Start Every Dinner With a Fresh Bite: Six of Melbourne’s Best Raw Bars

Oysters have a reputation for being luxurious, indulgent and ordered on special occasions – and those associations are all accurate. But, with so many Melbourne menus offering up a freshly shucked selection, oysters – as well as other tasty raw bar options – ought to be part of the regular dining experience, too. Especially when you’re sharing with some good company, raw seafood dishes are an ideal way to ease into a shared meal before the main event starts rolling out from the kitchen.

And there’s nothing stopping you from indulging in raw bar delights. Broadsheet and NAB have teamed up for Booking With Benefits, a dining program that gives you $50 off the bill when you spend $250 or more and pay on your NAB credit or debit card at selected venues countrywide – including all of the restaurants below.

So, with dreams of fresh seafood swimming through our heads, we’ve put together a list of our favourite Melbourne raw bars to start your meal off right.

Farmer’s Daughters

Farmer’s Daughters is chef Alejandro Saravia’s way of bringing his love of Gippsland – especially its produce – to Melbourne’s CBD. It means that just about everything on his and head chef Jasper Avent’s seasonal menus are sourced from the region’s farmers and producers – whether that’s Maffra cheddar, Jones potatoes from Warragul or Greenham beef from Sale. The best experience is the set menu that kicks off with rock oysters with a spiced-up mignonette flavoured with pepperberry, but you’ll find them on the à la carte menu, too.

Marmelo

Consider the oysters at Marmelo as a worthy introduction. With Marmelo, Ross and Sunny Lusted bring the flavours of Portugal and the Iberian Peninsula to Melbourne – though mostly by way of Victorian produce. The restaurant’s rock oysters come served with Portugal’s signature piso – a sort of pesto made with the pungent herbiness of coriander – and the zingy spice of fermented piri-piri. But it’s the fire-warmed Pacific oysters with charcuterie dressing that are a welcome change from typical oyster offerings. From there, move onto dishes like a Victorian take on Portugal’s staple salted cod croquette (here it’s Murray cod with potato), and a piri-piri-spiked, wood-roasted cockerel that plays on Portuguese-style roast chicken.

Maha

Shane Delia’s Maha is a proper institution by now. And while the Middle Eastern-styled diner is lauded for its hearty signatures like its sumac-marinated lamb shoulder or flaky mushroom borek, don’t skip the seafood starters. At the moment, you’ll find meaty scallops from cold Hokkaido waters dressed with spicy Beirut butter; and a tart of salmon cured in chemen (a blend of spices like fenugreek, paprika and cumin), pickled golden beetroot and dill.

Marameo

Before blessing us with their Greek-styled spot in Glen Iris, restaurateurs Michael Badr and Marco Tenuta made their mark with city Italian spot Marameo. Here, chef Geoff Martin presides over a menu that takes classic Italian dishes up a few levels, as seen especially in the 10-layered lasagne filled with Wagyu beef shin ragu (which has taken the place of Marameo’s previous 10-cheese version), and the restaurant’s signature black truffle cacio e pepe. A dozen of Marameo’s rock oysters dressed with a zippy chardonnay vinaigrette and shallots to start offer a freshness that will prime the palate nicely for the meal to come.

Bar Sophia

The leafy south-eastern suburb of Glen Iris has pulled a few recent surprises in the dining realm – including Bar Sophia, by the aforementioned duo of Badr and Tenuta. The Greek diner is modelled on Athenian tavernas and boasts a woodfired oven that touches everything from butterflied king prawns with tarama and thyme butter to the house-made smoky flatbreads. But before you work through chef Nick Deligiannis’s fiery menu, order a plate of the restaurant’s oysters, served simply with a sweet-and-sour punch of shallot vinegar. A carafe of crisp Greek white wine assyrtiko wouldn’t go astray, either.

Juni

Chef Henri Budiman (formerly of Coda) gets to draw all his influences together at Juni, with pan-Asian styling mixing with French and Italian touches across the menu. That looks like dishes mixing stracciatella with a Thai-spiced chilli paste, or a dry-aged take on the classic Peking duck served with apple kimchi and hoisin. Before you dive into those dishes, though, it’s best to start with Juni’s oysters, which naturally skew in a spicier direction, coming dressed with a funky-sweet nam jim dressing.

The Broadsheet Dining Program Special Offer of a $50 discount when you spend $250 or more is available when you dine at a Participating Restaurant between 13 January 2026 and 16 December 2026. To be eligible for the Discount Offer, you must make a booking via the NAB Exclusive Booking Link for the Participating Restaurant which is found on the Broadsheet Booking Page and spend a minimum of $250 on your NAB credit card. Between 2 June 2026 and 16 December 2026, Select venues will also accept NAB debit card payments. The Discount Offer will apply at the Restaurant when you pay the final bill amount including GST and service fees and charges (if any) with your NAB credit card (includes a digital NAB credit card) or NAB debit card (includes a digital NAB debit card) at select venues. The Discount Offer is only valid once per booking and will not apply to any split bills and cannot be used in conjunction with any other offers. For the full Terms and Conditions of this Offer, please click here.

This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with NAB.