Where to get cheap happy hour oysters in Melbourne

Pearl diving is hard work. It takes a good eye, patience, and a passion for oysters. Coincidentally, these are three traits shared by Alex Boon and Pez Collier, the lauded Brisbane bartenders who spent two years gently buffing their idea for a shucking great oyster bar into a polished pearl. Every Wednesday to Friday, from 5pm to 6pm, you can pop in for freshly shucked oysters at just $2 each with $12 snack size Sea and Shell Martinis. C'est magnifique!

From Monday to Friday at this Mordialloc hawker-style restaurant, 5-6pm is your time slot to grab freshly shucked oysters at just $2 a shell! You can also indulge in a $35 raw tasting plate, which comes with oysters, sashimi, tuna tartare and salmon nigiri, and wash it all down with a $15 rotating cocktail special. 

The Oyster Bar by Aptus Seafood at South Melbourne Market offers the freshest oysters straight from the ocean. It's not a happy hour situation, either – they're serving those oysters from the early hours right into the evening for nothing more than a bit of spare pocket change! If you're feeling extra opulent, purchase a dozen and rest easy knowing they're sourced directly from farmers. Plus the bar offers lemon, hot sauce, vinegar and other sauces to dress up those briny morsels. 

Part of Scott Pickett's snazzy stable of restaurants, Chancery Lane is a hidden bistro wedged tidily in between Bourke and Little Collins streets. Join friends in the charming outdoor courtyard, Le Jardin, at happy hour (Wednesdays to Fridays, from 5pm to 7pm) for $15 Champagne, $6 Moon Dog lager and $3 freshly shucked NSW Appellation oysters. There's also gougères with salted cod rillette and horseradish at $8 each, plus camembert, charcuteries and frites at happy hour prices too. It's a walk-ins only policy so all you need to do is round up a crew and saunter in! 

Mid-City Arcade, known for its ground-floor budget restaurants like Mr Ramen-san and ShanDong MaMa, is not where you would expect to find a lobster-and-Champagne restaurant. But then again, Pinchy's is no stuffy, white-tablecloth joint. And if you swing by between 3-4pm on a Saturday or Sunday, you can get two oysters and a glass of Champagne for just $30. 

Lillian's summer menu offers a hearty selection of bistro-style power lunches such as asparagus and jamon linguine, sirloin steak sangas and more for just $29.50 each. The best part is you can add unlimited Pacific oysters, freshly shucked to order, for $44 per person. The deal is available daily, from 12pm until 3pm. 

East Melbourne's French brasserie and wine bar Hemingway's Wine Room is offering posh punters the chance to spend an opulent hour every Tuesday to Thursday between 5.30pm and 6.30pm. Rock up and knock back $2 oysters with $15 glasses of Pol Roger Brut Reserve NV Champagne. Looking for something different? There's sparkling sake or prosecco available by the glass too. Learn more here.

Every Saturday and Sunday, diners that flock to grill haven Firebird are in for a seafood treat. The $56 Endless Lunch includes bottomless oysters served either fresh with burnt chilli vinaigrette or grilled with green nuoc nam. Bottomless frites with lemongrass sate salt and black garlic aioli are included in the price, and you can add on two hours of free-flowing booze to the deal for only an extra $39. We know where we're lunching this weekend! Read more about the lunch special's inclusions here.

Get your oyster fix at warm and wonderful Carlton North favourite Henry Sugar, where an oyster happy hour promotion offers the beloved seafood snack at just $2 each every evening from 5pm to 6pm. Want to take it up a notch? Fork out an extra 50 cent coin and you'll get the premium Sydney rock oysters,  with classy condiments like Davidson plum granita, fermented green chilli mignonette or buttermilk and dill. Consider us wooed.

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. And while it usually only hosts its famed oyster cart in the winter, it's now back as a Thursday special all year round moving forward. Slurp on $2 oysters from 6pm until sold out.