For many years now, Rockpool has been the place to eat steak in Melbourne. And rightly so – the in-house meat program deals exclusively in Cape Grim and Blackmore’s Waygu beef, and has tonnes of it dry-aging at any one time. Needless to say, this place has honed the cooking process down to a fine art.

All prime cuts of beef go through a rigorous ageing process at this Port Melbourne staple. Suppliers Cape Grim first age the meat for up to six weeks, then it’s dry-aged on-site in a dedicated ageing room for 20 days or more, depending on the cut of meat.

Venetian elegance, New York energy and Melbourne nostalgia collide at restaurateur Chris Lucas’s lavish brasserie and grill. Settle into the grand dining room for charcoal-fired bistecca, show-stopping tiramisu, quintessentially Italian cocktails and lots of tableside theatrics.

Before chef Sean Donovan moved onto the Fitzroy Town Hall, he set up this unashamed temple to beef. The menu has been consolidated since then, but still offers around 10 outstanding cuts.

Argentina loves beef like no other country on earth. Get a taste of its culture here, with help from O'Connor Beef fired on a custom Parrilla charcoal grill.

This handsome subterranean bistro serves up an exceptional steak frites and a Tournedos eye fillet. Come here for the city’s late-night steak du jour.

O’Connor grass-fed beef and 9+ score Wagyu from David Blackmore is aged for 30 to 50 days, then wood-fired on the grill.

The Reymond family might call this place a pub, but not many pubs offer O’Connor Beef and Cape Grim steaks cooked like this.

Open since 1986, France Soir is one of Melbourne’s pre-eminent restaurants – attracting the likes of Bruce Springsteen and Mick Jagger. Order classic steak frites cooked with O'Connor grass-fed beef.

Since launching in 2014, the Git seems to have flown under many meat-lovers’ radars. That's a mistake while owner Michael Slade – formerly of La Luna Bistro – is in the kitchen.

While sibling restaurant Farmer’s Daughters is all about Gippsland, this sophisticated eatery brings the best of the entire state’s produce to Melbourne’s epicentre. Find burly dry-aged O’Connor rib eye served sliced with rocoto-chilli salsa, a 3000-bottle “wine library” and a terrace with river views.

Anthony Bourdain called the Sydney original “the most beautiful butcher shop in the world”. Its Melbourne outpost has a dry-aging room where rib-eyes, T-bones, sirloins and rumps hang in a temperature-controlled cabinet.

Gothic vaulted ceilings, stained glass windows and granite columns define this grand brasserie, in the former Melbourne Stock Exchange. Find top-grade beef flamed on a woodfired grill and ceilings that will have you staring upwards all night.

Yakikami is a lavish dining experience focused on high-grade Kobe beef, which is sizzled over red-hot charcoal josper grills. You can really push the boat out with high-end omakase in the private dining room.