Melbourne’s Best Late-night Food and Drink Spots

The famously restorative properties of classic Sichuan spicy noodle soup await at this late-night CBD Russell Street restaurant (there are other Dragon Hotpots across Melbourne and beyond but this buzzy late-night CBD spot is our pick). Choose your broth and heat level before selecting from more than 100 ingredients in the fridges – covering all bases including meat, noodles, seafood, offal, tofu and vegetables – and delivering them to the kitchen for cooking. Note: slurping is encouraged.   

213 Russell Street, Melbourne

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It’s part beer hall, part Thai restaurant, and a complete riot. Follow the roar of the crowd to the iconic first-floor space anchoring central Melbourne’s OG “vertical laneway”, Curtin House. The 200-choice beer list alone could keep you going for weeks, while the fireworks of authentic dishes like Northern Thai sausage and stir-fried clams with chilli will tempt you to stay up way past your bedtime. 

252 Swanston Street, Melbourne

Serving up souvlaki, saganaki and fried calamari to the hungry hordes since 1978, Stalactites is the Parthenon of Melbourne’s Little Athens. Its ceiling adorned in endearingly kitsch plaster stalactites, the Lonsdale Street CBD institution is a reliable pit stop thanks to a lamb- and chicken-loaded rotisserie spinning until late at night and a wine list waving the blue and white flag.  

177/183 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne

Thrill to the choice at Dom’s Social Club, where three levels of fun await above city thoroughfare Swanston Street. Will it be Naples-style woodfired pizza on the first floor, snacks like mozzarella and leek croquettes and perhaps a game of pool on the second, or a rhubarb and kaffir lime sour overlooking the city lights at the rooftop bar? Luckily, there’s nothing to stop you embracing them all.

1/301 Swanston Street, Melbourne

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Just around the corner from big sibling Gimlet, brand-new cocktail bar Apollo Inn heralds its addition to Andrew McConnell’s stable with moody-hued Euro good looks plus a martini menu. It seats just 30 so we’d recommend booking ahead for a spot at the marble-topped bar. Drink-friendly snacks include gildas made with smoked tuna and a pickled mussel, and a prawn-and-spanner-crab-driven spin on the club sandwich. 

165 Flinders Lane, Melbourne

This dive bar isn’t afraid of the witching hour. Firing from happy hour until late, Melbourne’s premiere rock’n’roll institution is the ear-splitting home of live bands and DJ sets, with free and ticketed events playing each week at the two-storey bluestone on Little Collins Street. Beer and bourbon flow freely – and they’ll even mix a Negroni or Tommy’s Margarita if you ask nicely. 

68 Little Collins Street, Melbourne

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The four levels of this heritage-listed architectural landmark opposite the city’s Emporium shopping centre includes the vinyl-soundtracked Japanese-styled Music Room, charcoal-fired Thai street eatery BKK and glam Her Rooftop. Our tip? Swing by ground-floor French bistro Her Bar, which gets the party started with classics including a punchy steak tartare and keeps the topnotch pre-batched cocktails coming. 

270 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne

This five-level vertical laneway on the edge of Chinatown is a neon-lit blast of murals and greenery where you can sing your heart out in a karaoke room, refuel on a burger or keep warm by dancing to the DJs on the heated outdoor rooftop. After a few Cardi B cocktails (that’s a coconut and pineapple margarita), you may even feel like showcasing your talents on the open-mic stage. 

188 Bourke Street, Melbourne

Table service until 3am at Melbourne’s chicest rooftop bar, overlooking Parliament House and St Patrick’s Cathedral from its Spring Street eyrie, makes Siglo a late-night non-negotiable. Perched above its Melbourne Supper Club sibling, the Euro-styled terrace has the sophisticated nightcaps to match its linen-draped finery, plus champagne and cognac.

2/161 Spring Street, Melbourne

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Blink and you’ll miss Melbourne’s trailblazing laneway bar, still shaking, straining and serving 26 years after it first opened its Russell Place doors. This clubbish world of velvet drapery and Chesterfield lounges was tailor-made for late-night imbibing. Find a cosy nook to get acquainted with a G&T and a cheeseboard.

10 Russell Place, Melbourne

Get your glam on at Lonsdale Street’s Fable, where the cocktails are as sophisticated as the crowd. The slick 13th-floor glass and steel rooftop with a retractable awning is the place to enjoy city views with cocktails riffing on ancient stories, like the strawberry and elderflower-spiked Pledge of Aphrodite. Your best bet here is to grab a booth and settle in with the late-night snack menu’s silken taramasalata and beef tartare with caraway crisps.

13/168 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne

As the name indicates, music is a big deal at this Bourke Street haunt but they also mix a mighty fine margarita along with other cocktail classics. Head upstairs to get your groove on in the Dance Room or hang out in the main bar, where a slot in the wall delivers tasty burgers and toasties from next-door stablemate Butchers Diner. 

12 Bourke Street, Melbourne

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Splicing the DNA of a log cabin and a 1970s rumpus room, this backstreet South Yarra hangout is an OTT vision of taxidermy, neon and cacti. Burgers and beer provide ballast for an uncomplicated offering – try the Leonard’s Bathtub lager poured from the taps – along with slushie-machine margaritas and bourbon picklebacks, while a pool table and pinball make sure you’re never bored. 

3 Wilson Street, South Yarra