10 Best Yarra Valley Restaurants For 2025

Whether you’re day-tripping from Melbourne or packing your bags for a Yarra Valley escape you’ll be spoilt for choice when it’s time to dine.

Good food and wine go hand in hand and Yarra Valley restaurants are a perfect fit for one of Australia’s best wine regions. From fine dining to top pub grub, here are some of the best spots to treat your tastebuds.

From winery restaurants to those set within converted stables and chalets, Yarra Valley chefs are creating dishes that are worth travelling for.

1. Greasy Zoe’s

Best for: a fancy date night

Just on the cusp of the valley, this intimate eatery consistently numbers among the pages of The Age’s Good Food Guide. And rightfully so. Helmed solely by wife-and-husband team Zoe Birch and Lachlan Gardner, this cosy timber and brick venue accommodates just eight diners at any one time.

This cosy timber and brick venue accommodates just eight diners at a time.

Greasy Zoe’s degustation menu worships at the altar of seasonal, local produce, the dishes listed among it changing near-daily. Expect impeccable, minimalist platings, a tightly curated drinks list, and plenty of hygge vibes.

There’s no written menu, each day Zoe creates a multi-course meal in response to the produce supplied. (Image: Kristoffer Paulsen)

Given the restaurant’s stature, its small size, and the fact that it’s open just three days a week, advance bookings are a necessity.

Address: 3/850 Heidelberg-Kinglake Road, Hurstbridge

2. No.7 Healesville

Best for: Small plates and lo-fi wines

A frontrunner among the new wave of creative and relaxed restaurants shaking up the region’s historically formal, fine-dining culture, No.7 Healesville is a triple threat. It features artfully styled modern Australian share plates; an impressive selection of organic, minimal intervention wines from across the globe; and a beautifully styled, French-leaning ‘laissez-faire’ interior, complete with a chalkboard menu, art prints and countless bottles adorning the walls.

No.7 Healesville is an urban winery, restaurant and cellar door.

Housed within the lofty walls of a former cabinet maker’s factory, No. 7 has pedigree: it’s the sister restaurant to Stones of the Yarra Valley, and hosts regular guest chef cameos as well as wine list takeover events.

Address: 7 Lilydale Rd, Healesville

3. Emerald City

Best for: An out-of-the-ordinary dinner

The Yarra Valley’s most unexpected and unusual dining establishment? This could be it. Open since early 2024, Emerald City seats just four diners, and is hidden behind a velvet curtain, at the back of Healesville whisky bar Cavanagh’s Whisky and Alehouse. It’s the first solo venture from renowned local chef Joel Alderdice, formerly the head chef at TarraWarra Estate.

The multi-course menu is ever-changing, playful, and colourful.

Joel’s playful, ever-changing, multi-colour, multi-course menu is laced with bold, punchy flavours. Expect up to 15 plates, with sample dishes including tempura pine mushroom seasoned with freeze dried miso, and wafer thin hibachi-grilled pork jowl topped with ribbons of daikon and fuchsia salvia flowers.

Address: 207 Maroondah Hwy, Healesville

4. Locale

Best for: Italian food

While Italian influences can be found in almost every corner of this beautiful region, few restaurants are as staunch in their approach as Locale. Family-owned and run, De Bortoli Wines has the heritage to back its Italian focus too.

Enjoy Italian fare at Locale.

Inspired by the trattorias of Northern Italy, the menu at this Yarra Valley winery restaurant is an ode to Il Bel Paese’s best dishes: think charcuterie, arancini, bruschetta, risotto, spaghetti, tiramisu, and more.

Address: 58 Pinnacle Ln, Dixons Creek

5. Levantine Hill

Best for: Fine dining and architecture

The architecture at Levantine Hill is as exquisite as the food.

At Levantine Hill, where some guests arrive by helicopter and with private chauffeurs, you can limber up with a bespoke food and wine flight where house-made snacks have been created to match some of the rarest and most expensive wines in the world.

You can arrive at Levantine Hill via helicopter.

If you’d rather skip ahead to the main event you can choose between four or six plates of Mediterranean-inspired dishes in a space designed by Fender Katsalidis Architects, the firm that created the Museum of New and Old Art (MONA) in Tasmania.

Mediterranean-inspired dishes are served alongside some of the rarest wines in the world.

Address: 882 Maroondah Highway, Coldstream

6. 1309 at Balgownie Estate

Best for: Modern Australian with a view

After losing Rae’s Restaurant to a mid-lockdown fire in 2020 the team at Balgownie Estate now have an even bigger and better space thanks to a multi-million dollar rebuild.

The interior dining room is warm and inviting. (Image: Neisha Breen)

The new restaurant, 1309, includes a 100-seat dining room with floor-to-ceiling windows for panoramic Yarra Valley views, a refurbished deck, private dining spaces and a function room.

Patrons dining on the deck at 1309 Balgownie Estate

Spend a lazy afternoon dining on the deck at 1309 Balgownie Estate. (Image: Neisha Breen)

Standouts on Executive Chef Aidan Gallagher’s modern Australian menu include the cured hiramasa kingfish, warm smoked duck breast and a ginger almond crumble with candied macadamia and crispy fried sage.

1309 Balgownie Estate smoked duck breast

The smoked duck breast is a highlight of the current menu. (Image: Neisha Breen)

Address: 1309 Melba Highway, Yarra Glen

7. Oakridge

Best for: Hyper-local dishes and long lunches

Thanks to its ever-evolving and seasonally changing menu we can’t tell you what you might find at Oakridge Restaurant when you visit. But we do know that whatever it is, it won’t have come far before it was transformed into something special in the kitchen.

As well as growing a lot of his own ingredients in the kitchen garden, Executive Chef Aaron Brodie is committed to a hyper-local menu and only using ingredients from local farms. It’s Thursday to Monday lunchtime dining only at Oakridge, where those lunches can be very long.

Address: 864 Maroondah Highway, Coldstream.

8. Yering Station

Best for: Casual and elegant dining

Next door to the chateau in the Yarra Valley’s oldest vineyard, Yering Station is home to a light and bright contemporary restaurant where huge glass windows look out over lush fields with grazing cattle.

Dine at Yarra Valley’s oldest vineyard Yering Station. (Image: Visit Victoria)

Open seven days a week for lunch the restaurant has a focus on small, local growers and guests are invited to not only peruse the full range of Yering Station wines but also try exclusive releases and special back-vintages. Lunch can also be enjoyed as part of a helicopter voyage from Melbourne’s CBD.

Address: 38 Melba Highway, Yarra Glen

9. Quarters at Huberts Estate

Best for: Flame-grilled dishes and desserts

A new addition to the Yarra Valley winery restaurants list, Quarters opened its doors in March 2022 as part of the new-look Huberts Estate.

Quarters at Huberts Estate is the latest winery restaurant to join the mix in Yarra Valley.

Led by local Eltham resident and Executive Chef Michael Smith, the modern Australian and European dishes are cooked over wood and charcoal in the custom-made grill, while the pizzas that are cooked in an Italian-made Marana Forni oven can be traced back to the sourdough starter that Smith started in lockdown.

Menu at Quarters at Huberts Estate Yarra Valley

The majority of the menu at Quarters is cooked over wood and charcoal in the custom-made grill.

And with a team of pastry chefs working on the sweet treats you may need to activate that separate dessert corner of your stomach to enjoy it all.

Good wine is just as much a feature at Quarters as the food.

Address: 1-3 St Huberts Rd, Coldstream

10. The Stables at Stones

Best for: Chef’s table experience

Back in 1868, The Stables at Stones was used as the sleeping quarters for St Huberts’ winery stable hands. Flash forward more than 150 years and it’s now a boutique restaurant with a focus on sustainable and ethical produce.

Inside The Stables at Stones Yarra Valley

The Stables at Stones was once used as the sleeping quarters for St Huberts’ winery stable hands.

The restaurant is only open for dinner on Fridays and Saturdays and has a private dining room where up to nine guests can enjoy the Chef’s Table.

Menu at The Stables at Stones Yarra Valley

The food at The Stables at Stones is divine.

Executive Chef Samuel Eng changes the Chef’s Table menu every night while sommeliers pair the latest dishes with a selection of wines.

Address: 14 St Huberts Rd, Coldstream

Treat yourself to the Chef’s Table menu with wine pairings.

Originally written by Amanda Woods with updates by Chloe Cann.

For more insider tips and advice, read our ultimate travel guide to Yarra Valley.

Flowers, fruit-picking and a whole lot of fun.

It’s that time of year. The winter chill is finally easing. Brave Aussies are starting to shed a few layers. Buds are beginning to bloom and the sweet scent of spring is officially in the air. And there’s no better place to celebrate than CherryHill Orchards, which is hosting a new cherry-blossom festival to welcome the season.

Meet the new festival coming to Victoria

In Victoria’s bucolic Yarra Valley, CherryHill Orchards sits pretty on the outskirts of Coldstream township. The family-owned fruit farm, which has a sister property in nearby Wandin East, is officially opening its gates ahead of harvest season with the inaugural Bloom & Graze festival. Running for the first two weekends of spring, the colourful celebration is all about waving off winter and welcoming the warmth.

Aussies big and small love cherry-blossom season. (Image: Getty Images/Elena Pochesneva)

A range of market stalls run by local businesses, producers and creators will take over the orchard as it begins to bloom, touting everything from wine and whiskey to cheese and crafts. This year’s exhibitors include The Botanical Brothers, Four Pillars, Steels Gate, Sustainable Food Waste, Yarra Valley Dairy and Blossom Lifestyle.

Each vendor will also run its own workshop or demonstration, sharing expert advice on cocktail mixology, candle-making and more. There will also be live music by local artists each day, as well as kids’ entertainment, food trucks and a cherry-inspired farmgate store.

CherryHill Orchards in the Yarra Valley, Victoria

Meet local makers at their market stalls with Bloom & Graze.

“This is all about bringing our incredible community of producers, makers, and creators together to showcase the very best of the Yarra Valley,” says Mike Appleton, CherryHill’s general manager of customer experience, tourism and events. “Set against the breathtaking backdrop of our 100-acre Coldstream orchard as our cherry trees begin to bloom, it’s the perfect way to celebrate spring.”

What else is on at CherryHill this spring?

If you can’t make it to Bloom & Graze, it doesn’t mean you have to miss out. CherryHill Orchards is hosting a bloomin’ good line-up of events this year that rival spring festivals across the country.

The weekend after Bloom & Graze ends, Blossom by Light begins, which sees the Wandin East orchard illuminated by a kaleidoscope of light and colour. Held across four nights only, the magical display is accompanied by local food trucks, live entertainment, games and fireside marshmallow roasting.

Sample cherry-flavoured ice-cream and other treats from local food trucks.

Just two days later, the ever-popular Blossom Festival kicks off with 12 days of floral fanfare, just as the entire orchard enters full bloom. It’s a quick turnover for the Wandin East property, falling perfectly within Victoria’s school holidays. Guests will enjoy a range of themed experiences, like live music, local food and wine tastings curated by the region’s best vineyards, plus plenty of kid-friendly activities.

And finally, as spring fades into summer, the flowers that have been admired for weeks slowly grow into their final form. It’s that time on Australia’s seasonal fruit-picking calendar – cherries are officially ripe for the picking! Grab your favourite straw hat and stroll through rows of trees heavy with fruit, basket in hand.

Cherry-picking season kicks off at the beginning of November.

Both the Coldstream and Wandin East orchards will be open to the public for cherry-picking. BYO picnic to enjoy lunch in the sun, paired perfectly with your fresh fruit. There will also be cold drinks, food and ice-cream available at both onsite cafes. It’s cherry-flavoured goodness, all spring and summer long.

Your guide to event dates and details

The Bloom & Graze festival will debut on 6–7 and 13–14 September at CherryHill’s Coldstream orchard, around an hour’s drive from Melbourne. Tickets are priced at $15 per adult and $13 for concession. All children enter for free. Workshops will run between 10:30am and 2:30pm.

The cherry blossoms bloom as September arrives. (Image: Getty Images/Chris Gordon)

Blossom by Light will run from 19–22 September at CherryHill’s Wandin East orchard, just over a one-hour drive from Melbourne. Tickets are priced at $35 per adult, $30 for concession and $20 per child. Family passes are available for $100.

The Blossom Festival is also held in Wandin East, from 24 September – 5 October. Adult tickets are priced at $15, while concessions are $13.50. On weekdays, all children can attend for free, but a $10 ticket is required per child on weekends. Or grab a family pass for just $45.

Pick your own cherries at the Yarra Valley orchard.

Cherry-picking season officially kicks off on 1 November and runs until 4 January 2026. Weekday tickets cost $22.50 per adult and $13 per child. Family and group passes can be purchased for $60 and $20, respectively. Come weekends, adults pay $25 and $15 per child, with family passes priced at $65.

Dogs are welcome at all times, with a $3 entry fee per furry friend. Both the Coldstream and Wandin East orchards have free onsite parking. Tickets for all events are available now via CherryHill’s website.

The 10 best Yarra Valley restaurants for 2025