We haven’t seen this many exciting new restaurants in years. Chefs like Tom Sarafian, plus Saavni Krishnan and Sriram Aditya, the couple behind Saadi, finally went from dominating the pop-up space to opening permanent spots. Hugh Allen and Simone Watts proved that fine dining is far from dead. And a new wave of Greek restaurants re-cemented our place as one of the best cities in the world to eat taverna meals. These are the best new restaurants of 2025. 

Yiaga, East Melbourne

What luck that Hugh Allen, taking a walk through Fitzroy Gardens six years ago, passed the site that would become Yiaga and committed to opening his first restaurant there. The 30-year-old chef was shrewd enough to know that selecting an architect – John Wardle – who’d never designed a restaurant before would conjure up a rare space. The fine diner’s interior, clad in 13,000 ochre tiles, is just one extraordinary element in a playbook of many. The menu, by Allen and head chef Michael McCauley, artfully weaves its way through Australian ingredients taken to new and surprising places. A bite-sized mille-feuille made with dehydrated kale and cabbage, and layers of silky herb emulsion, is emblematic. Other winners: a silky coconut cream topped with caviar and lime zest; sweet curls of confit squid, cured in white miso, and finished with Thai basil and desert lime; and the Banksia Pop, a dessert worthy of a plinth at an art gallery. Allen’s vision for Yiaga was an audacious one. He had the chops to execute it. – Katya Wachtel, editorial director

Zareh, Collingwood 

Did Zareh really only open in August? Tom Sarafian’s debut restaurant is so ingrained in the fabric of Melbourne’s dining scene, it feels like it’s been around for at least a decade. Post-Covid, Sarafian became known as Melbourne’s pop-up king. But now he permanently reigns over the kind of kitchen he’s always deserved. Sarafian draws influence from his years of experience both here and in London, as well as his Armenian background; life and business partner Jinane Bou-Assi’s Lebanese heritage; and the pair’s travels to Glendale in Los Angeles (where there’s a large Armenian diaspora) and the Arab world. The chef expertly plates toum-covered chicken kebabs and tops hummus with king prawns and spanner crabs as Armenian and Lebanese vinyl plays through the custom Pitt & Giblin speakers. The whole city was waiting for Zareh. Sarafian and Bou-Assi did not disappoint. – Audrey Payne, Melbourne food and drink editor

Daphne, Brunswick East

Hannah Green’s excellent new public house, as she calls it, is the charming, playful younger sister to Etta’s measured elegance just up the road. It’s a warm, slightly cheeky mood that feels right for a site that was once home to Bar Romantica and its forebear, Cafe Romantica. Head chef Diana Desensi’s menu is packed with standout dishes that expertly marry the familiar with sparkle. A dish of heirloom tomatoes, but in a Bloody Mary-style dressing. Whipped cod on chewy fermented potato flatbread – topped with mussels escabeche. And a sublime ricotta tortellini paired with artichoke and radicchio in milk sauce – perfect foils and bedfellows. Pair with Daphne’s signature 3057 Martini, or any recommendation from sommelier Ashley Boburka’s wine list, and you’re in for a very good night out. – Katya Wachtel, editorial director

Suze, Fitzroy North

Top Melbourne wine bars deliver excellent drinks, considered food and knowledgeable service. The best of them do it in a way that also feels original and encapsulates the style and personality of the owners. Suze is such a place. Several of the best dishes I’ve eaten this year were made by chef and co-owner Steve Harry, previously head chef at Napier Quarter. Chickpea agnolotti has cross-border appeal with comté and nutmeg. Silky tuna is served in a pool of desert lime and Tasmanian wasabi, not quite broth and not quite sauce. Even Sydney rock oysters are made more memorable with snake chilli salsa. The moody dining room, dotted with idiosyncratic artworks and run by second owner Giulia Giorgetti, is energetic, but quietly so. In a city of numerous standout wine bars, this one manages to be itself in a way that feels inventive and exciting. – Katya Wachtel, editorial director

Ho Liao, CBD

Junda Khoo’s Malaysian beer hall Ho Liao is just one of the three venues across three storeys of the Tivoli Arcade the Sydney chef opened this June. While ground-floor Da Bao is great for takeaway and Ho Jiak on the first floor serves Khoo’s signature laksa-bomb dumplings, upstairs at Ho Liao is where all the fun is. Everyday classics, including char kway teow, Hainan chicken rice and Wagyu rendang, are served alongside truly special occasion dishes, such as lobster or crab with a choice of three sauces. Everything is made with Khoo’s playful approach. The chef happily strays from traditional cooking methods in favour of maximum flavour. – Audrey Payne, Melbourne food and drink editor

Barragunda Dining, Cape Schanck

There’s something special about eating produce just metres from where it was grown. At Barragunda Dining, the sun-drenched restaurant sits on the 400-hectare farm where you’re never more than a few paces from the soil that grew your dinner. Former Coda chef Simone Watts spent four years nurturing the garden before she finally welcomed diners to Barragunda’s 40-seat glasshouse dining room in February. Here, every dish reads like a conversation with the land: carrots sweetened in the cold winter soil, Black Angus beef from Barragunda’s own herd. It’s a restaurant that doesn’t just talk paddock-to-plate, it lives it – and invites you inside. – Stephanie Vigilante, head of social media

The Pontian Club, Collingwood

Anyone who has been paying attention would know that Melbourne underwent something of a Greek dining renaissance this year. And The Pontian Club, which started as a Sunday pop-up in a Brunswick East building formerly owned by the Pontian Community of Melbourne, is one of the new Greek wave standouts. It feels both old-school and incredibly modern, focusing on nourishing dishes and quality ingredients. Dishes are written in vague terms on chalkboards to encourage conversation between diners and servers. And the room fills with lively chatter as the kitchen team, led by former Gimlet chef Oscar Tan, cooks regularly changing unfussy dishes including Greek salad drizzled in olive oil and topped with a slab of feta, and grilled lamb chops with red peppers, tzatziki and a lemon cheek on the side. – Audrey Payne, Melbourne food and drink editor

Sogumm, Cremorne 

Melbourne’s Korean food scene gets more layered and interesting every year. With Sogumm, chef-owners and husband-and-wife team Changhoon “Kimmy” Kim and Suhyun Kim have brought something new again. The chef couple have worked in some of the world’s top kitchens: Changhoon at Aria, and Suhyun at Gimlet, Plaza Athenee in Paris and two-Michelin-starred Restaurant Andre in Singapore. But their time learning under Buddhist nun and fermentation expert Jeong Kwan – dubbed “the Philosopher Chef” by the New York Times – is the most influential on their casual restaurant. Following temple rules, there are no alliums in the vegetarian dishes at Sogumm. Each dish is centred on one of four traditional Korean seasonings. Vegan bibimbap is dressed in soy, a seafood noodle salad uses gochujang, a warming soup is finished with salt, and the slow-baked Jerusalem artichoke is glazed with doenjang. – Audrey Payne, Melbourne food and drink editor

Saadi, CBD

Saadi had big shoes to fill when it took over the former Sunda space. But chef couple Saavni Krishnan and Sriram Aditya, formerly of Manze and Gemini respectively, had time to refine their offering. They ran Saadi, a portmanteau of their names, as a pop-up for three years, taking over places including Etta and Public Wine Shop. Now they’re playing in the big leagues and have cemented their place. The menu changes monthly, and Krishnan and Aditya are at their best when they take family recipes and childhood favourites from India and refract them through their chef lenses. Standouts have included takes on pulikachal (a simmered tamarind sauce), made using a recipe from Aditya’s mum and served with a barbequed corner inlet flathead, and a snack that featured a celeriac achar (pickle) based on a recipe from Krishnan’s grandmother. – Audrey Payne, Melbourne food and drink editor

Boon Choou, CBD

We’re so spoilt for choice when it comes to Thai food, but Boon Choou is the one for me. Because the menu is so big and region-hopping, I rarely order the same thing twice. The grilled fish curry with green banana is what got me hooked. And then I found out it’s a special recipe passed down from the chef’s mother; great, now I’m crying from both the spice and the sentiment. I also find myself returning to the popia sod – the fresh spring rolls are a nice circuit breaker between the spice. In a few weeks’ time the team is opening a cocktail bar upstairs so I‘ll be spending my whole night on Heffernan Lane. – James Williams, creative solutions manager

Harriot, CBD

The Conferre Group (Tipo 00, Osteria Ilaria, Figlia and Grana) took a risk by branching out from the Italian food it made its name on. With Harriot, the French-leaning Collins Street restaurant led by chef James Kelly (formerly of Embla and Lyle’s in London) proves the team’s expertise is borderless. Walk in and the room’s warmth and sophistication makes you quickly forget you’re in an office building at the bottom of the city. Order the wood roast pigeon, the Wagyu scotch fillet or any other seasonal dish and you’ll soon be transported. – Audrey Payne, Melbourne food and drink editor

Kolkata Cricket Club, Southbank

No shade to icons like Gaylord, but Melbourne has been waiting for an Indian restaurant like Mischa Tropp’s Kolkata Cricket Club. That is, a place with glamour and a sense of occasion. Staff wear smart white uniforms with no grass stains in sight. Cocktails like the Ceylon Sour and the Marigold Martini are served properly chilled, in nice glassware. High ceilings, chandeliers and roomy leather booths invite sticking around. And a tandoor, a vital bit of kit absent from Tropp’s tiny Toddy Shop, has the kitchen turning out crowd-pleasers like whole barramundi in white poppyseed curry, and lamb tomahawks first marinated in green papaya and kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves). Bring a big group and order the lot. – Nick Connellan, Australia editor

Baix, Brighton

This year Ian Curley, the chef and owner behind institutions French Saloon and Kirk’s Wine Bar, opened two Brighton venues: Baix and the adjoining wine bar 81 Bay. A Brighton local, Curley ventured outside of the CBD for the first time and brought the kind of slick restaurant the suburb has always craved. The food is refined but approachable with items such as Wagyu porterhouse, and caviar-topped blinis with sour cream and chives to keep the locals coming back. – Audrey Payne, Melbourne food and drink editor

Marmelo, CBD

Whenever I recommend Marmelo, which is often, the response is invariably, “What’s it called? Where?” More people need to know about the flame-grillin’ restaurant, which channels influences from Portugal, its former colonies and the wider Iberian Peninsula into one supremely versatile package. Sit at the soothing green marble bar for pre-dinner snacks like Murray cod croquettes and a petite sanga of jamon paleta and sheep’s milk cheese. Find a nook deeper in the L-shaped dining room to go large with the extensive Iberian wine list, plus grilled octopus with Goan curry, paella-like arroz de marisco (seafood rice) and, honestly, some of the finest steak I’ve ever eaten. Pop in after dinner for one of the city’s more interesting dessert menus, starring a woodfired olive oil cheesecake for two. Marmelo does it all, with flavours and ideas that deserve more space in this city. – Nick Connellan, Australia editor

Honourable Mentions

Greek restaurants, new and old, helped define 2025 in Melbourne dining. Two that excelled are Taverna, hospo legends Angie Giannakodakis and Guy Holder’s homey restaurant in the former Hellenic Republic space on Lygon Street, and Salona’s, a Richmond restaurant that Kafeneion co-owner Stavros Konis’s grandfather founded 56 years ago, which underwent an expansion and overhaul. Beyond the Greek wave, Karen Martini took over South Yarra mainstay Bar Carolina; Nori Maki brought more affordable omakase to the CBD; Frankie Hadid arrived with Syrian- and Venezuelan-inspired food at Jamsheed‘s Clara Luna; Soi 38 left the car park for bigger digs; and Residence, a new restaurant at The Ian Potter Museum of Art, opened with its first chef in residence.  

The Best of 2025 is proudly presented by Square, Kia, NAB and Four Pillars. The restaurants in this article were selected independently by Broadsheet’s editors.