Tuesday, September 1, 2026

The Top 100 Restaurants Near The Chen

  1. Rank 1. SUSHI ON

    Japanese




  2. Rank 4. Amaru

    Modern Australian


  3. Rank 5. Minamishima

    Omakase Japanese



  4. Rank 7. Anchovy

    Vietnamese



  5. Rank 9. Clover

    Modern Australian





  6. 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.


  7. Rank 14. 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.


  8. Rank 15. IDES

    Modern Australian


  9. Rank 16. UMINONO

    Japanese




  10. 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.


  11. Rank 20. Orlo

    Mediterranean


  12. Rank 21. Yiaga

    Modern Australian


  13. Rank 22. Restaurant Gaea

    Modern Australian



  14. Rank 24. Zareh

    Middle Eastern



  15. Rank 26. Bar Liberty

    Modern Australian


  16. 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.


  17. Rank 28. Bacash

    Modern Australian



  18. Rank 30. 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.



  19. Rank 32. Lagotto

    Italian







  20. Rank 38. Ishizuka

    Kaiseki Japanese


  21. Rank 39. Cumulus Inc.

    Modern Australian


  22. Rank 40. Circl Wine House

    Modern Australian


  23. Rank 41. Society

    Modern Australian




  24. Rank 44. Scopri

    Italian



  25. 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.



  26. Rank 48. Kisume

    Japanese


  27. Rank 49. Saadi

    Indian



  28. Rank 51. Farmer's Daughters

    Modern Australian


  29. Rank 52. Marmelo

    Portuguese


  30. Rank 53. Askal

    Filipino



  31. Rank 55. Kazuki's

    Japanese




  32. Rank 58. Embla

    Modern Australian



  33. Rank 60. Nomad Melbourne

    Modern Australian



  34. Rank 62. Vue de Monde

    Modern Australian



  35. 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.


  36. Rank 65. Bistra

    Modern Australian



  37. Rank 67. 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.


  38. Rank 68. 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.




  39. Rank 71. Warabi

    Japanese


  40. Rank 72. Maha Restaurant

    Middle Eastern


  41. Rank 73. Etta

    Modern Australian



  42. Rank 75. Tipo 00

    Italian


  43. 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.



  44. Rank 78. Serai

    Filipino


  45. Rank 79. Freyja

    Modern Australian


  46. Rank 80. Donovans

    Modern Australian



  47. 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.



  48. Rank 84. 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.




  49. Rank 87. Doju

    Korean



  50. Rank 89. 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.


  51. 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.


  52. 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.


  53. Rank 92. Tomo-An

    Japanese


  54. Rank 93. From Here by Mike

    Modern Australian



  55. Rank 95. Bar Magnolia

    Modern Australian




  56. Rank 98. Navi

    Modern Australian


  57. Rank 99. Greasy Zoes

    Modern Australian


  58. Rank 100. MATSU

    Japanese


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Eat Score

The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

    How we score →

    Drink Score

    The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

      How we score →

      Stay Score

      The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

        How we score →

        Do Score

        The score comes from the awards it's won, weighted by who gave them: a Michelin star outweighs a listicle. When you sort by what's nearby, distance changes the order, never the score.

          How we score →

          Best Place Score

          The Best Place Score rates the area around a point, not any one place. It runs on the scored places nearby: more good stuff within reach, higher score. If it looks low, we probably haven't found enough critics out here yet.