This old-school watering hole, from the hybrid minds behind Porteño, Mary’s and Young Henrys, serves the pub grub of our nostalgic past, remade with a tongue-in-cheek touch. With a central bar, dining room and beer garden, it’s free from the usual gambling and sports trappings, instead putting the emphasis on quality food and booze. Start with Jatz and French onion dip, the ‘Chiko Roll’ or a prawn cocktail, then hit the Ranger’s Valley spider steak or the signature schnitty. theunicornhotel.com.au

Among the groundswell of deep-south Americana meat dens is the Texas-style barbecue at Bovine & Swine. Leave all formalities of finer dining at the door, roll up your sleeves, bang on a bib and grab a stool for slabs of smoked meat and pickled treats that’ll have you slipping towards a food coma fast. Order by the 100 grams from an array of rich, gelatinous flesh such as brisket, pork belly and ribs, and stack the sides high. bovineandswine.com.au

The malleable joy of charred, buttery roti canai – it’s one of the alluring wonders of the culinary world, and at Mamak you can watch the crew making the flaky flatbreads as you queue for the chance to pair them with your choice of Malaysian curries. Pick from five types of roti, and a swag of curries – the kari ikan, a piquant fish curry enriched with okra and eggplant, is a clear standout. Of course, there are oodles of noodles along with the classic must-order nasi lemak – an ensemble of crisp anchovies, peanuts, egg, sambal and curry with rice. mamak.com.au

Hands down one of the best offerings around, with venues sprawled across Sydney, this Thai temptress suits all budgets, while ensuring both quality and value. Start with pork skewers, perhaps, prawn cakes with pickled plum relish, or spicy green papaya salad with pickled crab. Beef shin collapses in a massaman curry, crisp pork belly sits alongside fried Chinese kale, and the noodles and soups are the best in Sin City. chatthai.com.au

Hidden along the tortured tarmac of Canterbury Road, this Turkish-Mexican mash-up is a house party of a restaurant where the energy is as colourful as the food itself. Maple-smoked labne with nectarine and fennel jam, and hummus with pickled chilli make fine starters. Roast tomatillo and peach salsa adds spark to wood-roasted octopus, and a tomato and herb salad provides balance to flame-licked lamb forequarters. pazar.com.au

Look past the modes decor, simple service and hospital-strength bright lights and strap yourself in for a feast for the ages. Faheem Fast Food quickly becomes a favourite for first-timers mesmerised by the extraordinary spice journey through Pakistan and India. The tandoor yields juicy chicken tikka, while spinach and cheese shine in palak paneer, and dal makhani takes black lentils to a new level. Tender goat lolls in a korma masala, tomato, ginger and garlic brings spark to a spicy lamb karahi, while lamb brains swim in a seductive blend of spices. 194-196 Enmore Rd, Enmore

We’ve been taken on a magical carpet ride with Middle Eastern cuisine in recent years, but Egyptian fare has been relatively untapped. Until now, that is. If there’s a better falafel in town let us know, but Cairo’s is crisp, delicate and beautifully seasoned. Lamb, cauliflower or chicken cooked over charcoal come with pickles and a sensational array of salads. The mixed vegetarian plate features falafel, fried cauliflower, eggah (an Egyptian omelette), pickles, bread and tahini and garlic sauce. At breakfast on weekends the baked-egg shakshouka is a must. cairotakeaway.com

Ever since Emma’s on Liberty turned into Emma’s Snack Bar it has been tough to score a stool at the local favourite. Emma’s take on Lebanese is extra generous, so bring friends and a healthy appetite. The hits start with dips – hummus leans traditional topped with lamb and pine nuts, or comes spicy with crisp garlic and chilli. The fattoush is fresh and bright, the lamb ladies’ fingers in filo are fingerlickin’ good, the chicken shawarma on point and the koftas cracking. emmassnackbar.com.au

This Italian rarity challenges the best pasta purveyors in town, delivering big, beautiful flavours and attention to detail without slapping on a preposterous price tag. Pasta handmade daily, a choose-your-own-adventure menu, BYO wine, sweet and efficient service, and a raucous elbow-to-elbow room await those prepared to queue for up to an hour at a time – try to book, folks. Pillowy gnocchi might come with a rich, tomato ragu, or choose your pasta shape, then add your poison – broccoli and pork salsiccia, perhaps, or classic carbonara. favola.com.au

It’s the wrap star that took the world by storm. On a recent visit to Melbourne, New York Times’ food editor Sam Sifton was so moved by the pork gyro here, he penned an ode to it on his return to Manhattan. But given Melburnians come from near and far for a fix, we didn’t need him to tell us that the combination of gloriously tender, smoky pork, tomato, red onion and crunchy chips, the lot dusted with paprika and wrapped in a char-warmed pita, is worth travelling for. For just $8.50, it’s small change for a life-changing experience where souvlaki is indeed an art. kalimerasouvlakiart.com.au

Once you get stuck into the drinks here – and it’s nigh on impossible not to, given it’s the current title holder of the delicious. 100 best drinks list – it becomes a rather less cheap night out, but if you just stick to the eats you’ll come home with change. Whether a plate of spot-on cacio e pepe, an elegant take on beef tartare or the best burrata in town served on a pool of heady black garlic with salty soured cucumber and thick-cut sourdough, there’s so much wow at this bar where eating’s not cheating, but actively encouraged. barliberty.com

Every Tuesday night at Prahran’s newly revamped Mount Erica Hotel, you’ll find the pub packed with a pan-generational crowd all here for chef Sean Donovan’s ‘world famous steak night’. It’s where you’ll get 300 grams of expertly cooked porterhouse served with a brilliant bearnaise, properly hot mustardy remoulade and very good golden chips for just $18. It’s one of the real bargains around, but it’s not just on Tuesdays that the eats are cheap here, for the counter meals are equally inspired: a classic minute steak with fried egg and chips, an excellent chicken schnitzel topped with Caprese salad, or spicy Italian snags with cheesy polenta, all for little more than a 20. It’s pub food, but not as we know it. mountericahotel.com.au

It’s taken out the delicious. 100 award for the state’s best-value restaurant for two years running and Thi Le’s Anchovy – “Modern Asian. Modern Australian. A little bit in between” – continues to overdeliver deliciousness at little more than Victoria Street prices. The crunchy edged Vietnamese blood pudding has become one of the city’s famed snacks, while bigger plates – golden-skinned quail with sticky barberries, yabbies with pepperberries and curry-leaf butter – impress with their bold refinement. anchovy.net.au

The boys at Dexter in Preston have been plying their take on barbecue for the past few years, serving ‘meat in buns’ that has changed the burger game in the north of the city. The dry-aged cheeseburger is a lesson in American diner done with Aussie smarts, while sharp house pickles and bright slaw elevate the smoky beef brisket bun into all sorts of yes. Add nuggets of ‘Kentucky fried cauliflower’ to start, plus cookies hot from the oven with nitro ‘milk’ to end, and Dexter’s still killing it. dexter.melbourne

David Moyle is in fine fire-flesh-and-fish form at Longsong, the soaring-ceilinged bar-and-restaurant and new sibling to longstanding Longrain. Here, things on sticks cooked over coals are a mainstay, both as one-handed snacks in the bar and as the main event in the dining room. Leeks, soft, charred and seasoned with togarashi, chewy aged lamb with a powerful cumin-chilli salt and plump shiitake mushrooms with a dusting of kelp all show a keen hand on both the grill and the shaker. Salads are equally inspired: the fish sauce-seasoned tomato salad is unmissably good. Keenly priced drinks from a thoughtful list round out the package with style. longsong.com.au