Best Lunch in Melbourne CBD

What makes a good CBD lunch spot?

It could be that you're meeting a prospective client and you need somewhere central and impressive to dine. Or you could be a time-poor worker looking for a place with reliable food and fast, efficient service. Or maybe you're just a tourist in the centre of Melbourne looking for the kind of restaurant that Melburnians eat at day in, day out.

Whatever the case, there's a spot in here for you.

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Best Restaurants in Melbourne's CBD

Akaiito

Restaurant

Sit at the omakase bar for robata-grilled marron with kombu butter; clam and miso soup; and fried rice amplified with Wagyu, shiitake and cod roe. All in a heritage-listed building full of original bluestone features and brooding black marble.

349-351 Flinders Lane, Melbourne

Asado Bar and Grill

Restaurant

A former Stokehouse chef putting a Spanish twist on traditional Argentinian cooking.

6 Riverside Quay, Southbank

Bar Carlo

Bar

A laneway bar with unique liqueurs and classic Italian bites. Come for the spritz; stay for the cicchetti.

20 Meyers Place, Melbourne

BangPop

Restaurant

Hawker-style food from the streets of Bangkok, at South Wharf.

35 South Wharf Promenande, South Wharf

Butchers Diner

Restaurant

Late night burgers, steak sandwiches and duck-heart yakitori.

10 Bourke Street, Melbourne

Cumulus Inc.

Restaurant

Andrew McConnell's all-day eating house combines excellent food with interior design.

45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne

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Daughter In Law

Restaurant

A vibrant pan-Indian diner serving sweet-and-sour fried cauliflower, “unauthentic” butter chicken and Tandoori-fired-pineapple cocktails.

37 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne

Dohtonbori

Restaurant

A DIY okonomiyaki restaurant. There's also sushi, salads, fried chicken, donburi, gyoza and yakitori.

Level 1 14B Star Circus, Docklands

Din Tai Fung

Restaurant

It's the dumpling chain with a Michelin star and outlets all around the world. What more encouragement do you need?

M002/4 Emporium Melbourne 287 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne

Farmer’s Daughters

Restaurant

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.

80 Collins 95 Exhibition Street, Melbourne

Fancy Hank’s

Restaurant

One of Melbourne's original American barbeque joints.

Level 1 79 Bourke Street, Melbourne

Greta

Cafe

At Greta, you'll find breakfast pasta, crackling-coated porchetta rolls and free aperitivo snacks. Swing by this olive and mustard-toned sandwich and wine bar for Axil coffee and Penny for Pound pastries, or linger with a Martini made with Four Pillars Olive Leaf Gin.

450 Flinders Lane, Melbourne

Gradi Crown

Restaurant

Winner of the best-pizza-in-the-world 2014 is also at Crown.

Shop 25 8 Whiteman Street, Southbank

Hawker Chan

Restaurant

The Melbourne outpost for Singapore's most famous chicken-rice vendor.

157 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne

Ippudo

Restaurant

A world-famous ramen joint serving the Hakata-style noodle-soup dish from Japan’s Fukuoka prefecture.

Shop 18 Artemis Lane, QV Lonsdale Street, Melbourne

Magic Mountain Saloon

Restaurant

Punchy Thai food and cocktails.

62 Little Collins Street, Melbourne

Palermo

Restaurant

An Italian-influenced Argentinian spot by the San Telmo and Pastuso team.

401 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne

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Pepe's Italian & Liquor

Restaurant

Pepe's is a New York-inspired Italian restaurant. The space has all the terrazzo floors, plump leather booths and dim lighting you could ask for. So grab a Martini, take a seat in one of those booths and scan the menu. Clams Casino? Veal parmigiana? A hot-fudge sundae? It’s hard to go wrong.

275 Exhibition Street, Melbourne

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Rooftop Bar

Bar

This is one of the CBD's quintessential rooftops. It's appeared in Melbourne-set movies, has great outlooks, good drinks and vibey music. Plus, in summer, it morphs into a rooftop cinema screening cult movies and classic blockbusters.

Level 7, Curtin House 252 Swanston Street, Melbourne

San Telmo

Restaurant

An Argentinean restaurant and wine bar that features a traditional parrilla barbeque.

14 Meyers Place, Melbourne

ShanDong MaMa

Restaurant

A family-run dumpling house specialising in seafood.

Shop 7 200 Bourke Street, Melbourne

Supernormal

Restaurant

Beautifully executed pan-Asian offerings by Andrew McConnell. Come for Melbourne's most famous lobster roll, steaming bowls of ramen at lunch, Korean-style barbequed meats and Shanghai dumplings.

180 Flinders Lane, Melbourne

The George on Collins

Restaurant

An elegant all-day bar and restaurant in an iconic building.

162-168 Collins Street, Melbourne

The French Brasserie

Restaurant

A dependable brasserie serving French classics to the suited and booted.

2 Malthouse Lane, Melbourne

Mrs Singh

Restaurant

An Indian(ish) wine bar on Flinders Lane, where cheesy flatbreads star.

88 Flinders Lane, Melbourne

The Moat

Cafe

More than simply the Wheeler Centre's bar and cafe, The Moat is a food and wine destination.

176 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne

Taxi Kitchen

Restaurant

A casual dining space with one of the finest views in Melbourne.

Level 1 / Transport Hotel Federation Square Swanston & Flinders Street, Melbourne

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+39 Pizzeria and Antipasteria

Restaurant

The prefix for international calls to Italy is a fitting title for this pizzeria and degustation bar.

362 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne

Tres a Cinco

Restaurant

The Movida team's lively cantina, in the former Bar Tini site, brings home-style Mexican to Hosier Lane. Led by Mexican chef Sarai Castillo, expect beef tacos exactly how they're served in Mexico, prawn-and-chorizo tamales and a jiggly chocolate flan. Plus eight different Margaritas and hard-to-find agave spirits.

3-5 Hosier Lane, Melbourne

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