Thick,bone-in lamb chops are braised overnight in lamb stock.
14.5/20

This Greek restaurant’s fork-tender lamb chop will blow your mind

With confident,wood-fired cooking from a former Good Food Guide Young Chef of the Year,Bar Sophia is one of Melbourne’s most compelling new restaurants.

  • Dani Valent
Breakfast board loaded with fried eggs,ful medames,zaatar manoush,labneh,cold-cuts,assorted pickles,fresh vegies and village cheeses.
14/20

Merrylands’ hot brunch spot serves a breakfast board loaded with the lot

Kabul House is still hugely popular,but young families and Zoomers are flocking to impressive modern Middle Eastern restaurant Iftar.

  • Callan Boys
Bar Local Drop is an extension of wine delivery business the Local Drop.
14.5/20

This all-day wine bar and its handwritten little black book has our reviewer hooked

Lunch,dinner or snacks and drinks at Bar Local Drop can stretch happily from “a quick one” to “one more” to “we might as well”...

  • Dani Valent
The room buzzes during the burlesque performance.
14/20

‘Outstanding value’:A two-course dinner and a show (with a bit of skin on show) for $69

Le Bar Supper Club brings theatrical drinks and burlesque nights to a bayside suburb better known for its golf.

  • Dani Valent
Huon Hooke's trio of white wines for right now.

Three white wines you should be drinking right now

An early-autumn white should be light and dry,fruit-accented,unwooded and,above all,refreshing.

  • Huon Hooke
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Beef cheek rendang topped with a lacy cracker made from kremes,a crunchy topping of chicken stock and seasoned flour.
13.5/20

This ‘genius’ beef cheek rendang combines cheffy trickery and street-food comfort

There are a dozen different coffees and meals are mostly under $20 at this cosy new Indonesian eatery.

  • Dani Valent
The bruschetta of the day changes with the seasons,with the charred bread perhaps topped with ricotta mousse,tomato,shaved zucchini and prosciutto.
14/20

Lunchtime BYO,‘glorious’ bruschetta:Count yourself lucky if this Italian is your local

The 30-seater from two ex-Caffe e Cucina stalwarts is slicker than your average middle-suburban restaurant,reviews Dani Valent.

  • Dani Valent
Wonderful,natural light gleams on black floorboards of The Lodge Dining Room on level one of Rodd&Gunn’s flagship store.
Good Food hat15/20

Why a fashion label’s fine-dining restaurant won over our cynical,shopping-phobe critic

Rodd& Gunn’s newly hatted restaurant is a very charming place,reviews Dani Valent. Plus:there’s free bread that’s good enough to pay for.

  • Dani Valent
Paranormal Wines.
Good Food hat15/20

A bottle shop with a chefs’ hat? This surprising spot lives up to the hoo-ha

Intuitive service and bracing flavours are at the heart of Paranormal Wines,which created a “small hoo-ha” when it became the first bottle shop in NSW or the ACT to be awarded a hat.

  • Callan Boys
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We found the ultimate proseccos for a spritz (including one from Aldi for $12)

And if you like pet nat,try the bottle-fermented cousin of regular prosecco,which has bolder aromas and a deeper flavour,as if the volume has been turned up.

  • Mike Bennie