The Best Places in Australia

A back bar stocked with around 350 bottles, ten new ones arriving each week, tells you everything about what The Elysian Whisky Bar is trying to do. This Fitzroy whisky bar leans hard into rare and unusual bottlings, with flights for the curious and a proper cocktail list for anyone dragged along by an enthusiast. A bar food menu rounds things out, so no one has to drink on an empty stomach while debating single malts.

An old-school Hunter Valley estate that has been shaping Australian Semillon longer than most wineries have existed, Tyrrell's offers structured tastings from a casual introduction to the range all the way up to vertical deep-dives on their flagship VAT 1. The Sacred Sites experience takes you through the actual vineyard blocks before you taste what came out of them. Bookings are essential, and the family occasionally shows up, which is either charming or slightly terrifying depending on your threshold.

A wood-fired oven anchors this cozy Neapolitan pizzeria tucked into a quiet residential pocket well clear of Melbourne's centre, where the streets are low and leafy and the pace is considerably calmer. The pasta pulls as much weight as the pizza here, a combination rare enough that 50 Top Pizza handed it a Best Pasta Proposal award, alongside a ranking of 28th in the world. The kitchen imports Italian ingredients seriously and handles dietary needs without making a fuss about it.

A corner pizza restaurant in a Victorian terrace in Balmain, with sidewalk tables when the weather cooperates and a line out the door when it doesn't. The chef obsesses over fermentation and dough in a way that reads less like trend-chasing and more like a genuine fixation, and the extra virgin olive oil gets its own casting credit across the menu. 50 Top Pizza Asia-Pacific has it at number three.

The name is a timer: dough ferments for 48 hours before it ever sees a flame, which gives the crust at this Neapolitan-style pizzeria in South Yarra its particular lightness. Exposed red brick, an informal room, and a menu that splits into classic, gourmet, and seasonal pies, including one topped with kangaroo salami and macadamia pesto via a collaboration with Aboriginal producers. Homemade gnocchi round things out. It ranked 93rd on 50 Top Pizza World.

Roman-style pizza by the slice in a small, pretty room on one of Surry Hills' better streets, with a courtyard that fills up when the weather cooperates. The dough gets a long ferment, which gives it the structure to carry serious toppings drawn from Italian regional traditions without going soggy. Appetizers, salads, a pasta or two, and desserts round things out. The cocktail list gets more attention than you'd expect from a slice shop.

A wood-fired Neapolitan pizza shop in Cronulla, right where the Sydney suburbs give way to beach town. The family runs the floor with the kind of unhurried attention you can't hire in, and the dough, soft and properly charred from the oven, does the heavy lifting. Red pies and white pies share the menu alongside salads and a tiramisu that no one is skipping. It ranked 25th on the 50 Top Pizza Asia-Pacific list, which checks out.

Agapi is a neighborhood Greek restaurant on a boutique-lined stretch of King William Road, easy to spot by its black exterior. Inside, painted frescoes cover the walls, which seems fitting for a place built around dips, grilled octopus, and moussaka. The roasted lamb shoulder takes its time, so bring a group and book ahead. It's a sit-down dinner with a bottle of wine, not a quick souvlaki on your way somewhere else.

Anchovy Bandit is a casual pizza joint on Prospect Road where the menu also moonlights as a film festival, with a two-course "short film" and a four-course "Directors Cut" for people who'd rather not choose. Pies run from plain to king prawns and truffle prosciutto, there's a lobster pasta you have to order two days ahead, and the cocktails are good. It's a Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant, and the mood stays relaxed.

Chianti is a family-run Italian restaurant on Hutt Street that has been feeding Adelaide longer than most of its regulars have had opinions about pasta. The cooking sticks to regional classics and leaves the reinventing to other people, so expect rabbit pappardelle, a Tuscan half chicken, and panna cotta to finish. The Michelin Guide lists it as a Selected Restaurant, and the welcome is warm enough that nobody gets rushed.

Clover and Stone is a vineyard restaurant about half an hour outside Adelaide, with a terrace over the gardens and a renovated stone barn for when the weather turns. The chef cooks Korean food by way of French and Italian technique, so the gochujang shows up in places a Sunday-lunch crowd wouldn't expect. It's a Michelin Guide selected restaurant, which here mostly means someone will drive you home.

This is a family-run winery restaurant in McLaren Vale, so the wine list is the one place nobody has to argue about the pairing. A wood stove handles the cold months, and in summer vines creep across the ceiling like the room is trying to join the vineyard outside. Lunch leans on the kitchen garden, with à la carte on weekdays and a set menu on weekends. It holds a spot in the Michelin Guide as a Selected Restaurant.

Fugazzi is an Italian-American restaurant in central Adelaide that borrows heavily from New York, right down to the red walls, marble counters, and booths built for leaning in. The menu runs to handmade pasta, wood-grilled seafood and meat, and a tiramisu finished tableside, which turns dessert into a small stage production. It's lively and dressy enough for an occasion, and it holds a spot in the Michelin Guide as a Selected Restaurant.

Huami is a Chinese restaurant upstairs at the SkyCity casino, which is either a red flag or a plot twist, and the contemporary dining room says plot twist. The kitchen cooks regional dishes from across China, and a wood-fired duck oven sits in full view of the tables, so you can watch your dinner get ideas. Weekend dim sum comes with tea pairings. It holds a Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant listing.

Latteria is a Milanese-leaning Italian restaurant on a corner of Hutt Street, where the first order of business is an aperitivo and a snack, a porchetta bun or fried risotto, before anyone gets serious about dinner. The pasta is made in house, and the staff will steer you if you freeze. Everyone arrives well dressed, as though the negroni sbagliato came with a dress code. It's listed in the Michelin Guide as a Selected Restaurant.

The sign out front still says dry cleaner, a leftover from a previous tenant that has fooled more than a few walk-ins. Inside is a small, cozy Italian-leaning wine bar with counter seats, a scatter of bistro tables, and elbow room that's strictly theoretical, so you'll end up on a first-name basis with your neighbors. Focaccia and olive oil show up while you decide, pasta does most of the talking, and Michelin lists it as a Selected Restaurant.

A black building sits in the middle of the Mitolo vineyards, and the glass walls mean the vines get as much attention as the plates. This is a winery restaurant serving Italian food off wood and charcoal, so expect lamb skewers, wood-fired prawns, and warm bread with churned butter. The house wines are poured with everything, which is convenient, since the cellar door is basically the front yard. It's in the Michelin Guide as a Selected Restaurant.

This is a casual Texas-style barbecue joint in Port Adelaide, parked next to the lighthouse, which is not a sentence you expect to write about brisket. The menu stays short and meaty, with pulled pork, wings, and sides like collard greens and corn bread, all made in-house. The terrace runs year-round under heaters, so a cold South Australian evening is no excuse. The cocktails are stronger than the setting suggests.

A steakhouse tucked into the ranch house of a remote cattle station, where the cows are less a menu item than the neighbors. Dinner is a set five-course run through the station's wagyu, opened by a short briefing from the chef on how it all works. The open kitchen shares space with aging beef, cowhides, and framed steak knives. It's a Michelin Guide selected restaurant, so plan on a drive and a full evening.

A modern Vietnamese restaurant on Rundle Street, where the menu takes liberties and doesn't apologize for them. Pho shows up as dumplings, and dessert pours fish sauce into the butterscotch. The front terrace gets the best view of the street's nightly foot traffic, so you can eat grilled squid in chili butter while watching other people decide where to eat. It's a mid-priced, come-as-you-are sort of place with a Michelin Guide listing.

Pastel Wine Bar is a North Adelaide wine bar that took its name seriously, with pastel paintings on the walls and a room that's casual without looking like it didn't try. The menu wanders from Southeast Asia to the Mediterranean to South America, which is how a spanakopita spring roll ends up on the table. It handles a date or a loud group equally well, and it's usually busy either way.

A former general store and post office in Stirling now handles its mail in the form of pasta, which arrives in heaps big enough that most tables order one to split. It's a relaxed Adelaide Hills restaurant with a regional, Italian-leaning menu, and a husband-and-wife team who greet you like they've been expecting you. Expect good shoes, not good suits, and the Michelin Guide lists it as a Selected Restaurant.

Pearl is a casual seafood restaurant parked beside the Aldinga Beach Boat Ramp, so your lunch has a view of Gulf St Vincent and, occasionally, a trailer being reversed with great confidence. The menu sticks to South Australian waters, and the kitchen cooks it simply. Flip-flops and sunburn fit in fine. Michelin lists it as a Selected Restaurant, which is a lot of recognition for a place next to a boat ramp.

Penobscot skips the dining room entirely and seats ten people at a counter in the middle of the kitchen, tucked inside the Watervale Hotel in the Clare Valley. The menu is whatever came out of the farm down the road that morning, so there's no point asking what's good, it's all Tuesday's. Expect a tasting-menu price and a front-row view of the cooking, plus house-made farm-fruit mocktails if you're driving.

Press* Food and Wine is a stylish city restaurant near Light Square with a bistro's laid-back attitude and a bar that's doing most of the flirting. Window booths face the street, and the tables inside are intimate enough that you'll know your neighbor's order. The kitchen pairs European habits with local ingredients, so the menu can put kangaroo tartare and a mushroom pithiver in the same breath. There's a tasting menu if you'd like the chef to explain themselves.

Shōbōsho is a wood-fire izakaya on a Leigh Street block that never quite goes to sleep, all dim light, dark timber, and a long counter facing the open kitchen. Nearly everything gets a turn over the flames, including the leeks, which tells you how committed they are. There's sake to go with it and cocktails to start, and the staff are charming enough that ordering a second round feels like their idea.

Soi 38 is a Thai restaurant on Pirie Street named for a Bangkok street food strip, which is a bold move for a dining room done up almost entirely in white. Nobody here is eating off plastic stools, and the chef's years cooking in Thailand show up in regional dishes that stay faithful while allowing a little fun. It's a Michelin Guide Selected restaurant, and the curry list runs long enough to settle most arguments.

Sunset Food and Wine sits out on Kangaroo Island, where the menu reads like a thank-you note to the neighbors who grow, catch, and raise everything on it. Oysters, lamb, pork, and honey all come from within a short drive, which keeps the supply chain shorter than most restaurants' wine lists. It's a relaxed, sit-down dinner spot with a Michelin Guide listing and a view that makes the sunset part of the reservation.

Tarantino's is a moody, candlelit restaurant on the edge of Adelaide's East End, with the dim, leather-booth atmosphere of a New York steakhouse that took a wrong turn into South Australia. Nearly every small table faces the open kitchen and its wood-fired grill, so dinner comes with a view of the fire. Expect to spend real money, especially if the lobster pasta gets involved, and to be Michelin Guide Selected.

This is the dining room of a pub in the Adelaide Hills, with stone walls, white interiors and the faint air of a countryside cottage that has been to culinary school. Before you sit down, there's a walk-in cellar doubling as a wine shop, so you can pick your bottle like you own the place. The cooking leans French and Italian, with kangaroo showing up on the menu to remind you where you are. It's a Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant.

This fish-and-chips counter is bolted onto an actual seafood factory in Port Lincoln, which is about as short as a supply chain gets. You order at the window, grab a terrace seat, and choose from whatever the boats sorted into the fish case, with whiting and flathead among the options. Tempura prawns and Coffin Bay oysters sit on the menu too. It holds a spot in the Michelin Guide, which it wears the way you'd wear a name tag.

The Kitchen is a casino-adjacent steakhouse dressed as a railway station, right down to a kitchen laid out like a train, which feels like a lot of commitment to a bit. A big charcoal grill anchors the open kitchen and handles everything from carrots to Australian beef, and the tomahawk and lamb shoulder are built for sharing. It's a Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant, so wear something nicer than your commuter clothes.

This is a restaurant on a working sheep station in the Flinders Ranges, where the lamb on your plate grew up a short drive from your table. It's a casual outback dinner, so dress for dust and a long drive rather than a tasting menu. Tables vanish fast, and the Michelin Guide lists it. You can also arrange helicopter tours or stay the night, which is handy since the nearest town is not close.

Yakisan is a dress-up-for-it Japanese-leaning restaurant on O'Connell Street, where a jade marble counter fronts an open fire and a big oven, and a DJ is working somewhere behind the private booths. There's a sky deck for people who like to be seen from above, and a back bar for the ones who prefer to be seen later. Steak is the main event, and the dinner bill will tell you it's a night out. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant.

A Neapolitan pizza spot on Little Bourke where the dough is properly leavened and the menu splits cleanly between red and white pies. The room is simple and the staff move fast, which suits the lunch crowd around here. Pasta and cannoli fill out the menu for anyone who needs convincing that pizza is enough. It ranked on the 50 Top Pizza Asia-Pacific list, for what that's worth to the skeptics at the table.

Dark wood, mismatched velvet, and leather sofas in a muted-light room that invites you to arrive early and leave late. Black Pearl is a cocktail bar on Brunswick Street that most drinks people treat as the main reason to come to Fitzroy at all. The list is short and inventive, boutique beers cover the non-cocktail moods, and bar food handles the rest. Difford's Guide rates it five stars, which tells you where the serious drinkers end up.

A mezcal cocktail bar wedged into a Council Place garage so small it might have previously housed a single hatchback. Cantina OK is the opposite of Sydney's big-shoulder waterfront bars, the ones that eye your footwear suspiciously. Sandals, cowboy hats, and ball gowns all get waved through here, and the agave list runs deep enough that you'll stop pretending you know what you want and just ask.

The Art Deco fixtures cast a warm amber glow over off-white walls and chestnut wood, and the whole room reads like a 1950s New York neighbourhood joint that somehow landed in Carlton. Capitano is an Italian bar where the drinks are the point, though the pasta and pizza pull their weight too. Difford's Guide gives it five stars, which for a corner spot dressed this modestly is a mild plot twist.

The wood-fired oven greets you at the door, which sets the tone for this Italian restaurant in Moonee Ponds where the menu runs from pizza through pasta to proper secondi. The kitchen leans on imported Italian staples and takes the full spread seriously, pizza and antipasti alongside handmade pasta. It ranked 29th on the 50 Top Pizza Asia-Pacific list. A children's menu and genuine attention to dietary needs make it one of the more relaxed neighbourhood options around.

Buffalo mozzarella flown in from Battipaglia sits on the menu at this casual pizzeria off the Princess Highway in Tempe, a detail that tells you exactly how seriously the team takes sourcing. The dough skips the classic Neapolitan puff in favor of something from the Cilento coast, a little crisper and more compact. Fresh pasta and a short cheese selection round things out, and the room runs warm in the way that makes you linger longer than planned.

A sourdough pizza shop in a coastal Perth suburb, where the dough follows Neapolitan tradition using flour shipped from Italy and gets a long, slow fermentation that shows in the chew. The menu stretches beyond pizza to appetizers, pasta, and salads, and the dessert and coffee selection is taken seriously. Ranked on the 50 Top Pizza Asia-Pacific list, it draws a lively crowd that seems genuinely at ease with the staff.

Frozen margaritas for ten dollars in the Surry Hills sun is a strong opening argument. Tio's Cerveceria is a Mexican-leaning bar in the neighborhood's easy-going pocket, with an outdoor setup that earns its keep on a warm afternoon. The mezcal list runs deep, the Michelada is built with enough red pepper to qualify as a wellness decision, and the whole place has the loose, no-fuss energy of somewhere that has quietly figured out exactly what it wants to be.

A specialty coffee shop sitting on George Street in the Sydney CBD, where the rotating single-origin lineup changes with the seasons and the baristas treat espresso as a verb, not a noun. The room is sleek without being fussy, which suits the lunchtime office crowd well enough, but it also has the quiet patience of a place where nobody will rush you.

A converted warehouse painted almost entirely white, with the roastery sitting in plain view so nothing happens behind closed doors. This specialty coffee shop in Collingwood leans hard into light roasts and single origins, the kind of place where the coffee is the décor. It draws the pour-over crowd who treat their morning brew with the same seriousness other people reserve for wine, which is either admirable or a lot, depending on your Tuesday.

A specialty coffee shop from the Industry Beans roaster, tucked into the CBD on Little Collins. The room is clean and minimal in that way Melbourne cafes do well, with the coffee doing the talking instead. Beans are sourced globally and rotated, so the pour-over today probably isn't the pour-over next month. The kind of place where laptop workers and CBD regulars coexist without anyone making a fuss about it.

A custom espresso machine sits at the center of this light-filled, timber-accented specialty coffee shop on Little Lonsdale Street, doing the work a piece of art usually does. It's the CBD flagship for Padre Coffee, which means the beans rotating through are seasonal single origins alongside the house blends, and the baristas know the difference. The kind of place where a flat white on the run and a slow pour-over get the same careful attention.

Wood paneling, shelves of records, and specialty coffee by day shifting to natural wine and cocktails once the sun goes down: Good Measure on Lygon Street is the kind of cafe-bar hybrid Melbourne does better than anywhere. The espresso is serious, and the Mont Blanc, a chilled filter coffee floated with sweet cream, has the devoted following to prove it. Come back at night and the room barely changes, which is the whole point.

A specialty coffee shop where ordering feels less like grabbing a flat white and more like sitting a sommelier exam, except the sommelier is excited to explain everything. The minimalist bar on Victoria Street runs omakase-style tastings through rare microlots and competition-grade beans, with staff who can map a pour-over's origin and processing method from memory. Bring curiosity; a laptop feels slightly beside the point.

A specialty coffee shop tucked into King Street in the CBD, Skittle Lane keeps things spare and deliberate, the kind of minimalist fit-out that makes you notice the coffee instead of the furniture. The focus is on single-origin brews alongside pastries for when a flat white alone feels insufficient. Office workers on a tight clock and laptop regulars settling in for the afternoon tend to coexist without much friction.

A converted warehouse down a graffiti-tagged South Melbourne laneway, ST. ALi is a specialty coffee roaster and all-day café that has been part of Melbourne's coffee furniture long enough to have trained half the baristas in the city. The space runs loud and industrial, the roasting operation sits in plain sight, and the breakfast crowd tends to arrive with opinions about extraction. Come for the coffee; the food menu is serious enough to make that harder than it sounds.

Pastel pinks and baby blues in the middle of Melbourne's CBD, which is either a very confident design choice or a dare. This coffee shop on Exhibition Street leans hard into retro-resort kitsch while roasting its own beans with complete seriousness, running the range from espresso blends to single-origin pour-overs. The suits filing past the window make the whole setup funnier, which seems intentional.

Reclaimed timber and the smell of beans roasted in Abbotsford greet you at this specialty coffee shop tucked into a Flinders Lane building. Dukes runs a high-volume operation without the usual trade-off in care, moving a crowd of laptop workers and lunchtime regulars through espresso blends and single-origin filters at a pace that would make lesser cafes wobble. Ethical sourcing is taken seriously here, which in Melbourne is less a differentiator than a minimum requirement, but they do it well.

A roastery cafe in a Brunswick warehouse where the roaster is the decor, not a prop. Disciple keeps things stripped back: bare walls, good light, and baristas who treat a pour-over with the same attention other places reserve for tasting menus. Espresso and single-origin filter share the menu without any hierarchy, which is rarer than it should be. Pick up a bag to take home or just drink your coffee slowly, ideally without anyone making you feel guilty about it.

There are no seats, and that's the whole point. Patricia is a standing-room espresso bar tucked behind a Little Bourke Street address, checkered floors and neon keeping things just old-world enough while the counter runs on high-energy service. The rotating roster of Melbourne roasters changes, the pastries come from Lune, and nobody lingers longer than their coffee takes. Which, in this city, is a compliment.

The roasting happens on-site, so the warehouse on Macaulay Road smells the way a coffee bar should before you even open the door. This is a fast-moving espresso bar in Kensington where the house blends run bold and the single origins rotate. Bags of freshly roasted beans line the counter for the inevitable "just one more thing" moment on the way out.

Timber cladding and a near-silent room set the tone at this specialty coffee shop on Pelham Street, where the menu rotates single-origin filters the way a wine bar rotates bottles. The space reads more like a tasting room than a cafe, which is more or less the point. University foot traffic hums somewhere outside, but inside people tend to nurse their cups slowly, as though rushing would be rude.

A specialty coffee shop on Little Collins where the house-roasted beans do most of the talking and the room is quiet enough to let them. Clean lines, a short menu, and a pace that suits people who came for the pour-over rather than the scene. Third-wave in spirit but not in attitude, which puts it a notch above the average laptop bunker. Melbourne takes coffee seriously; this is what that looks like when no one is trying to impress you.

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.

A working roastery and minimalist espresso bar sharing the same converted warehouse in North Melbourne, where the smell of fresh roasting hits you before the door does. The coffee program leans on direct-trade sourcing and rotating single-origins, with a 'Candyman' espresso blend that locals have ordered on autopilot for years. No food sprawl, no scene, just people who came specifically for the cup.

The espresso bar is a small counter at the front of what is mostly a working roastery, so the coffee comes with a faint background hum of production. Single origins rotate with the seasons, and the house blends are consistent enough that regulars order without looking up. Brunswick's specialty coffee scene is not short of options, which makes the stripped-back industrial room feel like a statement of intent rather than a design choice.

Dozens of wooden chairs hang from the ceiling, which is either art installation or fire hazard depending on your mood. This compact specialty coffee shop in the CBD is an outpost of the Seven Seeds roastery, so the espresso is serious and the pace is brisk. It's the kind of place where nobody lingers too long, yet somehow everyone feels like a regular.

A glass wall separates you from the roasting floor, so you can watch the hot-air roasters running while you drink what they just finished. This roastery cafe in a converted Collingwood brick warehouse pours consistent espresso blends alongside rotating single origins, and the sunlit courtyard fills fast on a good morning. The New Zealand brand has been around forever, but the Melbourne outpost feels like it belongs here completely.

A compact coffee shop on Little Collins Street that runs on the assumption that the people walking in have somewhere to be. This is the CBD outpost of Everyday Coffee, stripped down to a minimalist space built for fast, unfussy service. The batch brew moves quickly, the espresso blends are available to take home, and nobody lingers long enough to name the chairs.

The Little Bourke Street outpost of a Richmond roastery, this is a specialty coffee shop that strips everything back to the cup. The room is clean and minimal, which is less a design choice than a statement of intent: single-origin, seasonal beans get the counter space, not the furniture. Good for a pour-over between meetings, assuming you don't want anything on the menu to distract you from thinking about coffee.

A calm, minimalist specialty coffee shop tucked into Potts Point, where the design is spare enough that the coffee has nowhere to hide. Flat whites and pour-overs are the draw, pulled from carefully sourced beans that the team takes quietly seriously. The kind of place where people open a laptop and forget to leave, which is either a recommendation or a warning depending on your afternoon.

Black coffee only, full stop. Aunty Peg's is the roasting headquarters and tasting room for Proud Mary Coffee, tucked into a two-story Collingwood warehouse where the espresso bar doubles as a kind of classroom. Baristas walk you through pour-overs and microlots with the focused energy of sommeliers who've given up on casual drinkers. If you were planning to ask for oat milk, plan differently.

The roasting equipment isn't decorative here; this Brunswick East spot runs as a working roastery first, with a tasting bar tacked on for those who want to drink the results on the spot. Baristas at the counter are the kind who'll walk you through a seasonal single-origin without being asked. Batch brew, espresso, or a bag of freshly roasted beans to take home, the menu stays short because the focus doesn't wander.

A bright blue door on Drewery Lane marks this tiny specialty coffee shop, the kind of Melbourne laneway find that regulars prefer you not know about. The matcha lattes have their own following, the flat whites are carefully poured, and the sister pastry shop Bakemono Bakers sits just across the lane if willpower fails. Small enough that everyone inside seems to know something you don't.

A roastery-cafe in a converted warehouse on one of Brunswick's better streets, with the kind of concrete-and-timber interior that feels earned rather than decorated. The coffee program runs from house blends to rotating single-origin filters, so there's always a reason to ask what's on. Locals who know the neighborhood well tend to end up here, which is usually a decent sign.