When it comes to quality dining mere minutes from centre court, Melbourne smashes it. Here are 10 of the best spots to eat out before or after the tennis.
No other grand slam tennis tournament in the world has a central location – or the dining options nearby – like the Australian Open in Melbourne. From fun and fiery Japanese grill Robata, a mere 17-minute stroll from centre court, to the fabulous restaurants lining Flinders Lane, our cup of Aperol spritz spilleth over.
Here are 10 quality restaurants from the latest Good Food Guide. If you can’t score a booking, try lobbing up. And remember, there will be another ace option just metres away.
Cecconi’s Flinders Lane (one hat, 15.5/20)
Why it’s ace: The silver fox of Melbourne’s Italian restaurant is a sophisticated spot for a before or after-match celebrations.
Time, please: A 20-minute walk down Batman Avenue via Flinders Lane.
What the Good Food Guide says:
Cecconi’s still looks good in linen and leather: not bad for a restaurant pushing 20. The plush basement feels purpose-built for corporate lunches and the kinds
of dinners where dessert might just arrive with a diamond ring.
Lights are low and the playlist is gently jazzy. Black-clad staff drape napkins and whisk cloths across tables. The team at work in the sparkling kitchen is
similarly precise.
Life’s not too short for them to stuff olives, not when the prosciutto filling and
crunchy coating play so well with velvety olive mayonnaise. In a lightly garlicky linguine, top-drawer prawns, mussels, scallops and clams are immaculately
cooked. Veal cotoletta gets a lift from apple-savoy slaw, while a finale of watermelon granita and rockmelon sorbet sums up summer.
61 Flinders Lane, Melbourne, cecconis.com
Coda (one hat, 15/20)
Why it’s ace: The dark but buzzy basement is a welcome respite from loud and glary Melbourne Park.
Time, please: A 21-minute walk down Batman Avenue via Flinders Lane.
What the Good Food Guide says:
One of the original Flinders Lane fine diners, Coda still holds the bar high 15 years on – though its French-Vietnamese premise has evolved. Even green goddess dressing gets a look-in these days.
The subterranean space holds a casual bar and formal dining room,
and there’s calm, intelligent service at both. Textural white wines and
lively reds show an affinity for the food’s crunchy, salty and sweet elements, especially cheong fun (fat rice noodles) tossed with puffed rice, sugarloaf cabbage and dan dan sauce. Coconut-soaked kingfish sashimi is brightened with pops of finger lime, and tea-smoked duck breast is crowned with a glorious
daikon rosette. Ultra-marbled wagyu in rendang is as rich as it sounds. But don’t let that keep you away from Vietnamese-coffee inspired “babamisu” sporting a lick og orange liqueur and lightly salted cream. You’ve come this far.
Basement, 141 Flinders Lane, Melbourne, codarestaurant.com.au
Cumulus Inc. (one hat, 15/20)
Why it’s ace: Top notch all-day eating and drinking in warm, informal surrounds.
Time, please: A 21-minute walk from Flinders Lane to Melbourne Park.
What the Good Food Guide says:
Produce-driven dishes for sharing. Service finesse without fussiness. A refined industrial fitout with a long kitchen bar for solo dining. So far, so good – so what? This is what: Andrew McConnell’s groundbreaking all-day diner not only set the template for much of what the city now takes for granted, it still nails the brief.
You might perch at that buzzing marble bar for bresaola draped over kohlrabi with lemon mayo; or nestle in a banquette, swiping burnished Jerusalem artichoke and tender celeriac through porcini-rich mushroom puree. Colleagues toast at a big round table, sharing a dish of duck with sweet golden beets. Whatever the day, count on a genuinely seasonal menu, precisely executed. Adept drinks service and a splash of panache – a bottle of rum to pour as you please over what may be this town’s springiest baba – complete a timeless package.
45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne,
45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne, cumulusinc.com.au
Di Stasio Citta (one hats, 15/20)
Why it’s ace: Sophisticated Italian dining where it feels as if anything could happen at any moment.
Time, please: A 22-minute stroll from Spring Street to Melbourne Park.
What the Good Food Guide says:
Brutalist stylings give this Italian stallion an immediate sense of
occasion. Eccentric white-jacketed waitstaff it among slabs of concrete
and marble as artworks are beamed onto the towering walls. The Euro-heavy
wine list is serious business, but there’s room for play in this palace. Top buttons are coaxed undone as the first round of white negronis blankets the table, joined
by a foil-wrapped sandwich that’s superb in its simplicity: crustless white bread and veal cotoletta you could cut with a spoon.
Otherwise, all signs point to pasta. Dainty handmade capellini are strewn
with chunks of crab, and light lasagne Pasqualina is meat-and bechamel-
free. Golf ball-sized lemon-ricotta doughnuts make for a zesty finale, while the star favourite of vanilla tart – with its decadent marriage of mascarpone and white chocolate – fits right into this unflinching room.
45 Spring Street, Melbourne, distasio.com.au/citta
Embla (one hat, 15.5/20)
Why it’s ace: That quintessentially cool city dining and wine spot you want to show off to visiting friends.
Time, please: A 25-minute downhill stroll along Batman Avenue.
What the Good Food Guide says:
Embla is dark. In fact, it’s barely lit for dinner, the cavernous room
illuminated mainly by downlights and the wood oven’s glowing embers. And that’s the magic.
Venture to a back table or prop up at the bar and slip into your own little world: one where the chenin blanc is aged under flor, the glassware is Gabriel, and you can trade gossip virtually incognito. Window sills are lined with bottles from every cult producer you’ve ever dreamed of drinking, while the list promises new discoveries. Doorstop slices of sourdough help shoulder the weight of left-of-centre small plates such as artfully plated tartare with almond cream and fried wild rice. Pared-back dishes shine. Blueeye is dressed in tomato and saffon, and vongole with fregola and pork sausage is satisfyingly salty on many levels. Expressive, moody, playful – Embla contains multitudes.
122 Russell Street, Melbourne, embla.com.au
Farmer’s Daughters (one hat, 15/20)
Why it’s ace: A lively and lovely spot that showcases Victorian produce, plus an almost hidden rooftop.
Time, please: Turn right and walk 22 minutes directly from Exhibition Street to the tennis.
What the Good Food Guide says:
Lakes Entrance, Fish Creek, Warragul, Maffra: familiar names accompany every dish that lands on these solid timber tables. The first-floor dining room is trimmed with lush carpet and curvy banquettes, and whether you’re here for the
degustation dinner or a lunch of two or three courses, you’ll start with soda bread slathered in cultured butter and Tambo Valley honey. Noojee rainbow trout pairs with mussels in a broth inspired by Assam laksa. Rosy lamb loin on lemon veloute is joined by gently warmed cucumber, fantastically fresh and totally surprising.
Adroit staff in eucalyptus-green aprons are well acquainted with the drinks list, which roams through Gippsland all the way to the Old World. Wines from Leongatha, including an extravagant array of Bass Phillip back vintages, make an
inviting case for staying on theme throughout this ode to Victoria’s abundant east.
95 Exhibition Street, Melbourne, farmersdaughters.com.au
Gimlet at Cavendish House (two hats, 16/20)
What: The place for celebrations – or perhaps an after-match cheeseburger at the bar.
Time, please: A 22-minute walk from Flinders Lane.
What the Good Food Guide says:
Gimlet is the definition of Big Occasion Restaurant: a chamber of parquetry, velvet, and snowy linen where even a snack at the bar feels celebratory. From a spot on the slightly-too-low banquette, you might see an A-lister sipping the namesake cocktail from a frosty coupe, a tourist Insta-snapping wood-roasted lobster, and a besuited waiter performing a crepes Suzette cabaret. Gnocco fritto with a rosette of bresaola should be a mandatory order, if only to speculate on how the kitchen got all that parmesan cream inside such brittle pastry shells.
The duck liver parfait is an exemplar, its accompanying pickled blackberries providing a reprieve from the luscious richness. And anything from the wood grill – be it dry-aged duck, 900-gram T-bone or that lobster reclining on saffron
rice – is bound to be memorable. Lean in.
33 Russell Street, Melbourne, gimlet.melbourne
Movida (one hat, 15/20)
What: Vamos Movida, Melbourne’s original laneway favourite serving up big Spanish flavours.
Time, please: A 21-minute walk from Hosier Lane.
What the Good Food Guide says:
Have you even been to MoVida if you didn’t order the anchoa?
The anchovy-topped crouton with smoked tomato sorbet hasn’t waned in pulling power since 2003, and the same can be said for Melbourne’s OG laneway tapas bar. It still honours its own classics, such as cold-smoked kingfish with pine nut gazpacho that arrives in a dramatic plume of smoke. But there’s also
a canny eye on the new. Sweet- fleshed raw prawns in a slick of crustacean oil are produce-driven perfection, and the paprika punch of charry sobrasada sausage meets its soulmate in mellow drizzles of honey.
A thorough list of Spanish wines and sherry is primed to take you through to rustic raciones, where a juicy dry-aged pork chop with bread stuffing proves as
timeless as the terracotta tiled, straight-from-Barcelona room.
1 Hosier Lane, Melbourne, movida.com.au
Robata (14.5/20)
Why it’s ace: The closest hatted restaurant to the Australian Open is perfect for a memorable Japanese meal on a time limit.
Time, please: A mere 17-minute hop, skip and jump along Batman Avenue to the tennis.
What the Good Food Guide says:
Those craving a hit of Tokyo cool will find their appetite sated at this
energetic, neon-lit restaurant that cranks out fire-licked dishes to a
young crowd. Sticks of juicy yakitori – from thighs to hearts, cooked
over charcoal – may be the main drawcard, but portions skew small, so order generously.
Let breezy, well-versed waitstaff guide you towards a sake or Japanese whisky
for your next bite. That might be a slip of precisely sliced salmon, seared lightly and married with an assertive mustard dipping sauce. Or chargrilled baby barramundi atop a puddle of mushroom ponzu flecked with chilli and ginger that lands a piquant flavour punch. Close to sporting grounds and theatres, Robata makes the ideal dining option before or after, though with its flame-tastic open kitchen and atmospheric surrounds, it offers entertaining theatre all its own.
2 Exhibition Street, Melbourne, robata.com.au
Supernormal (One hat, 15/20)
Why it’s ace: Whether it’s a lobster roll at the bar or a full feast, it’s a buzzy, fun spot for refreshments before and after the game.
Time, please: A 24-minute walk along Batman Avenue via Flinders Lane.
What the Good Food Guide says:
Supernormal, that rascally pan-Asian diner, never stops to takea breath. Whether it’s Monday or Saturday, crowds are shoulder to shoulder at bar seats and booths. They’re lured by those neon red cherry-shaped eyes in the window, which have become visual shorthand for “deliciousness this way”.
Waitstaff zip around the bustle that fills the otherwise serene-looking room of wood and concrete. They’re delivering pork and garlic chive pot-sticker dumplings under toffee-like pastry lace. Or fat tteokbokki, the tubular Korean
rice cakes, bobbing in a sesame-speckled sweet chilli glaze. Both make sensational snacks with a cold beer. Milawa chicken, its skin deeply lacquered, gets cleaved into generous pieces awash in the lavish umami of green harissa and miso butter. The iconic New England lobster roll is only made better by
New Zealand blanc de blancs, one of many gems on the wine list. Hungry
Melburnians, unite.
180 Flinders Lane, Melbourne, supernormal.net.au
The Age Good Food Guide 2025 is on sale for $19.95 from newsagents, supermarkets and at thestore.com.au. It features more than 450 Victorian venues.
