St Kilda Is Rising: The Old Favourites and New Openings Bringing Melbourne’s Seaside Back to Life

There was a time when Melbourne’s best nights had a habit of ending in St Kilda. A gig at the Prince Bandroom, wine at Dog’s Bar, dancing at Big Mouth or one more drink at the Espy. The Greyhound had its drag queens, Acland Street its late-night crowd, and Fitzroy Street was a parade of musicians, artists, beautiful troublemakers and people who’d long since abandoned the idea of an early night.

In the ’90s, St Kilda was a little gritty, a little glamorous and entirely its own creature. But its bohemian spirit ran much deeper. Decades earlier, Mirka Mora and her husband Georges had turned Fitzroy Street’s Tolarno into a meeting place for Melbourne’s artists and intellectuals, its walls alive with Mirka’s fantastical paintings. It wasn’t trying to be cool. It just was.

Then Melbourne changed around it. Small bars flourished in the CBD and inner north, rising rents put pressure on the creative community that had given St Kilda its edge, and familiar venues began disappearing. Fitzroy Street, once the centre of it all, found itself with empty shopfronts where the crowds used to be. St Kilda hadn’t lost its history, but somewhere along the way, it had lost a little of its magic.

And now, after years of watching the rest of Melbourne steal the spotlight, St Kilda is ready for another turn.

Andrew McConnell and Jo McGann are reimagining one of Melbourne’s most famous beachfront addresses. Ellie Bouhadana is preparing to give the old Claypots site a second life, Grant Smillie has big plans for The Prince, and the Saint Hotel is readying its return to Fitzroy Street. After years of watching Melbourne’s dining and nightlife scene flourish elsewhere, there’s something exciting about seeing so many people investing in the suburb’s future.

And then there’s the old guard. Donovans, with its sandstone fireplaces, white tablecloths and magnificent bay views, is collecting fresh accolades nearly three decades on. The Palais still knows how to put on a show, the Espy remains an institution, and the beautifully rebuilt St Kilda Pier curves out into the bay, its penguin colony welcoming a new generation of admirers. Somewhere between a sunset stroll and the last encore, St Kilda still knows how to make a night of it. Add new hotels, ambitious developments and fresh life along Fitzroy Street, and this is beginning to feel like more than another summer fling with the seaside.

Of course, the St Kilda of the ’90s can’t be recreated. Nor should it be. What excites me is the possibility of something entirely its own, where old music rooms and seaside institutions sit alongside new ideas, and there’s still room for the artists, eccentrics and characters who made the suburb famous. Because the best thing about St Kilda was never simply where you went. It was who you might find when you got there.

Maybe I’m a little sentimental about St Kilda. Maybe I just want to see Melbourne fall in love with its seaside again. But if there’s one suburb I’m rooting for this summer, it’s this one.

Fresh Openings + Coming Soon

The George Hotel (The Snakepit)

Some St Kilda legends belong underground. Beneath the historic George Hotel, The Snakepit returns this November, with Ganley Group resurrecting one of Fitzroy Street’s most notorious haunts. Upstairs, the legendary Crystal Ballroom once hosted Nick Cave’s Boys Next Door and The Birthday Party, alongside INXS and Hunters & Collectors. Downstairs, the basement earned its Flying Jug nickname before becoming a riotous indie nightclub. Its next incarnation promises vintage glamour, vinyl, live jazz, blues and soul, with old-school cocktails and a late-night larder slicing charcuterie to order. A little scandalous history, formidable musical pedigree and a welcome return to St Kilda’s wilder side.

Basement, 127 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda

Price Guide: $$$ (indicative)
Cuisine: Cocktail Bar & Late-Night Charcuterie
Best For: Live music, late-night cocktails, date nights, group drinks

The Prince

Grant Smillie knows a thing or two about The Prince. Long before his Los Angeles restaurant ventures, he was behind the decks at its legendary Onelove nights. Now he’s helping steer the St Kilda institution into its next era, with a public rooftop bar in the works, renewed nightlife ambitions and plans to return the pub to its neighbourhood roots. The 39-room hotel and beloved Bandroom remain part of the equation. For someone who once helped fill its dancefloor, taking the reins must feel like quite the full-circle moment.

2 Acland Street, St Kilda

Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: Pub fare
Best For: Group dining, Wine lovers, Weekend plans

Bar Adri

Fitzroy Street is getting its appetite back. Opening in late October, Bar Adri pairs Lasagna Lab founder Mattia Aloisio with former Tipo 00 head chef Tommy Barreault. On the menu: taleggio croquettes with brown butter, Skull Island prawns in mountain pepper sugo, and oysters with champagne zabaione. Mattia’s wife, Adriana, oversees 14 rotating wines by the glass, spanning Australia, Italy and France. With rich walnut timber, soft lighting and a serious kitchen, stopping in for one glass could become a much longer evening.

109 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda

Price Guide: $$$
Cuisine: Modern European
Best For: Date nights, wine lovers, long dinners, spontaneous drinks

Marea Beach House

The Stokehouse building has a new downstairs address, and it’s made for Melbourne’s long-awaited seaside summer. Andrew McConnell and Jo McGann’s Marea Beach House & Bar takes its cues from Southern Europe, with wood-grilled flatbread and whipped cod roe, fritto misto, Coffin Bay vongole and cold spritzes. ACME-designed interiors feature artwork by Mallorca-based Magnus Reid, while live music adds to the beach-house atmosphere. With the sand metres away and Port Phillip Bay stretching out beyond the windows, it’s easy to see how lunch might become dinner. Now open.

30 Jacka Boulevard, St Kilda

Price Guide: $$$
Cuisine: Southern European
Best For: Beachside lunches, sunset drinks, date nights, group dining

Stokehouse

The dining room above St Kilda Beach has survived more than most. A devastating fire destroyed the original Stokehouse in 2014; two years later, it rose again. Now, after 36 years in the van Haandel family’s hands, Andrew McConnell and Jo McGann are taking over. Reopening 3 November, the upstairs restaurant will pair its extraordinary bay views with mud crab and white asparagus, flounder in kombu butter and familiar favourites such as King George whiting with chips. Melbourne has plenty of excellent restaurants. Very few have this history, or this view.

30 Jacka Boulevard, St Kilda

Price Guide: $$$$
Cuisine: Modern Australian, Seafood
Best For: Special occasions, seaside dining, milestone celebrations, sunset dinners

The Saint Hotel

There’s life in the old Saint yet. Built as a bank in 1914, the Fitzroy Street landmark has since been a pub, nightclub and restaurant. This November, Refinery Group is bringing The Saint Hotel back, with chef Justin North overseeing the pub classics and Santos Pizzeria serving Detroit-style slices. Downstairs, a public bar and beer garden await; upstairs, a balcony bar and vinyl-fuelled cocktail lounge promise a later finish. Add vintage St Kilda prints, warm walnut and a custom pool table. Some buildings were clearly destined for a good night out.

54 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda

Price Guide: $$ (indicative)
Cuisine: Modern Australian Pub, Pizza
Best For: After-work drinks, group dinners, date nights, late-night cocktails

Dafina Seaside Grill

Some restaurant addresses hold a lifetime of memories. For Ellie Bouhadana and husband Rapha Tamir, Claypots on Barkly Street is one of them. After drawing crowds to Stokehouse’s Ellie’s Kiosk last summer, the former Hope St Radio chef is opening Dafina Seaside Grill in the seafood institution they both grew up visiting. Expected in early 2027, the menu will draw on Moroccan flavours, with brochettes, whole fish and fresh flatbreads planned. The bougainvillea-draped courtyard stays, and live music is on the agenda. Claypots’ old address is in good company.

213 Barkly Street, St Kilda

Price Guide: $$$
Cuisine: Moroccan-Inspired Seafood & Grill
Best For: Seafood lovers, courtyard dining, casual drinks, group dinners

Ultramarinos

A post-swim gelato is about to get a little more interesting. Opening 1 December, Ultramarinos will turn the Stokehouse beachfront kiosk into a gelato and cocktail bar from Andrew McConnell and Jo McGann, in collaboration with Melbourne favourite Pidapipo. Scoops, granita and something cold from the bar are all on the agenda, with the sand a short walk away. Alongside Marea downstairs and the refreshed Stokehouse upstairs, it completes a three-part transformation of the famous beachfront address. Our summer order? One of each, please.

30 Jacka Boulevard, St Kilda

Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: Gelato, Granita & Cocktails
Best For: Post-beach treats, sunset drinks, casual dates, summer catch-ups

The New Guard

The old St Kilda could turn a Tuesday into a story worth telling on Friday. Its next generation has inherited the knack. On Blessington Street, Thai spices drift from the charcoal grill. Along Inkerman, oysters are back on ice, with a neighbourhood pub next door. Fitzroy Street has fresh faces, familiar characters and reasons to miss the last tram. An early night? St Kilda was never much good at those.

The Fifth Province & The Carriage Bar

The Guinness has been flowing at The Fifth Province for years, but this Fitzroy Street Irish favourite isn’t resting on its laurels. Traditional music sessions bring musicians and regulars together, the whiskey collection runs to more than 100 bottles, and Sunday’s roast comes with Yorkshire puddings and all the trimmings. Its latest addition, The Carriage Bar, is a private-hire space with a fireplace and heated verandah, made for gatherings that deserve their own room. A familiar favourite with a little more space to celebrate.

Sitchu Tip: Monday’s traditional Irish music session starts at 6pm. Musicians are welcome to join in.

5/60 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda

Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: Pub fare
Best For: Group dining, Special occasion, Weekend plans

Yang Thai

Your average charcoal chicken shop could never. At Yang Thai, former Earth Angels chef Narit Kimsat and Waxflower co-founder Jimmy Pham give the suburban staple a southern Thai accent. Chicken is brined, marinated in turmeric and black pepper, then cooked over charcoal for smoky skin and juicy meat. Add sticky rice, freshly pounded green papaya salad and a fierce coriander-chilli sauce. Even the chips get special treatment, arriving with tamarind ketchup. Take your haul to St Kilda Botanical Gardens, find a patch of grass and settle in for an excellent lunch.

49 Blessington Street, St Kilda

Price Guide: $
Cuisine: Thai
Best For: Budget-friendly, Quick bite, Locals

The Lion & The Wombat

On Grey Street, a little piece of Britain has found its Melbourne home… and boy does it pull a regular weekend crowd. The Lion and Wombat does scotch eggs, fish-finger sandwiches and Sunday roasts with crisp potatoes, Yorkshire puddings and generous gravy. Cask ale is pulled from a traditional hand pump, dogs are welcome in the beer garden and nobody appears to be in much of a hurry. Pull up a chair for a pint and there’s a fair chance you’ll know the faces at the next table before you leave. Precisely what a neighbourhood pub should be.

107 Grey Street, St Kilda

Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: British Pub
Best For: Sunday roasts, cosy dates, dog-friendly drinks, pub lunches

Walrus Oyster Bar

St Kilda nearly lost The Walrus. For four months, it did. After closing abruptly in December 2025, Amy McGouldrick and chef Marty Webster revived their Inkerman Street oyster bar in April, now with bigger culinary ambitions thanks to the kitchen at neighbouring Carpenter’s Ruin. Thankfully, the favourites survived: freshly shucked oysters, gildas, carbonara-style sea urchin pasta and very dirty martinis. Add lesser-known wines, mustard-yellow walls and the owners’ eclectic record collection, and a beloved little corner bar is back exactly where it belongs.

9 Inkerman Street, St Kilda

Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: Seafood, Wine Bar
Best For: Oyster dates, martinis, intimate dinners, wine lovers

The Carpenter’s Ruin

One door down from The Walrus, the same team has opened a neighbourhood pub with a terrific appetite. At The Carpenter’s Ruin, Wednesday means buttery moules-frites, Thursday brings schnitzels and Friday offers a three-martini lunch with steak and chips. Chef Ciara Woodside makes Cook Islands-style ika mata, while the famous Walrus oyster pâté gets a second home. The drinks are equally considered, with local beers, Australian wines and hearty cocktails. Beer for the footy, excellent wine for dinner. Both feel right.

Sitchu Tip: The Friday three-martini lunch runs from noon to 3pm, with steak, chips and three martinis for $75.

15 Inkerman Street, St Kilda

Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: Gastropub
Best For: Date night, Long lunch, Cocktail lovers

Chronicles Bar

At Chronicles, Loc Fortune and Justin Lustman, who met working at The Toff, have created the sort of Fitzroy Street bar you can walk into without a plan. Bifold doors open onto the terrace, independent Victorian beers occupy the taps and the wine list favours local producers. There’s no need to leave when hunger strikes, either; order from a neighbouring restaurant and dinner can arrive at your table. An easygoing crowd, a good bottle and the freedom to stay for another. Melbourne’s small-bar culture looks right at home down south.

91–93 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda

Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: Wine bar
Best For: Date night, Wine lovers, Cocktail lovers

St LuJa

One hundred Guinness pints earns your name on the wall. That’s the level of hospitality you’ll find at St LuJa, a small Fitzroy Street cocktail bar with a decidedly Irish accent. Art Deco details meet serious whiskey shelves, well-made classic cocktails and a crowd that doesn’t need much encouragement to talk. Stand-up comedy appears on the calendar, too. Between the pint club and conversations stretching well past the first round, there’s a comforting lack of pretension. You may arrive knowing nobody. That rarely lasts.

9 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda

Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: Cocktail bar
Best For: Late night, Cocktail lovers, Locals

Charlong

Charlong’s name tells you plenty: ‘char’ for charcoal, ‘long’ for slow cooking. Chef and co-owner Alex Kaew draws on her grandmother’s Thai recipes, then gives them a distinctly Melbourne spin. King prawn dumplings swim in tom yum coconut lobster bisque, a slow-cooked lamb shank gets the massaman treatment and dry-aged duck meets kumquat. The dining room is small, colourful and alive with conversation. For anyone who still equates St Kilda dining with pizza and pasta, this is your corrective.

Sitchu Tip: For groups of seven or more, there’s a five-course chef’s selection menu that takes the decision-making out of dinner.

Shop 2, 124 Carlisle Street, St Kilda

Price Guide: $$$
Cuisine: Thai
Best For: Date night, Group dining, Special occasion

Freddie Wimpoles

Before the talk of a St Kilda revival, Freddie Wimpoles was already keeping Fitzroy Street up past bedtime. Opened in 2016 inside the historic George Hotel, Liam Ganley’s eccentric pub is named for Frederick Wimpole, a former St Kilda mayor who once owned the building. Antler chandeliers, vintage beer cans and a pool table accompany rotating craft beers, fried chicken and regular live music. With The Snakepit preparing to reopen downstairs, the old George is once again becoming an address with several ways to spend an evening.

Sitchu Tip: Southern Sundays brings country, Americana, folk and blues to Freddie’s on the last Sunday of each month, from 6pm.

125 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda

Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: American-Style Pub Food
Best For: Craft beers, live music, late-night drinks, casual catch-ups

The Old Saints

St Kilda was never short of good stories, even when the crowds were heading elsewhere. Along Acland Street, Fitzroy Street and the foreshore, some of Melbourne’s most cherished establishments kept doing what they do best, surviving changing fashions and the occasional threat to their existence. These are the old favourites with plenty of life left in them.

Donovans

Donovans has watched St Kilda change from its front-row seat on the bay since 1997. Gail and the late Kevin Donovan opened their beloved ‘house on the beach’ in a former bathing pavilion, where Mirka Mora would write her memoirs over Pernod. She once arrived on Christmas Day with a still-wet painting, hoping to exchange it for a table. Nearly three decades later, the sandstone fireplaces, famous chicken pie, seasonal seafood and Bombe Alaska remain as irresistible as the views. Named Victoria and Tasmania’s best seafood restaurant in 2025 and awarded a 2026 Good Food Guide hat, this St Kilda institution is enjoying some well-deserved applause.

40 Jacka Boulevard, St Kilda

Price Guide: $$$
Cuisine: Modern Australian, Seafood
Best For: Special occasions, Long lunches, Waterfront dining, Date night

Cicciolina

Cicciolina has been an Acland Street fixture since 1993, when St Kilda nights were famously unpredictable. Behind its red leather banquettes and art-covered walls, generations of regulars have returned for the blue swimmer crab soufflé, tuna carpaccio and an excellent wine list. Then there’s the Back Saloon, all low lighting, intimate booths and the pleasure of running into someone you haven’t seen in years. More than three decades later, the blackboard specials keep changing, the dining room still fills and that wonderful sense of old St Kilda hasn’t gone anywhere.

Sitchu Tip: Head straight for the Back Saloon from 5pm. It’s walk-in only, with the full restaurant menu available, so you can make an entire evening of it without a dinner reservation.

Acland Street Village, 130 Acland Street, St Kilda

Price Guide: $$$
Cuisine: Mediterranean, Modern Australian
Best For: Date night, Late dinners, Back-bar drinks

Hotel Esplanade (The Espy)

St Kilda quite literally fought to keep the Espy. Open since 1878, the grand old seaside pub survived redevelopment battles, while its stages helped soundtrack Melbourne’s ’90s, hosting up to 25 acts a week and more than 300 live recording sessions in the Gershwin Room. Following a major 2018 restoration, the legendary room returned in 2025, while the Basement keeps the live music coming. The ritual? A beer overlooking the bay, a gig that goes late and the pleasure of knowing this Melbourne icon is still standing.

Sitchu Tip: There’s an entire night out under one roof. Pub classics in the Main Bar, sunset spritzes in the Sunroom, Cantonese at Mya Tiger, then cocktails in the Green Room or the top-floor Ghost of Alfred Felton. Take your pick. Or don’t.

11 The Esplanade, St Kilda

Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: Pub, Modern Australian
Best For: Live music, Sunset drinks, Groups

Dog’s Bar

Before Melbourne had a small bar on every corner, St Kilda had Dog’s Bar. Opened in 1989 by hospitality pioneer Donlevy Fitzpatrick, this Acland Street original helped change the way Melburnians drank, championing wine by the glass and the pleasure of a drink without dinner. A favourite of the suburb’s creative crowd throughout the ’90s, it survived changing fashions before a heartbreaking closure in 2020. Thankfully, new owners brought it back, fireplace, pavement tables and all. Today, free live music Thursday through Sunday, Tuesday karaoke and a wonderfully mixed crowd keep the old St Kilda spirit alive. Long may it continue.

54 Acland Street, St Kilda

Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: Wine bar, European
Best For: Wine, Late nights, Catch-ups

Palais Theatre

A night at the Palais still has a certain ceremony to it. Since 1927, St Kilda’s magnificent Art Deco theatre has welcomed everyone from the Rolling Stones and Shirley Bassey to Kylie Minogue and Nick Cave, surviving changing fashions and nearly a century of Melbourne nightlife. Following extensive restoration, complete with refurbished seating, the old showgirl is looking fabulous. Courtney Barnett and Suzi Quatro are among the names gracing its stage in late 2026. Get dressed up, book somewhere wonderful for dinner and make a night of it. St Kilda wouldn’t be St Kilda without the Palais.

Sitchu Tip: Arrive early and look out for the original foot warmers, illuminated exit signs and carved timber benches. Little pieces of the Palais’ extraordinary history are still hiding in plain sight.

Lower Esplanade, St Kilda

Price Guide: Varies by show
Cuisine: Live music, Theatre, Comedy
Best For: Concerts, Big nights out, Pre-show dinners nearby

Monarch Cakes

Long before Acland Street became synonymous with St Kilda’s nightlife, there was Monarch Cakes. Polish-Jewish baker Pearl Levine moved her European cake shop here in 1934, and the address hasn’t changed since. When longtime customer Gideon Markham took over in 1996, the old recipes stayed, too. Behind the glass: chocolate-swirled kooglhoupf, Polish baked cheesecake made to a century-old recipe and enough nostalgia to fill a second plate. The old photographs, vintage signage and family recipes tell their own story. Ninety-two years on, Monarch remains one of the sweetest constants in St Kilda.

103 Acland Street, St Kilda

Price Guide: $
Cuisine: Eastern European Bakery
Best For: Coffee and cake, nostalgic treats, takeaway sweets

The Vineyard

Few St Kilda addresses have lived as many lives as The Vineyard. A boatshed in the 1880s, it became Carlo Catani’s Continental Tea Gardens in 1906 before the Iodice brothers took over in 1999. Locals even rallied to save it during a 2003 council dispute. These days, tables overlooking O’Donnell Gardens give way to live bands, DJs and nights stretching towards 3am. A little rough around the edges, full of characters and still doing its own thing.

71A Acland Street, St Kilda

Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: Modern Australian, Pub
Best For: Live music, late nights, outdoor drinks, people-watching

Topolino’s

Somewhere along Fitzroy Street, there’s still a table waiting for the people who aren’t ready to call it a night. Topolino’s has been feeding St Kilda since 1972, through the suburb’s grungiest years, its glamorous ones and everything in between. The menu is unapologetically old-school: generously topped pizzas, creamy pastas, garlic prawns and Italian classics for a table of indecisive friends. Arrive after a gig, order another bottle of red and see where the conversation goes. Fifty-odd years on, the ovens are still firing.

87 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda

Price Guide: $$
Cuisine: Italian, Pizza, Pasta
Best For: Late-night dinners, group catch-ups, post-gig meals

The Bigger Picture

A neighbourhood comeback needs more than a good dinner reservation. It needs people staying, shopping and showing up on a Tuesday morning. On Fitzroy Street, the St Kilda Collective is betting on exactly that, with developers Fortis, ERDI and Ondas joining the City of Port Phillip in a development push representing more than $196 million in activity.

Novotel St Kilda

St Kilda’s comeback is checking in, too. The former Rydges on Fitzroy Street reopened as Novotel St Kilda in September, following a major transformation by ERDI. Inside, 80 redesigned rooms and suites join a sunlit garden atrium and rooftop event space overlooking the bay. Downstairs, Urban Kitchen & Bar makes good use of a wood-fired oven imported from Verona, with Victorian wines to match. For a street once famous for nights that never seemed to end, there’s something fitting about giving people a reason to stay a little longer.

35 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda

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The Gild Fitzroy Street

If the new restaurants are restoring Fitzroy Street’s evenings, The Gild is betting on its mornings. Fortis’s $131 million development will introduce 45 residences above 65 metres of retail frontage, with Riviera-inspired architecture, scalloped detailing and cascading greenery. Downstairs, Lamaro’s Hotel publican Paul Dimattina is planning a cafe serving Dimattina Coffee and a neighbourhood deli stocked with fresh produce, pantry staples and prepared meals. Construction is underway, with completion expected in the first half of 2028. The ambition? Give Fitzroy Street its everyday bustle back.

61–73 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda

Make the dinner reservation, but leave the rest of the night to chance. A bar you haven’t discovered yet, a band worth staying out for, one last drink before the sea air sends you home. St Kilda has new faces, old stories and, thank goodness, absolutely no intention of becoming predictable. And really, that’s exactly how we’d like it.

For more Melbourne neighbourhoods worth falling in love with, explore our guides to Springvale and Moonee Ponds.