Guides
🎨 Gertrude Street Fitzroy: Melbourne's Most Interesting Street
By Fitzroy.com.au · Updated 2026-04-25
Gertrude Street — Where Fitzroy Gets Serious
While Brunswick Street gets the foot traffic, Gertrude Street gets the quiet admiration. Running east from Nicholson Street, this is where you'll find some of Melbourne's best restaurants, most important galleries, and a streetscape that mixes Victorian heritage with contemporary culture.
Gertrude Street is named after Gertrude, the daughter of Governor Charles La Trobe, and has been a gathering place for Aboriginal communities, artists, and migrants for over a century.
History
Gertrude Street has always been multicultural. In the mid-20th century, it was one of Melbourne's most significant Aboriginal gathering places — The Builders Arms was one of the few pubs that served Aboriginal patrons in the 1960s. That history is still present, most powerfully at Charcoal Lane.
Today, the street balances its heritage with some of Melbourne's finest dining and most adventurous art spaces.
Restaurants & Dining
Cutler & Co — 55 Gertrude St Andrew McConnell's flagship and one of Australia's best restaurants. The converted metalworks is magnificent, and the Monday supper club is a Melbourne institution.
Marion Wine Bar — 53 Gertrude St Outstanding natural wine list and bistro-style cooking. Also McConnell. The lamb shoulder for two is the order.
Charcoal Lane — 136 Gertrude St Indigenous Australian cuisine with native ingredients — lemon myrtle, pepperberry, wattleseed. A training restaurant run by Mission Australia. The food is excellent and the story is extraordinary.
Belles Hot Chicken — 150 Gertrude St Nashville-style hot chicken. Six spice levels. Weekend brunch with chicken and waffles.
Ladro — 224 Gertrude St Wood-fired pizza institution. No bookings, worth the wait.
Rocco's Bologna Discoteca — 15 Gertrude St Italo-disco vibes, iconic meatball subs, house-made liqueurs. The permanent home of a pop-up that Melbourne fell in love with.
Archie's All Day — 188 Gertrude St All-day diner with warm atmosphere, brilliant eggs, and a wine list that surprises.
Wine Bars
Gertrude Street Enoteca — 229 Gertrude St Wine bar and Italian food. A neighbourhood institution.
Marion Wine Bar — 53 Gertrude St (See above — it's that good it appears twice.)
Galleries & Art
Gertrude Contemporary One of Australia's most important artist-run spaces, pushing the edge of contemporary art since 1985. Exhibition programme, studios, and residencies.
Outre Gallery — 319 Smith St (nearby) Pop surrealism, illustration, and street art-influenced works.
Design & Retail
Aesop — 242 Gertrude St The Melbourne-born skincare brand's Gertrude Street outpost. The fit-out is gallery-quality, as always with Aesop.
The Builders Arms Hotel — 211 Gertrude St Historic pub with deep community roots. Now a gastropub, but the history is what matters.
Pubs
The Builders Arms — 211 Gertrude St See above — gastropub with genuine heritage significance.
Getting There
Gertrude Street runs east from Nicholson Street (tram 96). Walk from Brunswick Street — it intersects at the southern end. From the CBD, it's about a 20-minute walk or a short tram ride.
Explore all Gertrude Street businesses in our directory.
Last updated: April 2026