Embla.

Embla

Thirteen working Melbourne chefs name this room when Broadsheet asks them where they eat, which is roughly double the next venue in the city.

Why go

Christian McCabe runs the floor and Dave Verheul runs the kitchen, and the kitchen is built around fire. Alex Kaew of Charlong went hunting for charcoal-focused restaurants and came back with two names, Embla and Ester in Sydney (Broadsheet). The menu turns over with the seasons (Broadsheet), so the crudo and the grilled plates change while the roast chicken stays. The wine list is a collaboration with Eric Narioo, who imports French natural wine, and the Gippsland winemaker Patrick Sullivan, which is a grower relationship rather than a distributor order. Most of the room is held back for walk-ins (Embla).

Order this / avoid

• Order: the woodfired sourdough and seasonal butter, which a working baker names as a standout in the city. The half roast chicken in its white wine, stock and fenugreek sauce. Whatever came off the coals that week.
• Avoid: Sunday, when it is closed, and the desserts, which are the one thing a critic has gone after.

What locals & experts say

• Larissa Dubecki, Time Out Melbourne (April 2021), on Verheul's cooking: Like Andrew McConnell, Verheul is a magician of the four-ingredient dish. Less is more only because everything counts in a fish crudo, another menu stayer that swings with the seasons. She calls the sourdough best in show and is blunt about the finish: the two desserts seem odd bedfellows and look like an easy, here's-one-we-made-earlier option.2
• Emma Dawson, head chef at Poodle Bar & Bistro: Embla. Top-tier. It is such a staple in Melbourne for a bev and snack. Perched on your own at the bar or with friends at a table, it's consistently fantastic. You've got to get the bread and butter; the tomato toast is an umami bomb; and I still think about their smoked duck liver parfait.6
• Coşkun Uysal of Tulum, asked where to eat alone: I've been there so many times by myself. I love sitting around the bar, sipping a couple of glasses of chablis, and enjoying dishes that are just perfect to eat on your own, like stuffed zucchini flower and comté curd tart.7
• Jack Muir-Rigby, who co-founded Masses Bagels, asked for the best bread in Melbourne: Another standout is Embla's woodfired sourdough and seasonal butter.8
• Ten more chefs name it across the same series between 2024 and 2026: Junda Khoo, Andreas Papadakis, Alejandro Saravia, Tony Tan, Charlie Duffy, Elias Salomonsson, Mika Chae, Mo Zhou, Lucy Whitlow and Alex Kaew. Verheul answers the series himself and his picks go elsewhere, so nothing of his counts here.4
• Time Out Melbourne Food Awards: Restaurant of the Year and Best Casual Dining Restaurant in 2016, Hot Talent Award in 2017.2

Good to know

• Where: 122 Russell Street, at the top end of the CBD.
• Timing: Monday and Tuesday from 3pm, Wednesday to Saturday from midday, both until late. Closed Sunday.
• Booking: bookings exist, and the venue says most of the room is kept for walk-ins, so turning up is a real plan.
• Opening date: no source read in this pass gives one, so the field is left empty.
• Diet: no dietary or allergen statement is published, so nothing is flagged.
• Food safety: Victoria publishes no venue ratings, only Safe Food Victoria's register of convictions under s.53D of the Food Act 1984, and this venue is not on it.5

Verdict

must-visit — Thirteen working Melbourne chefs name this room in the same interview series, which is more than any other venue in the city and roughly double the next one. They also name it for different jobs. Coskun Uysal of Tulum eats here alone at the bar with chablis and a comté curd tart. Alex Kaew went looking for charcoal-focused restaurants and put Embla on the same short list as Ester in Sydney. Jack Muir-Rigby, who bakes for a living, calls the woodfired sourdough and seasonal butter a standout. Larissa Dubecki's Time Out review puts Dave Verheul next to Andrew McConnell as a cook of four-ingredient dishes and says the bread is best in show, then says the two desserts read as something made earlier. Most of the room is held back for walk-ins, the menu moves with the seasons, and the wine list is built with Eric Narioo and Patrick Sullivan rather than bought off a distributor. Bold flavor over coals, a counter you can sit at alone, and no ceremony in the way.