This bold South Yarra diner is renowned for experimenting with native ingredients – and now it’s giving access to tables every day of the week.

 

You won’t find a culinary tribute to Australia quite like Matilda. There’s the dramatic fit-out, which features a museum-like series of glass cabinets overflowing with botanicals; dining tables made of two felled trees from the Otways; and a ceiling of perforated red-brown arches, a colour that calls to Uluru and the Red Centre. And then there’s the food, which takes classic flavours and merges them with a distinctly Australian vernacular. If you can, take a seat at the bar and watch the chefs at work, playing with woodfire, smoke and charcoal.

 

Everything’s a feast for the eyes and the mouth – with a buzz that you might expect to find in New York or London – making Matilda one of the most unique eateries in Melbourne.

 

Our top picks from the menu are the spanner crab dressed in zingy creme fraiche (which comes with a generous pile of charred, doughy flatbreads and a butter made from ground-down school prawns); cubes of tender kangaroo tartare scooped up with buckwheat crisps; and a treacly tarte tatin that took 600 tries to perfect.

 

Every day of the week, Matilda is giving us access to one of their best tables in the house, only available through Broadsheet Access. 

 

Get a table for two or four at 12pm from Thursday to Sunday or 6pm every night of the week.

 

You can book 30 days in advance of your desired booking date (with a minimum of two days prior).

 

Check out our other tables at Scott Pickett Group’s Chancery Lane, Smith St Bistrot and Estelle.