Carlton Restaurants

The Empress Hotel is a renewed and revamped take on an icon. This classic inner Melbourne pub situated in the north of Fitzroy, has been serving thirsty locals since 1873.

At its soul, the Empress Hotel provides everything you’d wish for from your local pub, a relaxed public bar to share a beer with your friends, dining hall, pool room, beer garden, bottle shop and several functions spaces.

While the spirit of the refurbished Empress Hotel remains very much intact, the addition of an alfresco outdoor dining area and modern Australian, Italian contemporary menu, with some old classics, complete the pubs reincarnation. Tables may be reserved for groups of two, four, six or 12 people.

Doing away with the dingy and dank of corner pubs of the past, Publican Guy David has torn the roof off what was once a band room to reveal a sun filled beer garden perfect for long summer days and alfresco all-day dining. Now featuring a retractable roof, the beer garden can be enjoyed all year round, rain, hail or shine.

Offering live sports, craft beer and concise yet exciting wine list the Empress Hotel really sets itself apart from other local pubs.

In its newest incarnation EVA on Drummond is an intimate modern wine bar with a focus on being relaxed and accessible. Our extensive wine offering caters to every individual taste and is designed to match with our food offering.

The Lincoln is a grand old Carlton hotel built in 1854. Since the end of 2014, she has seen a new lease of life under the direction of Iain Ling (ex MoVida) on the floor and Howard Stamp (ex MoVida, Green Park Dining) in the kitchen. The menu is available throughout the venue 7 days a week lunch and dinner, with the kitchen closing at 10pm every night and all day dining available on weekends.

The kitchen works closely with small regional suppliers and is focused on using sustainable and seasonal produce, with as much as possible made in-house, from their bread, mustard and pickles to curing their own free-range bacon. The public bar has retained its art-deco features, with 12 taps featuring craft beer, showcasing speciality brewing at its best, and trusty Carlton Draught for when the footy is on the big screen.

The space lends itself to a variety of areas suitable for groups of any size, whether a sit-down meal in the semi-private dining room, or standing canapés in the front bar. With generous group menus and a wine list focused on small interesting producers, there are plenty of pleasant surprises to be found if you are keen to try something a little different. There is a bottleshop available over the bar so if you find something in the list you like, you can always take an extra one home with you.

If it’s a celebration you’re planning, they have you covered, be it for birthday engagement, anniversary or family get-togethers, the warm and professional team will work with you closely to make sure every last detail of your celebration is right for you. For a more intimate night, why not treat your loved one to a ‘Full Lincoln’ where you put your trust in the chef’s hands as they feed you eight of their favourite dishes over the course of the meal.

Lunch specials for $18 are available from noon to 3pm and happy hour specials are on everyday until 6pm.

For a diversion from Lygon Street's 'little Italy' sits an institution in Carlton's North with a name worth remembering. Chin Chin's at Koto Moon sounds more like an entrant in Shanghai's independent film festival than a purveyor of contemporary Asian cuisine, but what awaits you is not to be missed.

Il Gambero on the Park provides Lygon Street diners with the best pizza and Italian cuisine the street has to offer. Il Gambero, an institution of Melbourne’s little Italy moved to its new home in May of 2010. We welcome you into our new home, just 300 meters from our old premise and now we’re just opposite the park.

La Luna does beef and does it well, but there’s more to this small but much-loved long-standing restaurant in Rathdowne Village, owned by accomplished chef, and now TV personality Adrian Richardson. Richardson is highly regarded for the quality of the beef he serves but there’s also crackling-wrapped pork, house-made cotechino sausage, fish of the day or the generous lamb shoulder to share for two or more people.

This isn’t the place to bring your vegetarians friends, but if you are an omnivore, the laidback decor - bare wood, cloth napkins and artwork that outlines the various cuts of beasts - instills comfort and anticipation in the experience ahead. Service has the know-how to back up Richardson’s passion and moves quickly in the often-crowded room. Relaxed quality seems to be the ethos at La Luna, and they’re pretty consistent with keeping that going.

Our philosophy at East Imperial emphasizes the "Joy and Togetherness" of Chinese dining, discover an array of multi-region Chinese cuisines, specially fine-tuned by our chefs to cater for a wide range of tastebuds.

Immerse yourself in an environment filled with Chinese ambience and serenity, beatifully decorated with Chinese antiques, paintings and embroidery.

Yum Cha daily. Weekend bookings are essential!

Brunetti began trading at the Faraday street location in 1985. The Angelé family acquired the business in 1991 and transformed the lovely café that it was into a truly authentic Roman Pasticceria.

The Angelé family comes equipped with a wealth of knowledge and experience in Pastry and Cafés. The founder, Mr Giorgio Angelé began his training in Rome at the ripe age of 10. In 1956, at the age 23, Giorgio came to Australia with the Italian Olympic team as a pastry chef. After working for a few years, Giorgio was then given the opportunity to migrate to Australia permanently.

Since then Giorgio has always been involved in the pastry industry and you can still find him at Brunetti baking a delicious selection of European style sweets and desserts.

Over the years, Brunetti in Carlton has become one of Melbourne’s most iconic places to visit to indulge in a delicious Italian style coffee from the Bar, cake from the Pasticceria, gelato or tempting savoury from the Paninoteca. Brunetti became so popular that in April of 2005 another Brunetti café opened in Melbourne’s City Square, followed by a café in Camberwell (October 2007) and another in Myer Melbourne (October 2010).

Carolina is a cafe located on the border of Brunswick East and Carlton North.

Housed in an old shoemakers shop, Carolina is an unassuming local where you can enjoy sublime Industry Beans coffee, sumptuous seasonal food as well local boutique beers and ciders and a carefully selected range of Australian wines.

We have a beautiful leafy courtyard perfect for lazy afternoon drinks and complete with sandpit for the kids earlier in the day.

Come in and see why Mercadante is full every night. Carlos has been operating this restaurant for 10 years delivering amazing food, attention to detail and service is second to none.

Friendly staff behind the open pizza/oven, churning out hundreds of pizzas a day, each one lovingly decorated with gourmet ingredients, crafted with gentle yet creative hands. A boiling kitchen headed by the ever imaginative Roy, tending to every request and need of his customers. Children and adults enjoying the atmosphere as much as the food, kids presented with a jar of texters to draw on the paper table covers while waiting for their meals..

The name Shakahari, incidentally, is the Hindi word for "vegetarian". For more than forty years Shakahari has been one of this city's most innovative restaurants.

Eschewing compromise, Shakahari has maintained a firm commitment to the two fundamentals of its cuisine: It is completely vegetarian and it uses only fresh, natural ingredients. Menus are changed quarterly to take full advantage of seasonally available fruits and vegetables and there are no artificial ingredients or colourants used.

Shakahari has pioneered other fields in its fascinating development. Beginning in the early '70s by introducing ideas from Japanese, Chinese and Thai culinary traditions. In style, Shakahari's cuisine has always been East-West even before this term became the familiar way to describe cooking which uses Asian ingredients and skills in a European context.

Today this restaurant's wide appeal rests on its expertise in creating meals which are light but satisfying, natural but attentively detailed in their preparation and presentation.

In keeping with its original Indian inspiration, the interior design of Shakahari's Carlton location uses basic village tones and simple furnishings. It's only indulgence are two magnificent cloth paintings of the 19th century Nathvara (Rajasthan school) and a series of the earliest devotional posters from the Ravi Varma Steam Press, Poona.

Abla’s Lebanese Kitchen brings together one hundred authentic Lebanese recipes that have been handed down from one generation to the next. It is a culinary journey on which your family and friends can experience all the colour, energy and tradition of this ancient Middle Eastern cuisine, with time-honoured dishes such as kibbee, tabouleh, vine leaves, kafta and Alba's famous chicken and rice – an aromatic meal of chicken flavoured with spices and almonds. First published in 2001 as The Lebanese Kitchen, this completely revised and updated edition is rich in detail, sumptuously photographed and beautifully designed. Abla’s Lebanese Kitchen is a treasure trove for anyone wanting to experience the joys of authentic Lebanese food at home.