Vegan
International
Beer/Wine
Take-out

Upmarket vegan restaurant est. 2014 and relocated to current premises Jan 2022. A-la-carte menu only available on Tue-Thur and only for parties of up to six people. Set menu available every night. Drink and snack option available Thurs-Sat. Fully licensed. Catering and private dining room available. Reservations recommended. Open Wed 5:30pm-10:00pm, Thu-Sat 5:30pm-11:00pm. Last orders 10pm.


Venue map for Smith & Daughters
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163 Reviews

First Review by Kittybiscuit

philwky

Points +2841

Vegan
14 Jan 2024

Great Food

Overall the experience was great. The food was fantastic, and the service was good too.

The mushroom steak course in particular was a highlight.

Only reason for 4* not 5* is I judge these places on experience against price, and against a very similar experience this wasn’t quite as good and also cost more.

rymc

Points +355

Mostly Veg
12 Jan 2024

Chef’s counter is worth it

We did the chef’s counter on a trip through Melbourne after trying the deli earlier in the trip. Would go again! I love when you go to one of these and the chef is actually willing to discuss the food with you (techniques, etc). Great way to learn and pick up new ideas.

The course we had was (I believe) a bit of them riffing so consult the photos for dish details. That said, I want to highlight that this place truly understands how to replicate the taste of certain fish products while being entirely vegan. It’s a common point that I find so many places fail at but this blew me away.

Great wine and beer selection too, ambience is moody but energetic. Love their grill both for the custom build and the technique and flavor on display with it.

aphantomspalate

Points +442

Vegan
30 Nov 2023

Beyond amazing

I was blown away by the quality and taste of each of the dishes. It's on expensive side yes, but if you have a special event or are looking for a good place to indulge, this is it.

NilsHeymann

Points +737

Vegetarian
03 Nov 2023

Elegant and delicious

Doesn’t have a sign so just look dormir past the deli.
Service is nice and food is superb. The variety, presentation and surprise elements are wonderful. Price is just right. We truly enjoyed the tasting menu. I love discovering places I can recommend to all my friends

MelissaW

Points +834

Vegan
26 Sep 2023

Lovely place for a more special dinner

Took the chance to finally visit while in Melbourne! We had a great experience with our waiter and the courses were perfect. Highly recommend for a nice meal for any special occasion.

Pros: Set menu was great , Brilliant service , Innovative dishes

Cons: Bit pricy, but worth it

kelseyjaynex

Points +2775

Vegan
09 Sep 2023

Good, but a little underwhelming for the price

Eating here was highly anticipated after hearing and reading about the iconic Smith & Daughters for years, following Shannon Martinez, having the cookbooks, etc. My partner and I had the set menu for my birthday dinner - $95 per person, 8 different dishes to share.

Could’ve sworn I’d read somewhere you could ONLY have the set menu on Friday & Saturday nights, but turns out we could’ve ordered a la carte, and wish we’d done that instead tbh.

Pros:
- Beautiful restaurant with lots of attention to detail, right down to the ice cubes in the cocktail being stamped with S&D logo (as a design/branding nerd I appreciated that haha)
- Lovely staff, very knowledgable & attentive, waitress brought out a candle in the dessert after my partner mentioned it was my bday which was cute
- OBSCENE amount of food if you’re a big eater, honestly left here the fullest we’ve been in ages
- The first 3 dishes were excellent and our favourites, went a little downhill after that

Cons:
- Several dishes came out stone cold (chick’n pastilla, the reginette pasta, the cauliflower dish)
- Some dishes were extremely salty, particularly the mushroom frites. The mushroom was also extremely tough and chewy, couldn’t cut it.
- Personally would prefer a slightly cheaper price with less food as it was just SO MUCH for 2 people and a lot would go to waste (we struggled through and smashed about 90% of it though haha 😎)

Overall unfortunately wouldn’t recommend the set menu. For the price and reputation of S&D I kinda expected the whole thing to be perfection, and it wasn’t.

Pros: great staff, some dishes were excellent

Cons: expensive 🥵, cold food

Tiggy

09 Sep 2023

chatreuse

Points +2325

Vegan
28 Jul 2023

Delicious food in a beautiful setting

They're going to be changing the menu and cuisine soon, so I'm really glad we happened to book this before that happened.
We ordered from the a la carte menu, and my favourites were the empanadas (delish dense meaty filling), and the reginette (pasta) ragu with braised sausage (I couldn't taste the chilli, there was mainly a fennel taste). The pasta was perfect match for the ragu, thick and curly edged.
The coca bread tasted like a slice of pizza, it was really good and tasty, just not what I had been expecting.
The coxinha was like a big arancini, very nice and crispy on the outside, and a nice chickn filling. The potato truffle croquette was my least favourite, but it was still good, with a nice truffle cream on top.
The desserts were a letdown unfortunately, the citrus flan was a little dense, not creamy/silky like I would expect. And I wasn't a fan of the tangy rhubarb.
The tiramisu was grainy and not much in the way of flavour, I used to LOVE the tiramisu here. Another reviewer mentioned a recipe change, and it makes sense, as I no longer even like it.
Service, on the whole, is really attentive, although our water jug wasn't replenished and some of the food is on the salty side.
It's a little expensive, but we did walk away quite full.

Pros: a lot of delicious options

Cons: a little expensive, tiramisu and flan not great

Kittybiscuit

Points +7551

Vegan
09 Jun 2023

A lovely space with a changed tiramisu not for the better

I’ve been to Smith and Daughters since it opened. I decided to go on a night where you could have the à la carte menu rather than the fixed menu which I’ve also tried.
The new dining space is nice. It’s a bit easier to chat and the tables are spaced better. The non alcoholic cocktail I ordered was nice. Coffee and orange. We asked about the small plates as we both wanted the shiitake croquettes. It was one piece per plate which is fine, but maybe mention that on the menu so the waiter doesn’t have to explain it. We also ordered the focaccia style bread with tomatoes and zucchini which was really nice.
The two bigger plates were ok but not amazing. I didn’t think the stuffed broccolini leaf was very flavourful. I have tried their tiramisu before and enjoyed it. They’ve changed their recipe and while it was nice, I preferred the other version.
Also as much as I love Björk, Massive Attack and Portishead maybe turn it down a bit!



2014 review I went with friends and we chose to pick some small plates to share. We chose guacamole to eat with our cocktails, all of which were very tasty. We also shared the tortilla, tamales, potatas con chorizo and the champinones dish. I really enjoyed all of them but preferred the less "meaty" type dishes but my meat eating friends loved the mushrooms particularly. We also shared the desserts, a flan, doughnuts, and a chocolate tart. The avocado ice cream served with the chocolate tart was amazing. The chocolate tart would probably be too sweet as a full dessert and is recommend sharing.
I can't say enough good things about the staff. They were helpful, attentive and so nice! It was a Friday night and busy but the food came out quickly and we didn't need to wait for staff. It was a bit noisy, but that can be said of any restaurant.
We were all so full after our meals And we will definitely be going back

Updated from previous review on 2023-06-09

Pros: staff!, almond milk (yum), tasty food

RubyKeogh

Points +68

Vegan
08 May 2023

Amazing food 😍

My BF and I came here as a special treat & we were not disappointed! We had the tasting menu and it was full of flavour packed dishes that we could not have enjoyed more! 💖

Ruzha

Points +3315

Vegan
21 Mar 2023

Fancy Vegan Restaurant

We went to Smith & Daughters to meet friends for dinner. Originally we had thought of having the set course menu, but as we were in Melbourne for only a short time and eating all day long at various vegan places, we decided to opt for the A La Carte menu.
Everything sounded quite fancy and after awhile we decided to order the Tortilla, Peruvian ceviche, Charcoal Piri Piri chicken skewers, Reginette Cacio e Pepe, Kampot peppers, Mushroom cotoletta, and Smoked beets with almond ricotta. The food was very delicious, but as a fancy restaurant, it did seem a bit pretentious and pricy.
My one concern was with our waiter, who seemed a bit snobby and irritated that we were not having the course menu. He didn't think the food would be enough for us. And yes, the portions were not large, but I think we as customers could make decisions for ourselves.

Edit: I am only editing because for some reason the word “[censored]” was censored from my review. I don’t understand why - is that an offensive word??

Updated from previous review on 2023-03-18

KatieBatty

Points +1477

Vegan
08 Mar 2023

Back to great Spanish food

2023: During lockdown their delivery menu was superb - mac and cheese and other comfort foods. However, now things are opened back-up they have reverted to their high end degustation menus which I just find a bit overly expensive and pretentious. I don't understand what half of the items on the menu after. I preferred their past menus.

June 2017 - S&D have a new winter menu and it's fantastic! I ordered the cod fritters which were delicious, my partner ordered the tortilla which was really creamy - Spanish omelettes look like little cheese or quiche wedges. We shared the baked eggplant dish which was SOOOO good! It's really warming and creamy and is topped with lovely breadcrumbs. For dessert my partner ordered the new hazelnut hot chocolate which tastes like Ferror Rocher, the greatest hot chocolate I ever tasted. My chai latte was good but probably too spice heavy for my liking. Came back for dinner a few nights later and had the Seafood Stew which is so delightful (yeah prawns are back!) and so warming on a cold night. My partner got the lentil and baked chevre which was very nicely flavoured. We shared some chips which were really perfect. My Dad ordered the chickpea soup and cheesy eggplant bake and enjoyed both immensely. Topped of the night with more of the delicious hazelnut hot chocolate, served with almond milk.

Sept 2016 - Came for brunch more recently (see photos for pic of menu) and ordered the corn fritters and bread and butter pudding. I was keen to try to Froot Loop Waffles but it seems they have moved on from that menu. Corn Fritters were deep fried and delicious with some aioli. Bread and butter pudding was really sweet and lovely with cinnamon and spices. Overall great meal, although the serving sizes are a little small.

May 2016 - The new menu is more focused on junk food and recreating some Melbourne favourites that used to be served at now-defunct restaurants. There are still a few good original things too, though. With the new menu I came here for dinner and tried the Southern Fried Chicken Waffles which were fantastic, definitely hit the spot for sweet and salty goodness.

2015 - I first visited Smith & Daughters the restaurant had a Spanish theme and the vegan prawns were heavenly!

Updated from previous review on 2017-06-18

Cons: None

MarisaRobinson

Points +212

Vegan
22 Feb 2023

Delicious 😋

Incredible vegan dishes that each had a unique twist. Friendly and helpful service. I highly recommend the Mushroom cotoletta and Charles Oates Pommeau apple flan for dessert.

Pros: Variety of vegan options , Lots of flavour , Delicious cocktails

AnnabelleArnold1

Points +149

Vegan
26 Jan 2023

Amazing meal & such a cool vibe

Incredible food, you wouldn’t believe it’s vegan. I can imagine this would be a really good place to bring non-vegan friends

Pros: 100% vegan, Amazing food , Really cool ambience

Cons: Quite expensive , Quality over quantity - the portions aren’t huge

emmarnld

Points +54

Vegan
26 Jan 2023

Tasty

Probably the tastiest plant based meal we’ve ever had. Lovely atmosphere and super stylish.
Only downside.. they don’t do coffee. #Veganuary #Veganuary

Raspberries

Points +358

Vegan
22 Jan 2023

Superb

Worth every cent, truly exquisite food.

ilikevegg

Points +341

Vegan
15 Jan 2023

Innovating and exciting vegan food

Really tasty and unique vegan food imagined by a really talented chef who isn’t even vegan! I’m always impressed by my experience and look forward to visiting smith and daughters again. Must visit!!

Vegfix

Points +6083

Vegan
19 Dec 2022

Visited almost 4 years ago

So glad to see Smith & Daughters still going strong and hope they're there for many years to come. I stumbled across some photos from our visit and it brought back memories of a lovely evening there. I think we will have to go back one day!

LewisEatsPlants

Points +1344

Vegan
14 Dec 2022

The best dinner I’ve ever had

I think I’ve said this a few times, but I mean it this time. This is one of the best dinners I’ve ever had. Every course of the 9 course set menu was amazing in its own way, and the staff were great.

Cannot recommend this place enough for a romantic dinner date

NirvanaRoseWilliams

Points +4472

Vegan
09 Oct 2022

Great food

Great food and service. Love the original takes on classics. Everything was so good.

Pros: All vegan , Friendly staff , Great food

JoshuaJacobz

Points +20

Vegan
30 Sep 2022

Good, but disappointing.

Food is good but not great, certainly not on the level of the price tag. Pretentious and elitist atmosphere, many may find this off putting, the same applies to the cafe/shop next door.

Pros: Vegan only

Cons: Price does not match experience, Pretentious and elitist atmosphere, off-putting , Over priced

Veganbohogirl

Points +3665

Vegan
20 Aug 2022

Superb!

Superb dining experience! We had the degustation- they said it was 4 courses but there were about 3 plates per course with one plate to share for dessert between 2 people. Really impressed with the food and ambience and service, such a wonderful dining experience. It was $95 per head. Considering they make their own cheeses and creams and the quality of the food i believe it was worth the price. We were so full too and struggled to fit in the dessert even though the tiramisu was delicious. The wine was also very nice and the wait staff were very attentative and made is feel very welcome.

Pros: All vegan, Superb dining, Housemade cheeses and cream

Cons: Very expensive, No menu just surprise degustation

jessicalovescows

Points +90

Vegan
02 Aug 2022

Unique vegan food

Really yum place to take non vegans, never fails to deliver

ciaramason

Points +66

Vegan
17 Jul 2022

unique meals

my fav restaurant and the meals are super unique

RunEatWorld

Points +2898

Vegan
01 Jul 2022

Love it!

Good variety of unique dishes, including vegan versions of classics that I haven't seen before. Truffle arancini and chicken provencal were my personal highlights. Love the venue, service was great, highly recommend.

AshtrayArts

Points +223

Vegan
11 Jun 2022

Great!

The food is great and they even sell stylish statement shirts!☺️

eveikigai

Points +614

Vegan
06 May 2022

Beautifully presented food and cool vibes 😎

Went here for my birthday, the food was so good and it was nice to have something a bit different to the usual vegan options!

Updated from previous review on 2022-05-06

Einahpets216

Points +943

Vegan
01 Apr 2022

Such a delicious meal

I had the opportunity to dine at the chefs table here tonight and the food was super delicious. The dishes were inventive and tasty and the staff were really lovely! Cocktails were tasty as too!

Pros: All vegan, Delicious cocktails, Great chef’s table experience

Cons: Uber takes you to the old address




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