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Lemon schnitzel is crumbed to order:

Collection

Your June hit list: Hot, new and just-reviewed places to check out this month

Beers and schnitzels galore, where to eat (and what to drink) in the Melbourne CBD’s now-official Koreatown hub, the must-orders at freshly baked bakeries and sandwich shops in the suburbs, and much more.

22 stories
Chicken katsu with Japanese gravy.
13.5/20

Beer hangout Benchwarmer serves boss-level drinking food including juicy katsu

  • Emma Breheny
Hofbrauhaus is a boisterous and good-spirited beer hall.
14.5/20

Schnitzels (pictured above) are crumbed to order at Hofbrauhaus beer hall

  • Dani Valent
Suupaa’s pork tonkatsu.

Find tonkatsu and more at Japanese convenience store-cafe Suupaa

  • Dani Valent
Coffee and baked goods at Hector’s Bakery, including the cinnamon bun with “Cinnabon vibes”(right).

Your guide to 13 hot new Melbourne bakeries (plus what to order at each)

  • Tomas Telegramma
24-hour marinated charcoal chicken comes with Lebanese pita bread at Habibi Chicken’s Preston outlet.

Melbourne’s charcoal chicken shops have levelled up: Here are four to try

  • Quincy Malesovas
Salad sandwich at Rippers Ripponlea.

Three suburban spots upping their area’s sanger game (and the go-to filling at each)

  • Tomas Telegramma and Dani Valent
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Outside Malvern’s new bakery, Breadcetera.

‘It’s the milk bar for 2025’: Breadcetera grocer fills a loaf gap in Malvern East

  • Dani Valent
Fried chicken washed down with Cass beer at Seven Star Pocha in Koreatown.

Finger-licking late-night fun: A chef’s guide to eating (and drinking) in Koreatown

  • Dani Valent
Falafel with tahini, pickles and zhoug.
14/20

One of Melbourne’s favourite falafel crosses the river to get to Nobody’s Baby cocktail bar

  • Dani Valent
Middle Park European is set to open June 3.

Middle Park finally gets its moment as a new bar and bistro opens in the suburb

  • Tomas Telegramma
Banksia operator’s Nishant Arora and Adam Aflalo.

Caulfield North scores Banskia, a local restaurant with fine-dining cred

  • Tomas Telegramma
Agnolotti with comte and nutmeg.
14/20

Your guide to ordering at of-the-moment wine bar Suze

  • Besha Rodell
The kavurma snack pack with chicken.

Latif’s Street Foods is serving some of the best Turkish food in town

  • Dani Valent
Sana in Cheltenham offers a secret matcha menu.

Matcha outsells coffee at Sana, a suburban brunch spot with a secret menu

  • Dani Valent
Mains, such as inside skirt steak, come with a salad, Colombian-style sauces – one a lemony sour cream, the other a zesty tomato – and a choice of fries, rice, plantain fritters, cassava chips or golden potatoes (pictured).
14/20

Berbeo Bar & Grill steakhouse serves limousine food at rust-bucket prices

  • Dani Valent
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Thali on a banana leaf.
14/20

Roll up your sleeves for Prince of Yazh’s $30 all-you-can-eat weekend special

  • Dani Valent
The signature pounding bowl.

Take out your frustrations at Pounding Rice Bowl, a ‘smashing’ city lunch spot

  • Dani Valent
Pear monaka, a pear-shaped croissant brushed with amaretto syrup and filled with pear compote and hojicha ice-cream. It rests on a bed of dulcey whipped ganache, ginger caramel and brown butter crumble.
14.5/20

Is Lune Lab’s $90 pastry tasting menu a novelty or Melbourne must-do?

  • Besha Rodell
Pulcinella’s sfogliatella.

You’ll find much more than pizza at Neapolitan bakery-cafe Pulcinella

  • Dani Valent
Smash pattie cheeseburger.

All-day diner JollyGood channels retro Americana with Melburnian touches

  • Dani Valent
The venue sits inside a bluestone building on a quiet Fitzroy side-street.

$5 skewers, a ‘secret’ menu: Your cheat sheet to Fitzroy Filipino restaurant Palay

  • Tomas Telegramma
The dining room’s arched Gothic-style windows face Collins Street.
Good Food hat15.5/20

Why Scandi-leaning Freyja is now one of Melbourne’s best restaurants

  • Dani Valent