Best Bars in Melbourne

No signage. Heavy velvet curtain at the door. The cocktail list is one of the most serious in Melbourne.

Caledonian Lane off Little Collins Street. The bartenders actually know what they're doing with technique and ingredient. Order off-menu and tell them what you feel like. This is what a cocktail bar should be.

226 Bourke Street — there is no sign. The Melbourne bar experience at its purest.

The entrance is through a door next to what looks like a car park entrance. Inside: one of Melbourne's great bar rooms — warm light, serious drinks, the feeling that you found something rather than that it found you.

Wine bar with a serious wood oven kitchen. A room Melbourne is proud of.

The natural wine list is one of the best in Melbourne — genuinely interesting producers from Australia and Europe, priced honestly. Stand at the bar. Order something orange. Ask what came off the oven.

The best natural wine list in Melbourne at a price point that doesn't require an occasion.

Swan Street, Richmond. The staff know the list and give recommendations without being insufferable. The food is good and simple. This is the neighbourhood wine bar Melbourne deserved.

Sticky floor, loud music, the smell of a thousand good gigs.

Johnston Street, Collingwood. The Tote is one of the most important small music venues in Australia — it has hosted every Melbourne band that mattered at some point. The front bar is open without a gig. The beer garden is underrated.

The beer garden on a Sunday afternoon is one of Melbourne's genuinely great experiences.

Old pub, enormous garden, dogs allowed, the kind of crowd that's been doing this for decades. The beer selection is good and the kitchen is honest.

Basement of 111 Lonsdale Street. The room that makes an ordinary Wednesday feel like something.

French brasserie aesthetic, serious cocktails. The martinis are very good. The wine list is smaller than Embla's but well chosen.