Melbourne’s cheap restaurant and drink deals for January 2025

If your bank account has taken a hit over the festive season, but you still want to make the most of January by getting out and about, this edition of Specials Board is for you.

We’ve got a dozen restaurant and bar deals for you to plan your catch-ups around, including bottomless booze, two-for-one pizzas and an outrageous-value buffet.

$6.50 to $9.50 aperitivo hour at Baby Pizza, Richmond

Nobody puts Baby(‘s aperitivo hour) in a corner. Chris Lucas’ popular inner-east pizzeria is the place to be for affordably priced al fresco afternoon drinks this summer. From 4pm to 6pm every day, descend on the street-side dining area for $6.50 Peroni beers, $7.50 vinos and $9.50 spritzes (including a limoncello and basil number).

631-633 Church Street, Richmond, babypizza.com.au

$15 cacio e pepe at Marameo, CBD

Since opening five years ago, CBD Italian stallion Marameo has served more than 26,000 bowls of its signature cacio e pepe. So, to mark the milestone, the team is dropping the price for January, dishing up the cheesy, peppery Roman pasta dish for just $15.

6 Russell Place, Melbourne, marameo.com.au

$15 all-you-can-eat Sri Lankan buffet at Maalu Maalu, Brunswick

This home-style Sri Lankan buffet is ridiculously good value, offering an all-you-can-eat adventure of curries, rice and more, with a plethora of meaty, vegetarian and vegan options for under $30. But if you visit from 3pm to 5pm on Thursdays and Fridays, it’s even cheaper: $15.

246 Sydney Road, Brunswick, instagram.com/maalumaalubrunswick

$89 five-course feast (with a free bottle of wine) at Tulum, Balaclava

Start the year strong at the hatted Tulum, a temple of Turkish cuisine in the inner south-east. At select times this week, chef-owner Coskun Uysal is offering five generous courses with a free bottle of wine (NZ sauv blanc or Turkish cab sauv) for only $89 per person.

217 Carlisle Street, Balaclava, tulumrestaurant.com.au

$25 steak frites at Her Bar, CBD

If you tend to bypass Her’s Eurocentric ground-floor bar as you climb the stairs to Thai diner BKK or the rooftop bar – one of Melbourne’s favourites – here’s a new reason to stop in. On Tuesdays from 5pm, Her Bar’s steak frites is $25, starring O’Connor Beef sirloin with shoestring fries, a cos salad and your choice of pepper or bearnaise sauce.

270 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne, her.melbourne

$50 three-course set menu at Bar Thyme, Footscray

One of the best wine-diners in the west, Bar Thyme is now part of the furniture on Barkly Street. And its hump-day deal makes it even more of a neighbourhood gem. Every Wednesday, there’s a special three-course set menu for $50 in addition to the regular a la carte offering.

227 Barkly Street, Footscray, barthyme.com.au

Multiple specials at Ollie’s Pizza Parlour, Brunswick

From the jalapeno-studded ham and pineapple to the hot-honey pepperoni, the pizzas at Ollie’s are a cut above. Luckily, there are a couple of ways to get your fix for less. Dining in? Pizzas are two-for-one on Wednesdays – a bone fide bargain. Taking away? A pizza and a side are $25 on Thursdays.

133 Sydney Road, Brunswick, olliespizzaparlour.com

$75 Rosheen & Friends lunch series at Bar Bellamy, Carlton

Powerhouse chef and Good Food recipe columnist Rosheen Kaul has been jumping from pop-up to pop-up since leaving her post as head chef at Etta. The latest is a Sunday residency at the one-hatted Bar Bellamy, where she’s cooking lunch with a different chef friend every week. Next up, on January 12, it’s Smith & Daughters’ Shannon Martinez.

164 Rathdowne Street, Carlton, barbellamy.com

$76 set-menu lunch (with unlimited focaccia and drinks) at Studio Amaro, Windsor

How much focaccia could you eat in two hours? Find out at one of Studio Amaro’s weekend lunches, where the fluffy stuff is unlimited, as are seasonal bellinis, house wines and Peroni Red beers. Your meal includes all sorts of antipasti, from rockmelon and prosciutto to roasted peppers, plus rigatoni arrabbiata with stracciatella.

168 Chapel Street, Windsor, studioamaro.au

$88 Lunar New Year dinner at Lagoon Dining, Carlton

Lunar New Year is fast approaching, and it’s time to make plans. An excellent option is this one-off multicourse dinner at one of Carlton’s most understated and excellent diners, Lagoon. On January 28, they’ll be serving pork wontons with chilli oil; chow mein with ’nduja gravy and Skull Island prawns; and soy-milk pudding with goji-berry syrup and longan.

263 Lygon Street, Carlton, lagoondining.com

$95 bottomless Sunday sessions at Victoria by Farmer’s Daughters, CBD

Riverside restaurant Victoria by Farmer’s Daughters is bringing back its Sunday sessions from January 12. For $95, you get two hours of bottomless Victorian beer and wine and Four Pillars Gin cocktails, plus a platter with snacks from siblings Farmer’s Daughters and the Latin American Morena.

Federation Square, Tenancy 26/2 Swanston Street, Melbourne, victoriarestaurant.com.au

Multiple specials at Bobbie Peels, North Melbourne

Wine-minded North Melbourne pub Bobbie Peels has summer specials to lure you in (almost) every night of the week. Wednesdays mean free vino tastings and 20 per cent off all (yes, all) bottles; Thursdays mean topnotch steaks from $30, paired with big-bodied reds; and $8 happy-hour drinks flow from 4pm to 6pm, Tuesday to Friday.

351 Queensberry Street, North Melbourne, bobbiepeels.com.au