Chocolate drops: Some hot chocolate or chocolate cookies never fail to delight.

Home to a kaleidoscope of people and cultures, Melbourne is rapidly making a name for itself as foodie city where different world cuisines take their turns in the spotlight.

In the city center, untold restaurants attempt to seduce customers, offering everything from fine dining to the most recherché Asian dishes. The restaurant boom is largely down to a soaring influx of visitors, whether Australian or foreigners.

Asked to identify Melbourne'€™s signature dish, Andre Prior '€” the owner of Queenie'€™s Food Tours and a contestant in Australian Master Chef 2013 '€” was stumped for a few seconds.

'€œIt changes because we are such a foodie city. It changes all the time. But, at the moment it'€™s Peruvian food. Last year was South Korean, everything was Korean,'€ he said.

Last year'€™s craze for all things Korean prompted Queenie'€™s to launch a program dedicated to South Korean cuisine, with participants invited to lunch on modern Korean-inspired dishes.

Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that the total number of Korean visitors into the country reached 110,000 in the first six months of 2015, increasing by around 10.8 percent from the same period last year. South Korea contributes the second-highest number of visitors from the Northeast Asia region after China, according to the statistics.

Meanwhile, total visitors from the Americas reached 423,900 people in the first half of 2015, rising by about 8.1 percent from the same period last year.

Open house: Shared food offered at Cumulus Inc., which is located on Flinders Lane, Melbourne. On the table is a whole slow-roasted lamb shoulder to share.

Middle Eastern food is increasingly popular too, according to Prior, but comes burdened with the challenge of making dishes halal.

'€œIt is a challenge, but not a hindrance. We are multicultural. The challenge is the barrier to break down. We have to change '€” that'€™s how the business will go,'€ he said.

While tastes are evolving as the city'€™s population diversifies, concepts of the relation of taste to the other senses are another interesting entry point. That'€™s a market The Cape Kitchen is trying to grab.

The Cape Kitchen offers a concept of a table with a view. With a wonderful location on Phillip Island, diners'€™ appetites are sure to be sharpened by a broad view of the Bass Strait.

In a different approach, the Lake House '€” a destination eatery in Daylesford '€” offers a luxury experience at its hotel, restaurant and spa. Founded in the 1970s in Daylesford, which is better known for its mineral hot springs, the Lake House is only 1.5 hours from Melbourne city center, close enough to draw crowds of discerning Melbournians.

'€œWe are close to the lake and have become famous as a dining destination. We have a cookery school as well,'€ said Laura Wolf-Tasker, the Lake House'€™s brand and marketing manager.

Among its main dishes are butter-poached pheasant with chestnuts and farro, lamb with asparagus and duck with orange-braised witlof.

'€“ Text and photos by JP/Raras Cahyafitri