Monday, August 31, 2026

The Top 100 Places to Eat Near Alma


  1. Rank 2. Sumi

    Modern Australian


  2. Rank 3. Felix

    French


  3. Rank 4. Emerge

    Steakhouse



  4. Rank 6. Tulip Restaurant

    Modern Australian



  5. Rank 8. Moonah Restaurant

    Modern Australian


  6. Rank 9. Samesyn 2.0

    Modern Australian


  7. Rank 10. Brae

    Modern Australian



  8. Rank 12. Cape

    Modern Australian


  9. Rank 13. Barragunda Dining

    Modern Australian


  10. Rank 14. Navi

    Modern Australian



  11. Rank 16. MATSU

    Japanese





  12. Vineyard views through the dining room windows mean you're watching what's on your plate grow a few hundred metres away. This is a formal, sit-down restaurant on the Mornington Peninsula doing European-leaning seasonal cooking with a two Chef Hat nod from the Australian Good Food Guide. The wine list leans heavily into the estate's own bottles, which is either charming or convenient depending on how you feel about that sort of thing.


  13. Rank 21. Donovans

    Modern Australian


  14. Rank 22. Vue de Monde

    Modern Australian


  15. Rank 23. Attica

    Modern Australian

    Ben Shewry's fine-dining room in a quiet Ripponlea street is the kind of place where a spoonful of native honey arrives as a course and somehow that feels completely logical. The degustation menu moves through ingredients most menus have never heard of, leaning hard into Australian native produce and the kind of sourcing that borders on obsessive. It holds three chef hats from the Australian Good Food Guide. Clear your evening and your card.


  16. Andrew McConnell's fine dining room inside the grand Cavendish House on Russell Street turns on an open fire grill and dry-aged Victorian and South Australian beef, which landed Gimlet a spot on the World's Best Steak Restaurants list. The room manages to feel glamorous without feeling stiff, and the wine list reads like someone actually thought about what goes with the food rather than just buying everything.


  17. Rank 25. Tomo-An

    Japanese


  18. Rank 26. Matilda 159 Domain

    Modern Australian

    An open fire grill anchors everything at Scott Pickett's modern Australian restaurant in South Yarra, where dry-aged beef meets live coals with the kind of discipline that makes you stop mid-bite. The room runs to warm wood and natural textures, the wine list leans Australian, and the service has that easy confidence that never tips into theatre. Ranked among the World's Best Steak Restaurants, it holds an Australian Good Food Guide Chef Hat too.



  19. The charcoal Josper grill does a lot of the heavy lifting at this sleek Japanese restaurant in South Melbourne, where the kitchen leans on technique rather than theatrics. Black leather, potted greenery, and quiet minimalist bones make it feel composed without trying too hard. The chef is from a fishing village in Hokkaido, and that background shows in cooking that takes handmade Japanese food seriously. An Australian Good Food Guide Hat is on the record.


  20. Rank 29. Steer Dining Room

    Modern Australian

    A wagyu-focused fine dining room in South Yarra where the menu is essentially a graduate seminar on breed, marbling, and provenance. Australian and Japanese A5 cuts are aged in-house and cooked over a hibachi grill, served simply enough that the beef does the arguing. The room is warm and understated, the sommelier knows when to stop talking, and the service hits that rare register of polished without stiff. Ranked 29th on the World's Best Steak Restaurants list.


  21. Rank 30. Moke Dining

    Modern Australian



  22. Rank 32. From Here by Mike

    Modern Australian




  23. Rank 35. Atria

    Modern Australian

    Fire anchors the kitchen at this hotel fine dining room in Melbourne's CBD, where the menu moves through Australian land and sea with the restraint of a place that doesn't need to shout. The produce comes from named farmers and fishermen around the country, and the cooking lets that lineage do the work. An Australian Good Food Guide Two Hat restaurant, with a wine list that takes provenance as seriously as the food does.



  24. Rank 37. Freyja

    Modern Australian


  25. Rank 38. Polperro Restaurant

    Modern Australian


  26. Rank 39. Warabi

    Japanese


  27. Vivid wall murals and a glowing open bar set the mood at this Asian small-plates restaurant inside the Mövenpick Hotel, where the menu wanders from Vietnamese to Sri Lankan without apology. The kitchen leans on traditional techniques while nudging dishes in unexpected directions, beef rendang alongside ceviche with desert lime preserve. It holds an Australian Good Food Guide Chef Hat, and the Vietnamese espresso martini is a reasonable way to start.




  28. Rank 43. Akaiito

    Japanese

    A red thread of light twists across the ceiling of this moody Japanese fine dining room on Flinders Lane, its glow picked up by red plates below. Black marble, dark granite, and plush banquettes set the tone for a seasonal Kojin menu that moves between small plates and larger composed dishes. The Australian Good Food Guide gave it two chef hats, and the room feels like it was designed with that ambition in mind from the start.



  29. Rank 45. Doju

    Korean


  30. Vineyard views stretch out from the dining room at this cellar-door restaurant on the Mornington Peninsula, where the wine list draws from grapes grown on the property itself. The kitchen runs a modern Australian menu built around estate produce and regional seasonals, the kind of place where the sourcing conversation happens before you've ordered. An Australian Good Food Guide One Chef Hat sits on the record.


  31. Rank 47. Ishizuka

    Kaiseki Japanese




  32. A high-glam modern Pan-Asian restaurant on Flinders Lane from the team behind Cha Ching, where share plates move through bold Eastern flavours grounded in local ingredients. The room leans into occasion, so the crowd tends to dress accordingly. Clay pot duck and scallops with coconut bisque show the kitchen's range. The Australian Good Food Guide gave it a Chef Hat.




  33. Rank 53. Luci

    Modern Australian

    The art deco bones of Equity Chambers on Bourke Street give this contemporary Australian restaurant more grandeur than it probably needs, and it leans in accordingly. The menu runs Italian-inflected, from breakfast through dinner, with the kind of crowd that treats eggs Benedict as a reasonable way to start a Wednesday. Evenings shift toward crudo and house-made pasta with enough anchovy to mean it.


  34. Rank 54. Maha Restaurant

    Middle Eastern


  35. Dry-aged seafood sits at the center of everything here, a Japanese restaurant on Queen Street where the counter omakase and chirashi bowls draw a quiet, loyal lunch crowd from the surrounding offices. The menu runs from quick sashimi plates to a full omakase sitting, so the room works for both a grabbed weekday meal and something slower. The Australian Good Food Guide gave it a Chef Hat, which tracks with the precision on the plate.


  36. Rank 56. Paringa Estate

    Modern Australian


  37. Rank 57. Kisume

    Japanese



  38. Rank 59. Amaru

    Modern Australian


  39. Rank 60. Serai

    Filipino



  40. Rank 62. UMINONO

    Japanese


  41. Rank 63. Tipo 00

    Italian



  42. Flower Drum has been a Melbourne institution long enough that regulars book the same table year after year and the staff already know what they want. It's a formal Cantonese restaurant tucked into a lane off Chinatown, white-tablecloth serious, where the roast duck is carved tableside and the service runs like the dining room has something to prove. The Australian Good Food Guide awards it two Chef Hats, and the room's quiet confidence suggests it has never needed to mention that.


  43. Rank 66. Oxi Tea Room

    Modern Australian

    Whole-leaf oolong and black teas sourced from Kenya and Taiwan are the anchor here, not a backdrop to something else. Oxi Tea Room is a high tea spot in Carlton where the tea is treated with the seriousness usually reserved for wine, and the housemade desserts lean into native Australian ingredients, lemon myrtle, green ants, and all. It holds two Chef Hats from the Australian Good Food Guide, which tracks for a room that takes the kettle this seriously.


  44. Rank 67. Society

    Modern Australian


  45. Rank 68. Bacash

    Modern Australian


  46. Rank 69. Yiaga

    Modern Australian


  47. Rank 70. Kazuki's

    Japanese



  48. Rank 72. Nomad Melbourne

    Modern Australian



  49. Rank 74. Circl Wine House

    Modern Australian



  50. Rank 76. Minamishima

    Omakase Japanese



  51. Rank 78. Montalto

    Modern Australian

    Floor-to-ceiling glass frames the Red Hill vineyard and, on a clear day, Western Port beyond, which sets the tone for what Montalto is: a winery restaurant where the estate gardens supply the kitchen and the wood-fire grill does the heavy lifting. The menu shifts with the seasons and is designed to share, arriving in courses. Matt Wilkinson shapes the culinary direction. The Australian Good Food Guide awards it a Chef Hat.


  52. White linen and polished service set the tone at this long-running Venetian Italian in the heart of the city, where the cooking stays close to the lagoon, pasta and all. The menu leans into the kind of regional specificity that doesn't need to announce itself, and the room runs with quiet assurance. It holds an Australian Good Food Guide Chef Hat.



  53. Rank 81. Embla

    Modern Australian



  54. Rank 83. Marmelo

    Portuguese


  55. A working roastery first, café second, Criteria Coffee sits in a bright Port Melbourne warehouse where independent baristas come to learn the roasting side of the craft. The public-facing espresso bar is almost incidental to the operation, which makes the coffee feel more considered than performative. Craig Simon, a three-time Australian Barista Champion, runs the show, so the seasonal filter and espresso options are taken seriously by people who have trophies to prove it.


  56. Rank 85. Restaurant Gaea

    Modern Australian


  57. Rank 86. Farmer's Daughters

    Modern Australian



  58. Rank 88. Askal

    Filipino


  59. Rank 89. Cumulus Inc.

    Modern Australian





  60. Rank 93. IDES

    Modern Australian




  61. Rank 96. Saadi

    Indian


  62. Hand rolls you build yourself, from platters of seafood and Wagyu laid out at your own pace, served on ceramics the kitchen threw in its own pottery studio. Temaki Sushi is an intimate omakase-style hand roll restaurant on Little Collins Street, running a seasonal menu tied to produce from the team's farm in the Dandenong Ranges. The Australian Good Food Guide gave it a Chef Hat, which feels about right for a place this quietly sure of itself.





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