The 33 Best Restaurants In Melbourne 2023

"Carlton Wine Room is, in fact, many rooms spread across five levels of a 19th-century terrace house. We reckon the place to be though is the marble bar on the ground floor. Staff act as masterful guides for a 100-strong wine list covering both classic and contemporary terrain, while the kitchen puts up pretty dishes that drive you to delve deeper into that drinks selection. The potato focaccia has a pleasing squish-to-crunch ratio, begging to be torn apart and dipped into an accompanying bowl of stracciatella in chive oil. Don’t miss the rum-soaked baba either, though if you’re a few wines in be warned: it’s big on booze. " - ellen fraser