South Yarra Restaurants

Bar Carolina is a good-looking restaurant with a rapidly expanding set of equally good-looking neighbors: Cantina Carolina and Tetto di Carolina next door. South Yarra’s gourmet-loving population packs the narrow space—with its log, grey-black bar topped by shelves heaving with Italian wines—night after night. Blonde-wood floors and tabletops mingle with dark fixtures to create a sleek, modern aesthetic that makes the wine glasses sparkle. A typical supper here might start off with delicately battered fritto misto and a dish of asparagus and almond-filled tortellini followed by a whole grilled fish and the most delicious, crispy potatoes flecked with rosemary. Bar Carolina is one of those all-day spots that works as well for a group dinner as it does for a lazy afternoon spritz at the bar. But for nights when the narrow space is simply too jammed with diners spooning burrata onto grilled bread, there’s always the neighbor next door. Images courtesy of Kristoffer Paulsen.