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The Best Restaurants in Southbank, Melbourne, Plus What’s Coming Next
Southbank’s dining scene is finally getting interesting. From Nobu, Rockpool and Asado to newer arrivals like Coupette, Marmont and Kolkata Cricket Club, these are the best restaurants in Southbank right now, plus the major Crown Melbourne openings still to come.
The best restaurants in Southbank, Melbourne start at Crown, where Nobu still sets the standard for black cod miso and Mischa Tropp’s hatted Kolkata Cricket Club makes Bengali cooking one to plan the night around. Rockpool Bar & Grill and Asado on Riverside Quay handle the steak. Marmont and Hacienda bring Californian glamour and tequila to the river, while Coupette at Hannah St Hotel and Vivi by the Malthouse cover breakfast through to pre-theatre pizza. These are the tables we keep returning to.
For years, Southbank was where you crossed the river for a show, a casino booking or a birthday dinner with a view, then headed home. That is starting to change. With Crown Melbourne midway through a $200 million redevelopment, even more reasons to arrive early and stay late are on the way.
These are the best restaurants in Southbank, Melbourne, plus the openings worth knowing about next.
Best Restaurants in Southbank, Melbourne: Where to Eat Right Now
Coupette & Bar Hannah
The smartest way to do Coupette might be to remove the need to leave. Check into Hannah St Hotel upstairs, start the evening downstairs at Bar Hannah, then move into Nathan Toleman’s all-day European bistro for oysters, steak frites, pasta and the late-night martini that suddenly makes staying upstairs look like excellent foresight.
Coupette has the bones of an old European neighbourhood bistro, filtered through Flack Studio and Melbourne: terrazzo floors, marble tables, banquettes, good wine and a room that works just as well at breakfast as it does several drinks into dinner. Executive chef Andrew Beddoes leads the kitchen, while next door Bar Hannah shifts from Square One coffee and pastries in the morning to cocktails, wine and snacks until midnight.
And the real move? Stay the night. Breakfast at Coupette runs from 7am to 11am, and we’ve thought about its sausage, egg and cheese muffin an unreasonable number of times since eating it. There are grander reasons to book a hotel room, but we’re not convinced there are better ones.
Suburb: Southbank
Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: Modern European
Best For: Date night, All-day dining, Hotel stays, Martinis
Need To Know: Open seven days from 7am until late; Tuesday pasta night is $35pp and Wednesday is BYO with free corkage.
Vivi Southbank
There is something about Vivi Southbank that makes leaving feel slightly inconvenient. Maybe it is the low-lit room, the playlist, the steady arrival of Negronis and pizza, or the fact that Fridays slide straight into aperitivo mode.
Sitting beside the Malthouse Theatre, Vivi is technically ideal for a pre-show feed, but it is even better when there is nowhere else to be. Order something blistered from the oven, add handmade pasta and a bottle of Italian wine, then bunker down. Southbank has flashier rooms, sure, but few we would rather spend several hours in.
Sitchu Tip: Go on a Tuesday, when pizzas at Vivi are $20.
Suburb: Southbank
Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: Italian
Best For: Pre-theatre dining, Pizza, Aperitivo, Casual dates
Need To Know: It’s right beside the Malthouse Theatre.
Kolkata Cricket Club
Kolkata Cricket Club is one of those restaurants where ordering sensibly lasts about three minutes. Mischa Tropp’s Bengali-led menu moves from charcoal-fired tandoori meats and hot naan straight into the dishes we keep thinking about afterwards: deeply spiced goat, glossy curries, garlic roti ripped apart while still blistered from the tandoor and a butter chicken that is richer, smokier and far less sweet than the usual version. The chicken itself is cooked over charcoal before meeting good butter and cream, which explains a lot.
Then there is the chingri malaikari, with wood-fired prawns folded through a fragrant coconut curry of caramelised onion, Kashmiri chilli, turmeric and mustard oil. Order too much. Mop up everything. This is not the table for leaving sauce behind.
Suburb: Southbank
Price Guide: $$$
Cuisine: Bengali & Pan-Indian
Best For: Group dining, Date night, Indian food, Pre-cinema dinner
Need To Know: Dinner only, Tuesday to Sunday; currently holds one Good Food Guide hat.
Marmont
Marmont has been one of Southbank’s best personality transplants. Grant Smillie’s Riverwalk spot feels loose in all the right places: lipstick-red booths, vinyl behind the decks, cold rosé catching the last of the light and Negronis arriving with very little encouragement required.
Then there is the food. Head chef Mark Tagnipez folds his Filipino-American background through a seafood-heavy menu with Californian and Latin American edges, so the table can move from scallop tostadas and crudo into fried chicken, grilled fish and something cold from the bar without losing momentum.
It has done a lot for a stretch of Southbank that once felt a little too polished and pre-planned. Marmont feels social, sunlit, slightly louche and genuinely fun. We are, quite plainly, very into it.
Suburb: Southbank
Price Guide: $$$
Cuisine: Californian, Latin American & Filipino-American
Best For: Date night, Cocktails, Riverfront dining, Late night
Need To Know: Open until 1am Friday and Saturday, with regular vinyl DJ sets and weekday Golden Hour.
Hacienda
Hacienda is at its best when the table starts disappearing under plates. Tuna tostadas slicked with salsa negra, soft-shell crab tacos with mango and habanero, elotes under burnt chilli butter, bubbling queso fundido and quesabirria ready for dunking into spiced consommé. Then someone orders the grilled oysters with chorizo brown butter and the whole thing gets even better.
The riverfront setting helps, but so does a bar taking tequila and mezcal seriously. Margaritas run from classic and spicy to coconut and limoncello, before Hacienda shifts gears and keeps things going until 1am. Big table, cold marg, too many tacos. Exactly right.
Sitchu Tip: Arrive at Hacienda between 3pm and 6pm, when margaritas are $15.
Suburb: Southbank
Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: Mexican
Best For: Group dining, Late night, Waterfront, Cocktail lovers
Need To Know: Open until 1am; tortillas and tostadas are made in-house from nixtamalised corn.
Nobu
Some restaurants become classics because they refuse to move. Nobu Melbourne has lasted by doing the opposite. Open at Crown since 2007, it remains one of Southbank’s defining dining rooms, with executive chef Célestin Gaty recently refreshing the menu around the dishes that made Nobu famous in the first place.
The black cod miso is still non-negotiable, glossy and caramelised at the edges, while the yellowtail jalapeño cuts through with citrus and heat. Crispy rice with spicy tuna, baby tiger prawn tempura, toro tartare with caviar and Japanese A5 wagyu nigiri round out the table. For all the restaurants that have arrived around it, Nobu still knows exactly why Melbourne keeps coming back.
Suburb: Southbank
Price Guide: $$$$
Cuisine: Japanese-Peruvian
Best For: Special occasions, Date night, Sushi, Iconic Melbourne dining
Need To Know: The black cod miso remains the signature; the Melbourne omakase is currently $198pp.
Rockpool Bar & Grill
Rockpool Bar & Grill has been part of Melbourne’s steakhouse conversation for years, and it still knows how to make beef feel like an event. Now under Hunter St Hospitality, with executive chef Santiago Aristizabal overseeing the Rockpool culinary program nationally, the kitchen remains fixated on sourcing, dry-ageing and cooking over wood fire.
The meat locker still does all of the talking, with David Blackmore wagyu, Cape Grim and other Australian producers moving through the grill. But the table should not stop at steak: oysters, caviar, wagyu croquettes, grilled fish, handmade pasta and a side or two involving beef fat are all part of the fun.
Suburb: Southbank
Price Guide: $$$$
Cuisine: Steakhouse, Modern Australian
Best For: Steak, Special occasions, Business dining, Wine lovers
Need To Know: Beef is dry-aged in-house and cooked over wood fire; the current beef tasting menu is $195pp.
Asado
Asado is not interested in subtlety, and thank god for that. The three-metre charcoal parrilla is the room’s main event, sending out blistered provoleta, beef empanadas, Wagyu tartare, scallops in Galician butter and serious cuts of Australian beef with smoke worked deep into every edge. Sher Wagyu skirt, O’Connor eye fillet and lamb hit the grill, while papas bravas and dulce de leche flan make very natural bedfellows.
Run by the San Telmo Group, it is big, smoky, generous Southbank dining with actual appetite behind it.
Suburb: Southbank
Price Guide: $$$
Cuisine: Argentinian & Spanish
Best For: Steak, Group dining, Fire cooking, Long lunches
Need To Know: The three-metre charcoal parrilla is the centrepiece; set menus currently run from $105pp to $165pp.
Venues Coming Soon to Southbank, Melbourne
Southbank’s next chapter is not arriving quietly. Crown Melbourne is midway through a $200 million overhaul, its biggest in almost 30 years, with more than 15 new restaurants, bars and casual venues on the way, alongside a reworked Riverwalk, new outdoor terraces and a much bigger play for Melbourne after dark.
And the roll call is serious: cult international restaurants, fire-driven dining, late-night bars, riverside drinking and an entirely rebuilt live venue. Southbank has spent the past few years becoming somewhere people actually want to stay beyond the booking. What comes next could change the way Melbourne uses this stretch of the river altogether.
Bellevue Bar & Terrace
First up is Bellevue Bar & Terrace, opening in November 2026 directly onto the Riverwalk. Crown is pitching it as a riverfront gastropub, with pub classics, big screens and a terrace that moves from long daytime drinks into something rowdier after dark. The appeal is obvious: Yarra views, cold beer, sport on screen and none of the formality Southbank has historically been accused of.
Mott 32
Then comes the serious dining flex. Mott 32 opens in March 2027, marking the Hong Kong-born restaurant’s Australian debut. Its calling card is a 42-day applewood-roasted Peking duck, backed by dim sum, seafood, wagyu and Cantonese roast meats. It is already recognised by Michelin and Asia’s 50 Best, so this one arrives with pedigree and, we suspect, a booking diary that will require serious planning.
Victor Churchill
Mid-2027 brings a second Melbourne chapter for Victor Churchill, this time as a full-scale bar and grill overlooking the Yarra. Armadale already has the marble, the dry-ageing room, the butcher’s blocks and that beautiful meat counter; Crown will take the same obsession with provenance, fire and butchery and stretch it across a larger restaurant built for dinner. Anthony and Rebecca Puharich are behind it, with Monty Koludrovic leading the culinary direction. Victor Churchill has long understood the theatre of butchery. Southbank looks set to give it a much bigger stage.
Brunetti Oro
Brunetti Oro arrives on the Riverwalk in 2027, and this is not shaping up to be a modest cafe counter. The Southbank flagship will bring together a full-height cake wall, traditional gelateria, pasticceria, open pizza kitchen, coffee bar and Campari bar under one roof. Espresso in the morning, pizza by lunch, gelato after dinner and one last Campari before heading home. The formula is obvious. The likelihood of stopping at one Campari, less so.
Amaya Modern Mexican
By early 2028, the western end of Crown’s Riverwalk will add Amaya Modern Mexican, a new riverside restaurant from Las Vegas hospitality heavyweight Andy Masi and Michelin-starred chef Jason McLeod. Fresh seafood, fire-roasted meats, share plates, tequila, mezcal and DJs are on the menu. Subtle, this is not. Southbank could use more of that.
Barbershop Cuts & Cocktails
Early 2028 will also bring Barbershop Cuts & Cocktails, a working barbershop with a hidden second life after dark. Behind a discreet door, the clippers give way to a whisky-heavy cocktail lounge with moody lighting, rich interiors, premium table service and live rock ’n’ roll.
Andy Masi’s Clique Hospitality is behind the concept, which already has a cult Las Vegas outpost at The Cosmopolitan. Expect classic and modern whisky drinks, theatrical serves and a room built for staying out later than planned. Southbank has plenty of places to start a night. This feels made for the bit that comes after.
FAQs About Restaurants in Southbank, Melbourne
The best restaurants in Southbank include Nobu, Rockpool Bar & Grill, Asado, Kolkata Cricket Club, Marmont, Hacienda, Coupette and Vivi Southbank. The mix now spans Japanese-Peruvian dining, Bengali cooking, wood-fired steak, modern Mexican, Italian pizza and late-night riverside restaurants, making Southbank one of Melbourne’s most varied dining precincts.
Crown Melbourne’s $200 million redevelopment will add more than 15 new restaurants, bars and casual venues. Confirmed openings include Bellevue Bar & Terrace, Mott 32, Victor Churchill, Brunetti Oro, Amaya Modern Mexican and Barbershop Cuts & Cocktails, with new venues arriving from late 2026 through to 2028.
Mott 32 is scheduled to open at Crown Melbourne in March 2027, marking the Hong Kong-born restaurant’s first Australian location. The menu will centre on its signature 42-day applewood-roasted Peking duck, alongside dim sum, seafood, wagyu and Cantonese roast meats.
Southbank has two standout steak destinations: Rockpool Bar & Grill and Asado. Rockpool focuses on dry-aged Australian beef cooked over wood fire, while Asado brings Argentinian technique to a three-metre charcoal parrilla, with Sher Wagyu, O’Connor beef and lamb among the headline cuts.
For pre-theatre dining in Southbank, Vivi is one of the easiest picks beside the Malthouse Theatre, with pizza, handmade pasta and aperitivo. Hacienda works well for tacos, margaritas and a later finish, while Coupette and Bar Hannah cover everything from early dinner to cocktails, with Bar Hannah open until midnight.
Taken together, these openings give Southbank more range than it has had in years. Dinner can lead to drinks, drinks to a show, and Crown Melbourne’s Riverwalk is slowly and surely becoming one of the city’s most complete after-dark precincts. For more ideas beyond the best restaurants in Southbank, explore our guide to what’s on in Melbourne, then plan your next escape with Victoria’s best beaches and our must-do picks in Daylesford and the Macedon Ranges.
