Melbourne has one of the most serious food cultures in the world. Not serious as in stuffy — serious as in people genuinely care. They argue about where to get the best natural wine. They wait 45 minutes for a table without complaining. They travel three suburbs to try a chef’s first solo restaurant. It runs deep here, and nowhere is that more obvious than in the inner north.

Fitzroy and Collingwood sit right in the middle of it. These two adjoining suburbs have more good restaurants per square kilometre than almost anywhere else in the country. The cooking is ambitious, the wine lists are serious, and the rooms are usually worth looking at. If you are visiting Melbourne and you eat in the CBD the whole time, you are doing it wrong.

Why the Inner North Leads Melbourne’s Food Scene

Smith Street, Gertrude Street, Johnston Street and the surrounding blocks have been the breeding ground for Melbourne’s most interesting restaurants for the last two decades. Rents are lower than the CBD, the crowd is curious and discerning, and there is a culture of taking creative risks that you just do not find in more conservative parts of the city.

The area draws chefs who want to do things their way. It draws diners who are happy to share plates, sit at the bar, and try something unfamiliar. The result is a neighbourhood where the dining options are genuinely exciting, from a 40-seat Armenian fire cooking restaurant to a wine shop that pours better natural wine than most fine diners.

The Restaurants Worth Making the Trip For

Marion Wine Bar, Gertrude Street Fitzroy

Marion sits at 51-53 Gertrude Street and it is one of the best places in Melbourne to spend a long evening. Andrew McConnell’s wine bar does not run a traditional menu — the kitchen puts out daily specials built around what is good right now. Small bites, charcuterie, oysters, the occasional pasta. The wine list is thorough without being intimidating, and the flatbread with fromage blanc has become one of those dishes people travel specifically to eat.

Go on a weeknight if you can. It gets busy and the room is not huge. Rated among the top restaurants in Fitzroy and consistently one of the most recommended wine bars in Melbourne.

Zareh, Smith Street Collingwood

One of the most talked-about openings of 2025. Chef Tom Sarafian spent years in kitchens across Melbourne and London before opening his debut restaurant at 368 Smith Street, and it was worth the wait. Zareh is named after his grandfather — an Armenian who came to Australia from Egypt — and the cooking draws on both Armenian and Lebanese traditions, cooked over fire.

The 40-seat room is intimate and the food is genuinely unlike anything else in Melbourne. This is not a novelty act. Sarafian knows exactly what he is doing, and the result is cooking that feels both ancient and completely fresh. If you are staying in Collingwood, this should be your first booking.

Pincho Disco, Collingwood

Pincho Disco does exactly what the name suggests. Latin American food cooked over a Josper grill, cocktails, and enough energy in the room that you feel like you are somewhere worth being. Chef Diego Cardenas runs the kitchen, and the menu moves between fire-cooked proteins, bold sauces and the kind of sharing plates that make everyone at the table reach across each other.

The Wednesday Wagyu night — flame-grilled rump with chimichurri and triple-cooked potatoes for $39 per person — is one of the best midweek deals in the inner north. If you want a night that feels like a party, this is the place.

Public Wine Shop, Fitzroy North

On St Georges Road in Fitzroy North, Public Wine Shop is what a neighbourhood bar should be. Part bottle shop, part wine bar, part small restaurant. The wines are all organically farmed with minimal intervention — no additives, no shortcuts. The food is French-leaning and built around produce from small local farms, and the menu changes with the seasons.

It holds about 20 people inside, which means it feels like someone’s lounge room on a good night. Golden Hour runs Monday to Friday from 4pm to 6pm. If you are staying nearby and want somewhere to drop in without a booking, this is it.

Supernormal, Flinders Lane

Technically in the CBD but worth the short walk from Fitzroy or Collingwood, Supernormal is our pick for the best Asian fusion restaurant in Melbourne. Andrew McConnell — the same person behind Marion — opened this on Flinders Lane and it has barely had an empty seat since. The cooking pulls from Tokyo, Shanghai, Seoul and Hong Kong without feeling derivative.

The lobster roll is the dish everyone talks about: sweet lobster meat, Kewpie mayo, shallots and watercress in a warm brioche bun. Order it. The room is open, lively, and communal — it rewards going with a group.

What Makes Melbourne’s Inner North Different

The cooking in this part of Melbourne is rooted in something real. Chefs who open here tend to be doing it because they want to, not because they have a hotel backing them or a group behind them. The result is restaurants with actual points of view — cooking that reflects where the chef came from, what they believe in, and what they think is worth eating.

The diversity of the area feeds directly into the food. You can eat Armenian fire cooking on Smith Street, natural wine and French small plates in Fitzroy North, and Japanese-influenced lobster rolls in the CBD on the same night. It is not a gimmick. It is just what Melbourne’s inner north looks like when it is working properly.

Staying in Fitzroy and Collingwood

If you are coming to Melbourne to eat properly, staying in the inner north makes sense. You are walking distance from the restaurants worth caring about, without the noise and hotel-chain blandness of the CBD.

Artist Abodes manages a collection of boutique short-term rentals in Fitzroy and Collingwood — fully furnished, high-rated on Airbnb, and positioned right in the middle of everything on this list. You can walk to Marion, Zareh, and Pincho Disco. You can pick up a bottle from Public Wine Shop on the way home. That is the point.

Browse our Fitzroy and Collingwood properties and book direct for the best rate.

Related: For the bigger picture on Melbourne’s food, bar, and restaurant culture beyond just the inner north, see our experience guide: Melbourne’s Food and Bar Scene: Where to Eat and Drink in the Inner North.