What make a good restaurant? A top-rated dining spot will always live up to its reputation, irrespective of the cuisine type and price point. It is not just about offering value for money, but also providing a relaxing ambiance in a trendy setting. Enlisted below are some of the best restaurants in the town you can easily access by choosing Melbourne minibus hire with driver.
Attica
Some of the world’s finest food is served here at this modest Ripponlea restaurant, thanks to the attitude emanating from the head chef Ben Shewry. Along with a separate menu for vegetarians, a 5 or 8-course degustation dinner is carefully crafted to offer a unique culinary experience. The delectable dishes will have the layers of crackle and crunch, mingling with salty explosions of smoky, silky froths.
The menu has been inspired by the formative years spent by Shewry in New Zealand. The dishes represent experiences and landscapes that have influenced him to pen a thought of creating dishes the way she does. With a friendly staff ready to get you some of the best cuisines on table, Attica is at the height of creative dining in a relaxed, humble surrounds.
IDES
This small 36-seater restaurant is a place with grey-leather topped tables, wide spaces and dim lighting, with the only adornment being a couple of black-and-white canvas prints. Since it was initially owned by the owner of Attica, you will find the echoes of it in the set-menu structure, with the tiny kitchen and grey-carpeted room. The layouts are well laid ensuring a faultless experience for the visitors.
Dishes keep changing constantly at this venue, however, the menu is mostly 6-courses. Energy is always high in the kitchen, and you can expect something interesting most of the time. The chef Gunn is popularly renowned for technique-driven, punchy dishes that are full of taste and flavour. Expect saffron ice cream, pineapple cooked in maple syrup, fish with fushimi chillies, tender confit chicken and rich pork broths.
Cumulus Inc.
Architect Pascale Gomes-McNabb and Andrew McConnell’s unique combination of interior design and scrumptious food took the city by storm, including the likes of Supernormal, Cutler & Co. and Moon Under Water. Cumulus Inc is not just a restaurant, but an eating house and bar, and a relaxing place to enjoy popular dishes by McConnell. The place is all set for every notion from breakfast to dinner, with drinks at the bar, and some coffee as well. You will be treated with an ideal selection of desserts, meat, fish, salad, charcuteries and oysters.
The space is extremely bright and clean, with a spectacular kitchen on display featuring industrial windows and white marble bar. The visual entertainment is the best you can have in Melbourne.
Embla
Embla is a simple approach to dining and wining at the helm of the executive chef, Dave Verheul and McCabe. Designed by an architect Allistar Cox, it’s just like an expansion of the lounge room with sandy brick, naked wood and dark floors. The menu includes a nicely cooked lamb neck in the oven, served with romesco sauce, along with a rainbow trout served with horseradish and foraged purslane.
The curated wine list is basically a collaboration with Australian winemaker legend, Patrick Sullivan and wine guru, Eric Narioo. It’s a concoction of national and international bottles, including the likes of Jo Landron Muscadet from France and Gentle Folk Vin de Sofa from Southern Australia. It was recently expanded upstairs, adding to the sixty-seater bar.
Chin Chin
Certainly one of the most successful restaurants in the city, Thai eatery Chin Chin was opened in mid-2011, and has since then become a tourist destination for many. It gained so much popularity in quick time that the owner Chris Lucas was literally forced to open three more restaurants in the city, and one in Sydney. It was one of the first restaurants to curate a dark, lively ambiance, with DJ Miss Goldie compiling the upbeat playlists, positively playing from the stellar sound system.
The Australian chef Benjamin Cooper drives his magic in the kitchen with authentic Thai dishes ranging from masaman curry to roti and fiery papaya salad to pad Thai. About 7000 bunches of coriander, Vietnamese mint and Thai Basil are handpicked by the kitchen staff every week, making up for a fresh ingredient. The service is fast and efficient, with wine consultant Philip Rich taking care of the interesting selection of drinks.
Grossi Florentino
You won’t find many restaurants in the city where they will pull out your chair and fold a napkin across the lap, before serving the food. Opened in 1928, Grossi Florentino underwent major renovation by an architect, Mills Groman. This classic Italian space has a grand dining room, citing the Renaissance era, with large murals plastered across the walls, black marble, tall leather upholstered chairs and dark wood tables.
The kitchen uses top-quality ingredients in traditional dishes of hand-cut fettuccini with rock lobster, roast partridge, suckling pig, honeycomb tripe, lardo ravioli and venison car. If you are really looking to lash out your cash, there’s a luxury 5-course menu matched with wines from France, Italy and Australia. This is the kind of meal that will keep your tongue lingering for hours.
Tonka
Catering for diners and drinkers, Honky Tonks has been transformed into an elegant space with an Indian-inspired menu. The area has been divided into three sections, with the entrance extending as a bar, for some booze. Those without a booking can walk straight to the restaurant bar with expansive views of Flinders Street. The restaurant space has a banquet seating arrangement, with an option to choose from dishes like corn-fed chicken, tandoor or goan fish.
Even though the space is split open, each of the section flows smoothly into the next. With bright spices in jar, distressed walls are featured throughout, and the colour is contrasted via blue and red legs of the stools. When you are in the city, you should definitely check out this place!