing south of Thornbury for? That’s arguable. Very few straddle that elusive line of tradition and innovation quite like Dom’s – not even itssibling, which runs a close second but doesn’t boast the dynamic, three-level venue (rooftopincluded). Pies are available venue-wide, and much like Takeaway Pizza, have that classically Italian, woodfired vibe though the toppings like mortadella, thyme and fermented honey or ghost pepper salami and pineapple salsa set them apart from the pack. The veg options are almost as exciting; the roasted mushroom and truffle cream number is aparticular standout. On paper, it sounds like overkill (do you really need sour cream on a white base?), but it works seamlessly alongside a sharp orange wine to cut through the dairy. There’s also an ever-rotating wild card which, on our visit, has a Latin lean – see the creamedcorn base, finger lime and coriander salsa, and chunks of chorizo – that reinforce thesentiment that a restaurant is best experienced through its specials board. Thirty dollars a pop is a hard pill to swallow, especially once you tack on a few glasses of natural wine, but if you’re willing to sacrifice toppin

It’s a bit like a fever dream. Walking into Bombay Yacht Club, you’re greeted by a riot of colour – Yves Klein blue curtains, turquoise dining chairs, bright yellow bar, a floor of swirling cloud formations. We’re told there’s also a bubble machine that lazily emits bubbles onto dining patrons. Cute! Eighties classics blast from the speaker and reverberate through the small venue. What is undoubtedly a fun, opulent space on a busy night is slightly disconcerting on a quiet Tuesday evening when we are the only customers dining.  However, the chairs are comfortable, and the service is attentive and welcoming. BYC (I'm saving my word count) was opened by restaurateur and chef Jessi Singh (Horn Please, Daughter In Law) in the space previously occupied by his wine bar, Mrs Singh. Singh started sailing during lockdown and, through this hobby, discovered an abundance of exclusive yacht clubs and restaurants. This inspired BYC, which gives a nod to the private yacht clubs that operated under colonial rule in Singh's birth country of India. BYC acknowledges this history with the tongue-in-cheek style that is the signature of Sigh and his venues.  This irreverence and fun flow into the menu, which primarily draws from Indian flavours with some input from other southern Asian countries. For instance, the half lobster arrives covered in a bitey Sri Lankan chilli sambal on a heaping pile of pilaf-style rice. It's an extremely generous serve that's a bargain at $44. The lobster meat is swe

Having trouble finding Soi 38? Just follow your nose. While the address is equal parts intriguing and perplexing, the heady scent of Thailand – its star anise, galangal, chilli, lime and herbs – will lure you inside the multi-level poured concrete carpark down a laneway off Bourke Street. Don’t go thinking this cheap-eat champion is big on the novelty and low on the substance. The brightly coloured haunt in the middle of the urban jungle can claim to have introduced Melbourne to authentic Bangkok-style boat noodles. Lurking in a pungent, funky soup brothwith a host of add-ons (braised pork or beef, a pork ball and crackling, bean sprouts andcoriander), the springy noodles ballast the sort of one-dish wonder that encompasses theentire food pyramid, big on flavour and even bigger on comfort. Owners Andy Buchan and Top Kijphavee kicked off in 2015 serving just boat noodles and prawn wontons in tom yum soup. But the people have spoken, and they’ve incrementally added more menu items (all hail the duck larb, a spicy, crackle-textured delight) before throwing caution to the wind with a dinner service as well. Boat noodles aren’t on the menu by night, but the Thai barbecue and hotpot provide ampleconsolation, albeit one cloaked in the agony of indecision. Will it be the pork skewers known as moo ping, the fatty meat first marinated in fish and soy sauce and mollified with a post-grill brush with coconut milk, or the swatches of golden calamari with a pungent lime-forward dipping sau

A café housed in a heritage-listed former powerhouse with exposed brick walls and enormous street-art murals around the corner. Queues out the door, an almost-alarming number of plants, riffs on avo toast and other highly ‘grammable dishes. A focus on quality coffee so meticulous that it necessitates a separate coffee menu (including a barista’s breakfast tasting board of Five Senses coffee and several pour-over and batch brew options). 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.  The darling of the Darling Group (Kettle Black, Top Paddock, the Terrace), Higher Ground sits tall (its six connected levels form a maze of tiered spaces) and pretty on Little Bourke Street. Since opening its doors six years ago, it’s become a steady favourite of the competitive café scene, consistently raising the bar higher: literally and metaphorically.   It’s the first time in quite some time that we are excited about several options on a café menu. We debate over whether we should order the ’nduja on toast with salsa verde, pickled onions and a fried egg or the blue swimmer crab benedict, with native herbs and optional caviar. However, our choice of the stracciatella toast proves to be the best decision of the day. Two large slabs of sourdough are slathered g

Meet Harvie: Armadale’s halcyon hangout that refuses to take a bad photo. Owners, Andrew Savvas and Nick Foley, modestly say they’ve done little to fix up the two-storey Art Deco build. What they have done is let the venue’s striking bones shine through in a showcase of natural beauty.  Elegant interiors that could lean stark – white marble tables, sculptural architecture, monochrome artworks – are softened with Parisian-style chairs, blue velvet banquettes and greenery dotted throughout.  Harvie has a space for every occasion, whether that’s date night, kick ons, or sunkissed sundowners. The rooftop is beautiful, just like the people who grace it. It’s also regularly heaving, so get ready to make friends as you squeeze between tables and end up in the background of each other’s selfies.  While the terrace might feel like a main course, don’t skip the amuse-bouche of the spiral staircase. In the foyer, tip your head back and admire this winding work of art before watching clouds float by in the circular skylight.   If the weather’s ‘pulling a Melbourne’, head to the front room downstairs and nab the curved window seat. Out back, the courtyard is disarmingly cosy on a cold night (the fireplace helps), and idyllic in summer, when the retractable roof lets in the best of the season. In autumn, the team will unveil a second rooftop bar where you can choose a cigar to pair with your favourite dram. Cocktails change to match the weather, and you’ll see lots of organic mixes on the