Dinesmart Melbourne 2025
After more than two decades, this December marks the final chapter for DineSmart in its current format. Since 2003, diners and venues across Australia have raised over $4.4 million for grassroots homelessness projects – all through a simple $2 addition to the bill.
Across the city, participating restaurants are coming together for the last service, giving you a final chance to support local homelessness services, while enjoying some of Melbourne’s best food. This year, the campaign will chip in and fund solutions to provide care and support for people at risk, helping them transition from the street to a safe place to call home. Making a contribution to DineSmart goes a long way in helping people who are without shelter, food or support.
Taking part is simple: just dine at a participating venue, like the ones below, any time in December, and let the staff know you’re happy to add the $2 donation (or more, if you’d like) to your bill. Dine out and help out – one last time.
Restaurant
Farmer’s Daughters
This three-storey love letter to Gippsland and its produce is by Alejandro Saravia, the chef behind CBD classic Pastuso. There's a deli with house-made pastrami rolls; a suave restaurant with a focus on cooking with flames; and a greenhouse-like rooftop oasis.
Restaurant
Lagoon Dining
Take a seat at the black granite bar for hot and sour shredded potato, charcoal-roasted char siu and cured pork belly with rolled rice noodles in XO.
Restaurant
Lake House Daylesford
Long, slow lunches and degustation dinners at the edge of the lake – Alla and Allan Wolf-Tasker have been doing their thing since 1979 and it's never lost relevance.
Restaurant
Longrain
Longrain started in Sydney in ’95 and came to Melbourne a decade later. Since then, it’s been at the forefront of contemporary Thai dining here. Order a banquet and try favourites like caramelised pork belly and som tam salad.
Restaurant
Osteria Ilaria
Tipo 00’s younger sibling stretches beyond the pasta bar concept with meat and seafood dishes straight out of a modern Italian osteria. An enormous cellar below stocks Italian necessities like wine and house-cured charcuterie.
Restaurant
Port Phillip Estate
Some of the finest food, wine and views on the entire Mornington Peninsula, which is saying something. And the accommodation is no slouch either, with a range of beautiful king-sized suites to choose from.
Restaurant
Tipo 00
After all these years, moody Tipo 00 still attracts queues of people hoping for a taste of its simple yet meticulously assembled pastas. A couple of secondi and dolci also grace the menu, alongside salumi best enjoyed at the marble bar, spritz in hand. Make sure you arrive early – very early – if you don’t have a booking.
Restaurant
Freyja
An upmarket New Nordic restaurant occupying two levels of Collins Street’s Gothic 1880s Olderfleet building. Stop by when the sun is up for various smorrebrod, or Scandi open sandwiches. Later on, you’ll find standout savoury waffles, not-your-average beef tartare and other dishes where simplicity tempers innovation.
Restaurant
Ladyboy Dining & Bar
Neon signage and colourful murals line the walls of this playful Thai eatery. Enjoy modern takes on traditional Thai favourites – including soft-shell crab sliders, a hearty pad thai and flavourful curries.
Restaurant
San Telmo
An Argentinean restaurant and wine bar that features a traditional parrilla barbeque.
Restaurant
Pastuso
Pastuso brings Peruvian flair with a menu of ceviche, grilled meat and plenty of pisco. The dining room is a riot of colour, but we say grab a seat at the marble-clad bar and take in all the action, Pisco Sour in hand.
Restaurant
Beverly
At 24 storeys high, this bar and diner boasts some of the finest views of Melbourne, extending from the CBD as far as the Dandenong Ranges. The retractable glass rooftop ensures you can enjoy its Cali-cool style and al fresco dining all year round.
Restaurant
Palermo
An Italian-influenced Argentinian spot from the team behind San Telmo and Pastuso. Expect meat and fish cooked over the asado firepit – a specialty here. The layout is a nod to a classic steakhouse, plus there are private rooms for special occasions.
Bar
Auterra
This warmly lit bolthole, by Amaru's Clinton McIver, is all about fun fine-diner snacks – sans the degustation price tag and cutlery So, raise a spanner-crab doughnut in one hand, and a glass of champagne in the other.
Restaurant
Asado Bar and Grill
Asado is Spanish for roast. And that’s exactly the focus at this tan-leather-filled restaurant, which showcases grilled meats and big flavours. From the team behind San Telmo, Pastuso and Palermo, Asado encourages you to share a spread of tapas as well as meat, seafood and vegetables charred on the parrilla.
Restaurant
Robata
Departing from San Telmo's Latin American flavours, here the group focuses on yakitori and kushiyaki cooked over traditional binchotan charcoal. Also, masterfully-sliced sashimi and sake, in a fit-out that resembles a scene straight from the streets of Tokyo.
Restaurant
Amaru
Take one of 34 seats and put yourself in the hands of Clinton McIver and his degustation-only menu.
Restaurant
Harriot
Unlike its sibling Tipo 00, Harriot leans more towards France than Italy – courtesy of head chef James Kelly, who's cooked throughout Europe. Come for French-ish classical cooking starring Victorian produce and a deep and thoughtful wine list.
Restaurant
Punch Lane
This wine-slinging laneway bar was one of Melbourne’s first. Since 1994, it’s developed a loyal following for its expansive wine list, reliable service and Euro-leaning share plates (including an off-menu Portuguese fish stew).
Bar
Lilac Wine Bar
Named after a classic Jeff Buckley song, this grungy warehouse wine bar feels like a dinner party in a New York loft apartment. Come for nostalgic dishes with a French bistro lean, music played on vinyl and plenty of interesting wine.
Bar
Dessous
Lively cocktails and refined snacks are on the cards at this dark and daring basement bar. But it’s really the wine list you come here for – it’s an adventure in unfamiliar regions and varietals, and focuses on biodynamic and sustainable drops.
Restaurant
Hazel
This pared-back eatery from the Higher Ground, Top Paddock and Liminal team specialises in woodfired dishes that are unfussy, yet easily live up to the gold standard set by their other Melbourne venues.
