The Hatted Restaurants in Melbourne & Surrounds You Need To Try
From local legends to unlikely culinary heroes, these are the best hatted restaurants in Melbourne and surrounds you need to try at least once.
For chefs and restaurants, being awarded a ‘Chef Hat’ is the highest honour. For diners, it means your hitlist is pretty much done and dusted.
So for food with all the frills that are worth every penny, tip your hat to these noteworthy selected best hatted restaurants in Melbourne. Which ones will you be booking this year?
Three Hatted Restaurants in Melbourne
Attica
A fixture on The World's 50 Best Restaurants list since 2010, Attica is a must-try for all foodies. Serving up inventive tasting menus that push the culinary boundaries, each dish heroes local, underrated ingredients like bunya nuts and murnong.
Eclectic, warm and one-of-a-kind, dining at Attica is a truly unique experience, worth more than three hats.
74 Glen Eira Road, Ripponlea
Brae
The very definition of farm-to-plate, Brae has retained its three chef hats and has previously been awarded Vittoria Restaurant of the Year.
Sitting pretty on 30 acres with vegetable plots and an established grove of over 100 trees, Brae uses fresh produce from its farm as well as that of local producers and growers, to shape their ever-changing menu.
4285 Cape Otway Road, Birregurra, Victoria
Amaru
Unbound by geography and genre, the chefs continually chase exciting new flavours and textures. In Amaru's ‘Sensory’ menu, peak produce meets inspired cooking that has seen this beautiful restaurant take home some impressive awards.
Meanwhile, the cosy yet elegant fit-out creates instant intimacy while being simple enough to let the sophisticated dishes sing.
1121 High Street, Armadale
Two Hatted Restaurants in Melbourne
O.MY Restaurant
Beaconsfield might not be the typical Melbourne suburb to venture for impeccably creative, garden-to-table tasting menus served with a side of rustic-chic interiors, but O.MY overthrows many a preconceived notion the moment you settle in.
Opened in 2013, this two-hatted restaurant in Melbourne has since won a swathe of awards (and a legion of fans) in the process and is best known for the restaurant's sustainable philosophy and surprising, minimal-waste degustation menu.
The Head Chef is in charge of the kitchen and the restaurant’s two-acre farm in nearby Cardinia – which supplies vegetables, fruit, honey and eggs for the restaurant.
The offering changes daily, and ranges between 4 to 7 hyper-seasonal dishes, depending on your preference.
70 Princes Highway, Beaconsfield
Ten Minutes By Tractor
Ten Minutes By Tractor is a must-visit for those passionate about food and wine. Named after the convergence of three family owned Mornington Peninsula wineries (each ten minutes by tractor apart), the estate offers some of the truest expressions of the region's varieties.
The tasting menu celebrates the incredible local produce taken from neighbouring farms, the kitchen garden and ingredients foraged from around the region.
1333 Mornington-Flinders Road, Main Ridge
Underbar
Though it's a trek from the city, sitting at the top of any fine dining list is Underbar, a venue in Ballarat seating just 16 people.
Serving a refined, seasonal tasting menu by a chef who’s worked at the famed Per Se in New York, it’s one of the historic city's most coveted reservations. Every Friday and Saturday evening, eager diners flock for their exceptional tasting menu, inspired by the season and surrounds.
Add this one to your dining bucket list, pronto.
3 Doveton Street N, Ballarat Central
Cutler & Co
A sleek yet industrial setting within an old factory, it’s easy to settle in for the evening at the elegant Cutler and Co.
With a focus on top-quality produce and a great fine dining experience, this consistently hatted restaurant in Melbourne boasts a menu that is designed to share with simple and seasonal modern Australian dishes.
55/57 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy
Greasy Zoe's
Tiny but almighty, Greasy Zoe's is one of the best fine dining restaurants in regional Victoria, albeit just a stone's throw from the city.
A produce-driven restaurant in the heart of Hurstbridge, the doors to this intimate 8-seater opened in 2017. Serving only 32 people a week, sustainability, ethical treatment of animals and the restaurant's environmental impact are the driving inspirations behind their quality over quantity approach.
There is no written menu; each day Zoe creates a multi-course meal in response to the grown produce supplied by a host of small, hyper-local, organic farmers.
It's the elevation of seasonality and locality that makes Greasy Zoe's one of the best hatted restaurants in Melbourne.
Shop 3/850 Heidelberg - Kinglake Road, Hurstbridge
Ishizuka
This uber-exclusive hidden basement restaurant embodies the ultra-seasonal ‘kaiseki’ style of Japanese dining. Seating just 16 guests, everyone is served an 11-dish tasting menu displaying luxe ingredients and exceptional technique.
Complex yet restrained dishes are a masterclass in Japanese perfectionism, changing day by day with the freshest produce on offer.
139 Bourke Street, Melbourne
Navi
Located in the leafy, suitably gentrified suburb of Yarraville is one of the most exciting and best hatted restaurants in Melbourne.
Serving a degustation menu to only 25 guests a night has given chef-owner Julian Hills more space to flex his creative muscles, with the results speaking for themselves at Navi.
Adventurous diners are bound to love the genre-bouncing playlist and novel drinks list before they even get to the impeccable food.
83b Gamon Street, Yarraville
Grossi Florentino
When a dining experience kicks off with a ceremonial Champagne trolley, you know you’re in for a good night. In the opulent setting of Grossi Florentino, they really pull out all the stops.
Crystal chandeliers hang elegantly from the ornate ceiling and ancient murals decoratively line the walls. This has Italian romance written all over it. The food is exquisite, serving traditional comfort plates with a touch of decadence.
80 Bourke Street, Melbourne
Flower Drum
The name Flower Drum is synonymous with Melbourne hospitality – the near 50-year-old Cantonese institution even has its own Wikipedia page.
Around a sumptuous grand dining room weave experienced waiters who greet their regulars (politicians, high profile chefs and celebrities among them) like old friends.
One of the best hatted restaurants in Melbourne complete with wallet-busting premium live seafood cooked to world-class perfection.
17 Market Lane, Melbourne
Kazuki’s
After making a name for themselves as the place to dine in picturesque Daylesford, Kazuki's made the move back to Melbourne in late 2018.
The refined cooking that made them a destination in their original home is a crowd-pleaser, with Euro-Japanese dishes combining flavours with French techniques.
121 Lygon Street, Carlton
One Hatted Restaurants in Melbourne
Society
The Society Dining Room is a statement of modern Australian design and sophisticated dining culture. Slip inside this one-hatted restaurant in Melbourne to discover an opulent supper-club environment, a ceiling alight with hand-cut crystal installations, and soaring windows.
Allow your journey to begin with its formidable cellar, home to over 10,000 bottles, and a supremely impressive support act to the visually beautiful food.
The art of à la carte is the real centrepiece here, allowing you to curate your own experience to ensure that two visits need ever be the same.
80 Collins Street, Melbourne
Luci
Relative newcomer Luci has joined the lineup of one hatted restaurants in Melbourne.
Hidden within the Hilton Melbourne Little Queen Street, its contemporary Australian menu nods to Melbourne's European accents and is designed to celebrate quality ingredients with refined simplicity at its core.
18 Little Queen Street, Melbourne
Tonka
Fiery Indian cuisine with a refined and contemporary touch is what you can expect from this CBD mainstay Tonka, tucked off one of Melbourne’s most iconic laneways.
The luxe white tablecloths won’t be pristine for long after you devour Tonka’s glorious saucy and succulent dishes. May we recommend arriving hungry?
20 Duckboard Place, Melbourne
Coda
A true Melbourne institution, the sleek and chic Coda is widely agreed to be one of the city’s best.
Always buzzing with its own special brand of energy, not only is this the place to be seen on a Friday night (or any other night for that matter) – but you’re guaranteed a brilliant meal in the process.
141 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
Chauncy
Say bonjour to Chauncy, Heathcote's marvellous fine dining and one hatted destination for all things French and delectable.
Gorgeous hospitality will welcome you in to a light and romantic dining room, where you'll be treated to a hearty menu du jour.
The best seasonal produce shines on the plate here, with a classy experience that will transport you to the French countryside.
178 High Street, Heathcote
