Melbourne’s oldest public house. This billing alone should be enough to get even the most idle hands out of bed and down to Franklin Street for a schooner and some of the finest pub bistro-style restaurant fare in the city. It’s hard to imagine that this handsome, 1853 bluestone venue was not always surrounded by CBD. Thankfully, Captain Melville’s proprietors (the good folks of Miss Libertine fame) have, under consultation, gone to great lengths to preserve the history that’s ingrained in the site, including the story of the pub’s namesake. That said, you can expect nothing but affordable, modern Australian cuisine under this venerable roof – food that nods vigorously towards tradition but is nouveau enough to claim high-class rank. This balancing act is complemented by the perfect storm of beer, wines, cocktails, and more, meeting in the middle to forge a reputation for the Melville that we’ve ruled is quite the opposite of undeserving.