3 Best Restaurants in South Yarra–Prahran, Melbourne

If you're looking for a quintessential Italian dining experience in a place where it's easy to imagine yourself back in the old country, this is it. Fashionable, look-at-me types flock here for coffee and pastries downstairs, or more-leisurely meals upstairs in the warm, woody dining room. Try the melt-in-your-mouth gnocchi, or calamari Sant' Andrea (lightly floured and shallow fried).

Vegan and vegetarian fare is the focus of this restaurant, set in the new Ovolo South Yarra hotel. With a strong Latin American vibe, choose the vegan versions of chicken tamales, the Brazilian seafood stew moqueca or the queso con chorizo, and vegetable dishes from its charcoal oven. The hotel restaurant is an all-day affair, morphing into a wine bar later in the evening, with cocktails with Latin zing. For more plant-based goodness by pioneer chef Shannon Martinez, try her vegan belwether restaurant and deli  Smith & Daughters, in Collingwood.

There's a Gallic devil-may-care attitude to brunch in these former stables, with Bloody Marys and Mumm champagne listed beside the granola and eggs on sourdough. Or you could try matching its cocktails—espresso martinis or a Pimms with the French toast and croque fromage. Highlights include the lemonade scones with Chantilly cream and the Wagyu beef cheeseburger. Follow with a walk around the gardens of Como House, built in 1847. Picnic lovers note that The Stables also prepares picnics for lawn lounging.