18 Restaurants in Melbourne: Latin American

If you want a general introduction to South American cooking, there are plenty of Latin restaurants in Melbourne which offer just that. Places such as Lulo on Glenferrie Road in Hawthorn and Buenos Dias on Nicholson Street in Carlton North draw on the rich traditions of Colombian, Chilean and Venezuelan cuisines for the highlights of their crowd-pleasing menus. You can snack on cassava chips and pork crackers, share plates of empanadas and marranitas, or fill up on mains of char-grilled ox tongue. And you can always count on a wide selection of South American beer and cocktails to wash everything down along the way.

Melbourne has several Latin restaurants which channel the fun-loving spirit of Rio. For instance, at Copacabana International on Smith Street, Fitzroy, you can welcome the weekend with dinner followed by drinks, a dance show and late night DJ's. Expect colourful costumes, choreography and a live band. To get you ready for all those tangos and sambas, these places often have well-stocked buffets and salad bars, plus authentic gaucho-style churrascaria barbecues busily doling out steaks, sausages and chicken wings.