What are the best restaurants to try when visiting Melbourne, Victoria, Australia? What should you try while you’re there?

We are fricking foodies in this town, and this is a very hard question.

At least, if you’re visiting Melbourne, it’s reasonable to constrain this question to the CBD, and to fine dining.

That’s still not really constrained though. Of the options mentioned by other answerers, there’s the nouveau everything of Vue de Monde, the nouveau Chinese of the Flower Drum (which I’m told has seen better days), the nouveau Armenian of Sezar, the nouveau Greek of The Press Club (now even more expensive).

I’m going to nominate the last fancy place I’ve been to: the nouveau Lebanese of Maha.

I’ll add the nouveau Peruvian of Pastuso, the last restaurant I’ve been to at all, because the fish marinade was to die for; and the nouveau Asian of Ezard.

The high temples of food are probably Vue de Monde and the nouveau Italian of Grossi Florentino. Being inside Grossi Florentino is like being inside a temple of food. (A very very expensive temple.) But apart from the $60 cheese platter, I was actually kinda disappointed when we went there: not quite nouveau enough.

Why yes, there is an ongoing emphasis on innovation and fusion in contemporary Australian foodie culture. Whatever gave that away?