One of the city’s original craft beer destinations, this sprawling boozer has 22 taps of indie brews from Victoria and beyond. We’d expect nothing less from a pub owned by the founder of Feral Brewing. The excellent beer garden is an ideal base of operations to work your way through the tap list.

This historic 19th-century public house has stepped into the 21st with an entirely meat-free menu – featuring fragrant miso ramen and hearty vego lasagne – and hyperlocal beers. Yet it still retains the heart of a classic pub, complete with fireplaces for the cooler months.

Lamaro’s is a love letter to long lunches and refined pub dinners. A woodfired grill lends Lamaro’s steaks their smokiness and char, while the rest of the menu blends classic pub fare with Southeast Asian and French flavours.

You’re not a live music fan in Melbourne unless you’ve been to the Corner. The room – and its infamous solitary column – is rightfully an icon. But did you know it also has a killer rooftop and beer garden upstairs?

There’s always plenty of action in the Prince’s grand front bar, but it’s the breezy, shaded beer garden that really commands the crowds. Get down early if you plan to scoff your burger or a steak at a table. Otherwise, this southside magnet is the kind of place where you can expect to stand on weekends.

Once a notorious pub with a chequered past, this north-side institution is now a glowing venue for special occasions, date nights and all-round good times. It includes an Eastern Mediterranean diner, a late-night vinyl-only bar and a sprawling beer garden.

At this art deco pub, you’re just as likely to catch scruffy rockers playing in the front bar as you are a bijou wedding in the gorgeous dining hall. This place is a beautiful mixed bag, just like Coburg itself. If you’re eating here, expect elegant pub dishes and a specials board devoted to gnocchi.

Kick back in the beer garden or balcony bar and enjoy city refinement in a country setting at this historic gastropub.

Enter the cyberpunk facade to find Chris Lucas’s two-level Japanese diner. Watch chefs turn skewered meat over jumping flames, slurp your noodles and call it good manners (it is in Japan), and sip cocktails named after Tokyo’s neighbourhoods. Book your table for the game here.

Shuttered for years, this classic Melbourne pub was carefully restored to its former glory by a crack team of publicans. Find Wagyu Philly cheesesteaks and nightly specials, a coolroom turned pool room and a Sunday sesh-ready courtyard.