Regional Thai cuisine has made its Melbourne home at the top of Bourke Street, turning this strip into a hotspot for bold, vibrant flavours. Newer kid on the block, Thong Thai, is slinging piping-hot oyster pancakes and plates of traditional pad thai. Nana Thai keeps things lively with mookata, a hotpot-barbecue hybrid with herbaceous broths and pork neck. Thai Baan showcases Isan-inspired street eats like Ayutthaya noodles and fermented salads. These are just the beginning; as Melbourne’s Thai Town continues to grow, diners will discover an array of regional delicacies. Come hungry and prepare for spice. 18 Bourke St, Melbourne. thongthai.com.au

For the best pint of Guinness in Victoria, head to Caretaker’s, a hidden gem behind Wesley Church. Inside this tiny 1914-built bluestone cottage is a pitch-perfect Melbourne take on an old-school British local. The Guinness is poured the traditional way – creamy, velvety and left to settle before a final top-up. It’s the star of a small but well-executed drinks list that includes rotating milk punches and classic cocktails. Pair your pint with a thick slab of Welsh rarebit (doused in the traditional Worcestershire). With its warm and timeless charm, this is as close as it gets to the real deal. 139-141 Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne. caretakerscottage.bar

A Melbourne institution since the 1950s, American Doughnut Kitchen has long delighted market-goers with jam-filled nostalgia from its Queen Vic Market van. Now, its first bricks-and-mortar shop at Prahran Market adds Code Black coffee, hot chocolate and creative doughnut fillings to the mix. Watch as their traditional doughnuts are fried, filled with hot raspberry-plum jam and rolled in sugar. The Prahran store mirrors the charm of the original van, complete with awning-inspired ceiling stripes that mimic the colourway of that first doughnut-slinging truck. It’s a sweet evolution for this beloved family-run business. Prahran Market, 163 Commercial Rd, South Yarra. prahranmarket.com.au/trader/american-doughnut-kitchen

The restaurant to sister-bar pipeline is strong in Melbourne and the latest additions, Bar Olo and Scopri, are a stone’s throw from each other on Nicholson Street. Start at newer Bar Olo, a cosy, Piedmont-inspired bar where snacks like prawn tramezzini pair perfectly with Northern Italian drops. Then, it’s a hop, skip and a jump to Scopri for dishes like beef carpaccio and house-made pastas, served in a warm and inviting dining room. Whether you begin with Bar Olo’s snacks and end with Scopri’s heartier plates, or vice versa, a night across these two venues is quintessential Melbourne dining. 165 Nicholson St, Carlton. barolocarlton.com.au

If you’ve braved Melbourne’s brunching wilds recently, there’s a good chance you’ve stumbled across Kantaro Okada (the king of the city’s Japanese cafe scene is so prolific, we’re proposing adopting ‘Okada’ as a verb). You might have Okada’d by grabbing onigiri at his West Melbourne cafe 279, sitting down for fat shokupan at North Melbourne’s Le Bajo Milkbar, swinging by for sandos and mochi-wrapped gelato at Hareruya Pantry in Carlton, or going face-down in restorative ochazuke at Collingwood’s Chiaki. Just add a flair for design and matcha, matcha everywhere and you’ve got our big brunch crush. 49 Peel St, Collingwood.

Sitting within the Bendigo region’s UNESCO City of Gastronomy, the charming town of Castlemaine has evolved into a must-visit destination for keen foodies. Begin at The Mill precinct where you’ll find specialty venues like Viennese cafe Das Kaffeehaus, Shedshaker craft brewery, Oakwood Smallgoods, chocolatier Cabosse & Feve, lively wines and great food at Boomtown and award-winning cheese at Long Paddock. In town, SuperHero does exceptional bánh mì, Love Shack and Public Bar does the country pub proud, while the food and drinks at Bar Midland showcase Victorian-only Indigenous food, introduced wild animals and weeds. Castlemaine.

An hour from Melbourne in the Dandenong Ranges, Chae feels a million miles away from its original iteration in a one-bedroom Brunswick apartment. This six-seat Korean diner, inside the home of chef Jung Eun Chae, is one of Victoria’s most competitive bookings. At a shared table, guests watch dishes like kongguksu (cold soy milk noodle soup) and persimmon bingsu (shaved ice) prepared with care. At the core of Chae’s seasonal menus are her house-made ferments, including aged soy sauce, Korean rice wine and gochujang. With its intimate setting and serene surroundings, it’s like your own personal dinner party. 33 Mountain Rd, Cockatoo. chae.com.au

Chauncy is the perfect embodiment of a country restaurant. Housed in a heritage sandstone building in the Central Victorian wine town of Heathcote, it’s the ideal setting for a long, lazy lunch. Chef Louis Naepels’ set menu takes excellent local produce and gives it a Gallic spin – think buttery Champagne velouté with sauteed scallops, or lamb with rosemary-spiked jus and deeply caramelised chard gratin. His sommelier partner, Tess Murray, runs the floor with aplomb, wielding a quiver of grower Champagne and other French delights. And you can have a game of boules on the lawn outside. What’s not to love? 178 High St, Heathcote. chauncy.com.au

This is legacy dining steeped in nostalgia, hidden in the laneways of the longest continuous Chinatown outside Asia. Flower Drum has been the standard bearer of Cantonese cuisine in Melbourne since Gilbert Lau opened the original 50 years ago this year. An elegant menu offers classics like wok-tossed pearl meat, hand-folded har gao and, of course, the signature Peking duck with hoisin pancakes. The moody, refined atmosphere is as timeless as the venue itself, which helped pave the way for so many – including Victor Liong of newer cult classic Lee Ho Fook, who has regularly cited it as an inspiration. 17 Market Ln, Melbourne. flowerdrum.melbourne

Hospitality takes on a new meaning at Free to Feed, a social enterprise where refugees and asylum seekers run hands-on cooking classes. The three-hour sessions are peppered with rich storytelling and fascinating insights into the origins of traditional dishes from some of the world’s most hospitable countries. In the welcoming classes, you’ll learn to cook multiple recipes from one country, such as fragrant Egyptian street food, richly spiced Ethiopian cuisine or mouth-wateringly popular Ukrainian dishes. All classes culminate in a shared feast, allowing you to break bread and break down barriers. 539 High St, Northcote.

Can there be any better words in the English language than “hot chips”? Chip aficionados will be stopped in their carb-loving tracks by the version being pumped out at Hawkes Farm at Boneo, in the Mornington Peninsula hinterland. The sixth-generation regenerative farm grows its own kipfler potatoes which are hand-cut then triple-cooked for shattery-crisp exteriors and gorgeously fluffy insides. Get `em while they’re hot every weekend, add coleslaw or just a glug of sauce. Grab a bag of spuds to go but, although it’s fun trying, you’ll never make chips this good at home. 661 Boneo Rd, Boneo. store.hawkesfarm.com.au

Greek home cooking with a Con Christopoulos spin. This pop-up turned mainstay has moved from its initial residence on Bourke Street to its permanent home inside The Melbourne Supper Club. It’s a menu of slow-cooked, olive-oil-forward dishes – braised pork with lemon, leek and potato; lamb with wild oregano; risoni with chicken and tomatoes. You’ll find a drinks list that champions Greek varietals, and traditional ultra-thick coffee. Desserts aren’t to be missed; honey and sesame ice cream sit or a delicate orange filo cake. Expect a night of dishes that could have come straight out of Yiayia’s kitchen. First Floor/161 Spring St, Melbourne.

Destination restaurants are such a cornerstone of Australia’s food culture, it’s hard to imagine a time before farm-to-fork boltholes and vineyard diners lured urbanites out bush. But when Alla and Allan Wolf-Tasker opened Lake House 40 years ago, the couple still had to post maps to confused diners-to-be. Even as it’s grown into a renowned restaurant and boutique hotel, and added organic farm and luxury lodge, Dairy Flat, its soul has remained unchanged. Lake House sings of produce straight from rich earth, of country kitchens where nothing’s wasted, and the joys of sitting back and letting a meal unfold. 4 King St, Daylesford.

Thanks to TARRA, the fancy-pants new Queenscliff ferry terminal is a destination rather than just a stop en route to Sorrento. Set your GPS for the very end of the Bellarine Peninsula for a regional dining hero with its feet in the sand. Michael Demagistris is a make-things-from-scratch kind of executive chef: the capocollo and salami on the charcuterie board, the foraged saltbush-infused butter with the grilled lobster and free-range pork sui mai bobbing in bone broth consommé. The whole package is a winner; the chance to see dolphins leaping as you dine is just a bonus. 1 Wharf St E, Queenscliff.

Refinement and finesse are the names of the game at Apollo Inn, Andrew McConnell’s hidden-in-plain-sight cocktail bar. Reminiscent of a New York speak-easy in the late ’20s, this wood-panelled bar packs a mean punch. If you can snag a seat at the bar, you’ll be privy to dinner and a show as bartenders hand-build some of Melbourne’s most exciting drinks. With a tidy list of staple snacks like gnocco fritto and a laundry list of martini iterations, it has the lived-in feel of a venue far beyond its current infancy. It’s pure, dimly-lit decadence. 165 Flinders Ln, Melbourne.