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The Best Spanish and Argentinian Food in Melbourne
From tapas and paella to parrilla, empanadas and dulce de leche, these Spanish and Argentinian restaurants, bakeries and bars are primed for a World Cup final feast.
At 5am on Monday, Spain and Argentina will meet for football’s biggest prize. Melbourne’s contribution is breakfast-adjacent, heavily sauced and best begun well before kick-off.
Spend the weekend moving between jamón, croquetas and paella, or commit to the Argentine game plan: empanadas first, steak over coals and dulce de leche at full time. From Hosier Lane institutions to Richmond empanada counters, these are Melbourne’s best Spanish and Argentinian restaurants, bakeries and bars for eating your way through the final.
Neutral territory is entirely optional.
The Best Spanish Restaurants in Melbourne
MoVida
Some restaurants age. MoVida becomes the reference point. Frank Camorra’s Hosier Lane institution helped Melbourne understand that Spanish food could be precise, energetic and far more interesting than an enormous pan of indifferent rice. The room remains in perpetual demand, with jamón Ibérico, golden croquetas and tortilla española arriving beneath the city’s most photographed cobblestones.
Bookings can disappear weeks ahead, so consider any available table a late call-up to the national squad.
1 Hosier Lane, Melbourne
Añada
Gertrude Street receives a little Andalusian heat at Añada, an intimate Fitzroy dining room informed by the peasant food of southern Spain and the produce of Victoria.
Order chorizo pinchos, seafood paella and enough small plates to make table space a tactical problem. The tasting menu is the easiest route for indecisive groups, particularly once the Spanish wine starts circulating and everyone develops a strong opinion about possession football.
197 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy
Bar Lourinhã
Bar Lourinhã is Iberian rather than strictly Spanish, but excluding it would be culinary VAR at its most joyless.
For two decades, the narrow Little Collins Street room has sent out Portuguese and Spanish-influenced dishes with an instinct for salt, smoke, acidity and the correct amount of olive oil. Croquetas, octopus and the blackboard specials keep regulars returning, while the close-set tables ensure you hear several competing theories about the final before dessert.
37 Little Collins Street, Melbourne
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La Pinta
La Pinta plays by its own rules. The Reservoir dining room accepts walk-ins, changes its chalkboard menu frequently and charges prices that feel almost suspicious in present-day Melbourne.
One visit might involve albóndigas and mussels, another wallaby tartare, pumpkin agnolotti or whatever the kitchen found worth cooking that week. Spanish wine and vermouth run freely, seats fill quickly and arriving late carries the same risks as leaving your best striker on the bench.
791 High Street, Reservoir
Tinto
Hawthorn gets its place in the Spanish starting eleven through Tinto, a neighbourhood favourite built for long tables and generous ordering. Begin with snacks and tapas, then move into the raciones before the paella arrives to settle the contest.
The pollo and chorizo version is the reliable crowd-pleaser, while the paella de bogavante loads the pan with lobster and calamari. Bring at least one other person, arrive hungry and accept that possession of the serving spoon will become fiercely contested.
555 Burwood Road, Hawthorn
The Best Argentinian Restaurants in Melbourne
San Telmo
San Telmo understands that Argentine cooking begins with fire and ends with somebody insisting you order another bottle of Malbec.
The Meyers Place parrilla works through empanadas, chorizo, morcilla, vegetables from the grill and pasture-fed steaks carrying the dark crust only proper charcoal can produce. Finish with dulce de leche flan, then attempt to remember that the match itself does not begin for several more hours.
14 Meyers Place, Melbourne
Palermo
If restraint has already been eliminated from the tournament, Palermo is the correct dinner move. A circular red-brick fire pit dominates the Little Bourke Street room, sending ribeye, T-bone and other formidable cuts across the dining floor. The restaurant draws on Argentina’s strong Italian heritage too, so the menu moves beyond steak without losing sight of the central assignment: gather several hungry people and order with ambition.
401 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne
Caminito La Boca
For this particular final, Caminito La Boca feels almost suspiciously well cast. Footscray’s family-run bodegón cooks the Argentine comfort food Melbourne’s sleeker steakhouses often leave behind: choripán streaked with chimichurri, beef and tripe empanadas, pastel de papa, winter locro and milanesa buried beneath ham, salsa and cheese.
The main event is a $50 asado loaded with provoleta, ribs, vacío, chorizo and black pudding, served with ensalada rusa and chimichurri. Saturday dinner comes with live tango, while Malbec and Torrontés take care of the drinking. Argentina does not play defensively here.
Sitchu Tip: All beef, lamb, chicken and fish served at Caminito La Boca are halal certified. Finish with flan mixto and enough dulce de leche to carry you through Monday’s 5am kick-off.
205/207 Nicholson Street, Footscray
Asado
Asado’s three-metre parrilla makes the open kitchen look less like a restaurant fixture and more like serious sporting infrastructure. O’Connor beef, lamb and pork meet smoke and flame, backed by Spanish-influenced starters that make this Southbank dining room particularly valid for a divided Spain-Argentina table. It is large, lively and built for group dinners, with enough meat on offer to settle almost any cross-table dispute.
6 Riverside Quay, Southbank
Argies
For a 5am final, Argies may be the most practical player in the squad. The Richmond cafe specialises in handmade Argentinian empanadas, with beef, chicken, cheese and other fillings enclosed in burnished pastry. Add alfajores thick with dulce de leche and coffee for the road. Collect a box ahead of the match, warm them at home and spare yourself the indignity of eating dry cereal during a World Cup final.
436 Bridge Road, Richmond
El Mercado Bakehouse
El Mercado supplies the bench strength every home viewing party needs. The Cheltenham bakery produces nine empanada varieties alongside medialunas, alfajores, cakes and coffee. The medialunas are Argentina’s sweeter, softer answer to the croissant, while the alfajores supply enough dulce de leche to revive anyone after an early alarm.
Sitchu Tip: Arrive with a large box and you will immediately become the most valuable person in the room.
13 Follett Road, Cheltenham
True South
Black Rock enters the starting eleven with True South, a Bayside restaurant applying a modern Melbourne accent to Argentinian flavours.
The sharing menu moves from beef empanadas and truffled chipá to porterhouse with chimichurri and Malbec jus, milanesa Napolitana and slow-roasted lamb shoulder. Groups can surrender the ordering decisions to the $75 Taste of the South menu, while those approaching the final with greater ambition can pre-order a quarter, half or whole suckling pig. Finish with churros or a coconut alfajor filled with dulce de leche, preferably as the sun drops over the bay.
Sitchu Tip: Pre-orders are essential for the suckling pig. True South opens from noon Tuesday to Sunday and from 3pm on Monday, so this is strictly pre-final preparation rather than a 5am screening prospect.
298 Beach Road, Black Rock
Spain may own the ball. Argentina may own the nerve. Melbourne owns the catering. Book the steakhouses, arrive early at La Pinta or stock the kitchen with empanadas before Monday morning. The trophy can only go one way, but dinner can remain gloriously bipartisan.
Still hungry? Spend the rest of the weekend grazing through Melbourne’s best local markets and pastry shops.
