Eating and drinking in Southbank

My Mexican Cousin

Forget the name: you come to MMC for a pre-show New Orleans Vieux Carré and a prawn po' boy. There’s been a lot of kitchen turbulence at the Recital Centre's all-day diner/bar from the get-go, but since chef Simon den Boogert returned from Louisiana kitchen boot camp, the Creole cuisine has had an authentic southern drawl.

The Waiting Room

A bar in a casino it may be, but the Waiting Room has every bit of the secluded elegance Melbourne demands when it throws down a cocktail. Will Oxenham heads up the bar here, where vintage glassware, suspenders, finger sandwiches and classic cocktails rule. Hit their trademark Red Snapper – beetroot, tomato juice, gin and salt, with plenty of hot sauce and garnished with a celery stick, it’s practically a health drink.

Spice Temple

Hitting a matinee? Prime your eyeballs for the inky-black theatre with a luncheon pit stop at Neil Perry's Spice Temple – the land that lighting forgot. Although Perry traditionally eschewed Cantonese, the Temple is now serving some of the best yum cha in town. Hit the slippery prawn wantons with XO sauce, a spicy-fresh ginger beer, and use the dim light to conquer your fear of soft, soy-bathed chicken claws.

The Atlantic

You're already getting cultured, so why not go all-out and have a good bubble-swilling and shucking session? The restaurant is more a lengthy-stay proposition, but the oyster bar at the Atlantic, serving up shucked-to-order bivalve molluscs from all over Australia (as well as sashimi and creamy chowder), is open till 2am, so you can stop, drop and snack either before or after the show.

Giuseppe, Arnaldo & Sons

It's a flexible menu at GAS – you can either snack and dash (make up a meal of fresh sourdough, salt cod croquettes and wafers of air-dried ham, sliced to order from the legs that hang on proud display in a spotlit cabinet), or settle in for a deep dish of fettuccini tousled with a wild mushroom ragu nursing a just-cooked egg. Wine is equally flexible – your chianti comes in a short sampler, glass, carafe or bottle. How thoughtful.