The Top 100 Restaurants Near Assembly - Carlton
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Rank 1. 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.
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Rank 2. Kazuki's
Japanese
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Rank 3. Bistra
Modern Australian
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Rank 5. Circl Wine House
Modern Australian
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Rank 6. Ishizuka
Kaiseki Japanese
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Rank 7. Al Dente Enoteca
Italian
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Rank 8. Flower Drum
Cantonese
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.
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- Australian Good Food Guide 12/20 · One Chef Hat
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best International Bar Team – APAC
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Rank 10. Restaurant Gaea
Modern Australian
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Rank 11. Lagotto
Italian
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Rank 12. Saadi
Indian
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Rank 13. Longrain
Thai
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Rank 15. Askal
Filipino
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Rank 16. Scopri
Italian
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Rank 17. Florentino
Italian
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Rank 18. Society
Modern Australian
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Rank 20. Embla
Modern Australian
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Rank 21. Bar Lourinha
Spanish
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Rank 22. Farmer's Daughters
Modern Australian
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Rank 23. Il Bacaro
Venetian
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.
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Rank 24. IDES
Modern Australian
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Rank 25. ISH Restaurant
Indian
Exposed brick and copper fittings across two levels, with furniture shipped over from India, set the tone at this Indian-inspired bar and restaurant on Gertrude Street. The kitchen moves between tradition and improvisation, pairing familiar subcontinental flavors with the kind of lateral thinking Fitzroy restaurants tend to reward. The Australian Good Food Guide gave it a Chef Hat. Go when you want spice with your natural wine.
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Rank 26. Tipo 00
Italian
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Rank 27. Osteria Ilaria
Italian
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Rank 28. Serai
Filipino
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Rank 29. Philippe
French
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Rank 30. Caterina's Cucina E Bar
Italian
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Rank 31. Lee Ho Fook
Chinese
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Rank 32. Marmelo
Portuguese
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Rank 33. MoVida Aqui
Spanish
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Rank 34. Di Stasio Citta
Italian
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Rank 35. Kisume
Japanese
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Rank 36. Bar Liberty
Modern Australian
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Rank 37. Yiaga
Modern Australian
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Rank 38. Cecconi's
Italian
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Rank 39. Cumulus Inc.
Modern Australian
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Rank 41. Sachi Japanese Restaurant
Japanese
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.
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Rank 45. Smith Street Bistro
French
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Rank 46. 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.
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Rank 47. Nomad Melbourne
Modern Australian
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Rank 48. Reine & La Rue
French
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Rank 49. Orlo
Mediterranean
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Rank 51. Zareh
Middle Eastern
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A Josper grill anchors the kitchen at this Latin American fire-cooking restaurant near Smith Street, where the smoke and the playlist both run loud. Tasting menus, à la carte, bottomless brunch on weekends, tacos on Tuesdays, Wagyu on Wednesdays: they keep the calendar full enough that regulars barely need to think. The cocktails have attitude to match. It holds an Australian Good Food Guide Chef Hat.
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Rank 54. 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.
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Rank 55. Vue de Monde
Modern Australian
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Rank 56. Maha Restaurant
Middle Eastern
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Rank 57. Warabi
Japanese
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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.
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Rank 59. 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.
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Rank 60. Doju
Korean
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Rank 61. Freyja
Modern Australian
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Rank 62. Shu Restaurant
Sichuan
A plant-only Sichuan restaurant in an industrial Collingwood space, Shu has been quietly dismantling the assumption that vegan dining means polite and beige. The kitchen leans into the bold, numbing heat of southwest Chinese cooking, and the ten-course degustation does the convincing. There's also a cocktail bar tucked inside, which helps explain the crowd's relaxed commitment to staying a while. The Australian Good Food Guide gives it two Chef Hats.
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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.
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Rank 64. Enter Via Laundry
Indian
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Rank 65. Harriot
French
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Rank 66. The Recreation Bistro & Bottleshop
Modern Australian
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Rank 67. Rockpool Bar & Grill Melbourne
Modern Australian
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Rank 68. Grill Americano
Grill Italian
Marble counters, brass fittings, and a wood-fired grill visible from the dining room set the tone on Flinders Lane. This is an Italian-leaning steakhouse where Australian beef, aged both wet and dry, meets open fire with a lot of restraint and very little fuss. The room manages glamorous without stiff, and the service follows the same instinct. It landed on the World's Best Steak Restaurants list, which tells you the kitchen is serious about the meat programme.
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Rank 69. From Here by Mike
Modern Australian
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Rank 70. Ronin Omakase
Japanese
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Rank 72. 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.
- World's 101 Best #79 · World's Best Steak Restaurants
- Australian Good Food Guide 12/20 · One Chef Hat
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Rank 73. Etta
Modern Australian
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Rank 74. Minamishima
Omakase Japanese
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Rank 77. Komeyui Restaurant
Japanese
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.
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Rank 78. Tomo-An
Japanese
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Rank 79. Clover
Modern Australian
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Rank 80. Anchovy
Vietnamese
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Rank 81. Bacash
Modern Australian
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Rank 82. Sogumm
Korean
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Rank 83. AOI.TSUKI.
Japanese
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Rank 85. Bar Magnolia
Modern Australian
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Rank 86. Bar Carolina
Italian
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Rank 88. Atta Restaurant
Indian
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Rank 89. UMINONO
Japanese
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Rank 90. Navi
Modern Australian
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Rank 91. MATSU
Japanese
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Rank 92. Amaru
Modern Australian
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Rank 93. Donovans
Modern Australian
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Rank 95. Tulum Restaurant
Turkish
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Rank 96. SUSHI ON
Japanese
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Rank 97. 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.
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Rank 99. Enoteca Boccaccio
Italian
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Rank 100. Bottarga
Italian