Culinary Culture

You won't go hungry in Melbourne. Melbourne serves up some 75 ethnic cuisines, with over 3,000 restaurants, cafés, bistros and bars in the city.

A Taste of Asia

At Red Spice Road, laneway culture meets the spice trails of Asia. Book ahead for superlative Cantonese cuisine at Flower Drum, one of Melbourne's top fine dining restaurants, or take a seat in the relaxed institution that is the Supper Inn.

In 2010 a new Asian dining development opens on Bourke Street. The centre's tenants will include a new branch of Dynasty restaurant, long regarded as one of Shanghai's top eateries.

Subterranean Venues

Greg Malouf's multi award-winning Moorish restaurant MoMo is located in the refurbished Grand Hyatt Melbourne basement. Adam D'Sylva's modern French-Vietnamese eatery, Coda, is one of Melbourne's most talked about new restaurants and can be found in a corner basement space.

The Who's Who

The who's who of fine dining make their presence felt in Melbourne. Jacques Reymond's Cuisine du Temps includes three unique dining rooms. Andrew McConnell's 'eating house and bar', Cumulus, is located in the new food precinct along the top end of Flinders Lane. His other venture, Cutler & Co, is housed in a former metal works site in Gertrude Street, Fitzroy. Meet friends in the bar for drinks, or book ahead for a table.

Gordon Ramsay opened his first Australian-based maze restaurant in Melbourne in 2010 at Crown's new Metropol hotel in Southbank. Josh Emett will be at the helm of maze and maze Grill, serving French-based cuisine with Asian influences. Award-winning chef, Donovan Cooke, is to take the reins at Atlantic, a new seafood mega-eatery at Crown. The 300-seat venue is due to open in December 2010 and will be the largest at Crown.

Water Views

Sandringham Yacht Club offers three venues for entertaining, 15 kilometres from the CBD. Kobe Jones at Docklands Melbourne offers modern Japanese with spectacular harbour views. At nearby South Wharf, Nuevo37 is a sleek set-up where Ramon Freixa prepares modern Catalonian fare of his native Barcelona.

Crown Entertainment Complex has become recognised as a fine dining destination. Neil Perry's Rockpool Bar & Grill specialises in woodfire-grilled meat and seafood, and Koko, one of Melbourne's premier Japanese restaurants, features a sake bar, tatami and teppanyaki rooms, all overlooking the Yarra River and city skyline.

Melbourne's famous river is the outlook from The Deck at Southbank and from Taxi Dining Room at Federation Square.

Iconic Institutions

Renowned for its award-winning service, Donovans is housed in a refurbished bathing house on Port Phillip Bay. Comme occupies an important Melbourne culinary landmark - the former Mietta's HQ, and Botanical is a modern restaurant that overlooks the Botanical Gardens.

Dish serves up award winning-cuisine at Royce Hotel, a designer five star boutique. Circa at the Prince has recently emerged from a major renovation to offer diners a range of experiences in the bar, courtyard, and in new private dining rooms.