delicious.100: Where to find the best spicy food in Melbourne
WHEN it comes to food, some like it hot. These are the best Melbourne restaurants bringing a chilli-scented breath of fresh air to the city.
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WHEN it comes to food, some like it hot. And luckily for us, Melbourne is blessed with some of the very best spicy food in Australia.
Spice up your life with some of the hottest restaurants in Melbourne — but there’s more to these eateries than just fiery plates with an eye-watering heat.
Order a cold beer or cocktail and expect a chilli-scented breath of fresh air before tucking into food that is hot stuff in every possible way.
These eateries made it on to the delicious.100, the only food guide to rank Victoria’s top 100 restaurants.
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LONG CHIM
Crown Melbourne, Yarra Promenade, Southbank
03 9292 5777
Punchy, vibrant and unapologetically fiery, David Thompson’s Long Chim has arrived on the Crown Riverwalk to redefine Thai food as Melbourne knows it.
Take, for instance, the dare-worthy yet defiantly delicious chicken larb, where fried Kaffir lime leaves and crunchy garlic skins add fragrance to finely chopped chicken with a heat that leaves all in its heart-racing, vision-blurring, tear-inducing wake.
It’s just one dish on a big menu of share-style street food for which Thompson, regarded as the world’s leading authority on Thai cooking, is famed.
But it’s not just about eye-watering heat. Wonderfully elegant fried rice tossed through tender-fleshed roast duck, excellent chive cakes, or a bowl of charred noodles — a tangle of dark, chewy flavour, with tender squid, tiny fried prawns, chicken and loads of eggy goodness — are all approachable delights, while the green chicken curry, studded with bitter Thai eggplants, is benchmark brilliant.
Cocktails are an expected attraction to quell the heat, and a refreshing Thai basil smash does just that with the same efficiency as an ice-cold Singha beer.
Yup, you’ve done it again David Thompson. Long Chim is hot stuff — in every possible way.
Must eat dish: Chicken larb
Cuisine: Asian
Chef: David Thompson
Price $$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Lunch and dinner daily
Instagram: @longchim
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SPICE TEMPLE
Crown complex, Southbank
03 8679 1888
Neil Perry’s dark and seductive den of Cantonese cooking still has plenty of fire in the belly, five years after it first opened.
In case you missed it in the name, spice is the M-O here, with chilli spiking seafood and meat in dishes from China’s many and varied regions. Fiery plates are helpfully marked on the menu in red, but there’s still much on offer for more temperate tastes.
Open with super-fresh tiles of kingfish in shallot oil and speckled with black sesame, or start the hot hits with lamb dumplings — juicy, bronzed parcels of supreme flavour fuelled with a chilli dressing.
The kung pao chicken’s tangle of cashews and lip-numbing dried chilli is a challenge spice fiends will love, while lush pork hock braised in master stock for three hours is shredded at the table to toss with chilli, ginger and black vinegar.
Ask for half serves to taste a greater spread of dishes, and leave room for dessert which may be as functional as it is flavoursome in the form of a soothing parfait ‘wagon wheel’ bursting with chilli-numbing caramel, chocolate and peanut.
Intriguing cocktails — like the 12 named after each sign of the Chinese zodiac — are bestowed the same attention to detail as food, and the 100-strong wine list has been hand-picked to stand up to the often tricky Chinese flavours.
While the interior is so dimly lit you sometimes wonder if Perry forgot to pay the electricity bill, the fire that glows from all aspects of the sexy, exxy space will light your way through a meal of epic flavour proportions.
Must-eat dish: Kung pao chicken
Cuisine: Chinese
Chefs: Neil Perry, Jason Margaritis
Price: $$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Thu-Sun noon-3pm (yum cha), nightly 6pm-11pm
Instagram: @rockpoolgroup
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DAINTY SICHUAN
176 Toorak Rd, South Yarra
03 9078 1686
Some like it hot. The good folk of Sichuan in southwest China certainly do, inflaming their distinctive hotpots and stews with the smouldering burn of dried chillies, garlic, vinegar and peppercorns.
Dainty Sichuan flies the flag for this coveted regional cuisine in Melbourne and has done so since 2003. But its big, bustling base in South Yarra, spread across two gaudily decorated dining rooms, is not just about all things incendiary.
Plough into Dainty’s supersized laminated menus — full of gleaming colour snaps — and you’ll find gentler fare: finely pleated Chinese dumplings plump with pork; deliciously dry, seasoned Sichuan duck; and a soothing cold noodle combo. Order the lot and challenge yourself not to wipe the plates clean.
Now, time to get the fire started with Dainty’s addictive lamb-rib stew (rated two chillies on the menu legend), which lands at the table in a bubbling cauldron.
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It’s a mighty serve — in fact every plate here seems to be generously heaped — with silky noodles lurking in the mix.
Quench the heat with Chinese tea or a foamy ale. Dainty’s keen waitstaff are also offering an improved wine list these days.
Then settle back and plan your next value-for-money Dainty experience. The Chongqing chilli chicken awaits!
Must-eat dish: Lamb-rib stew
Cuisine: Chinese
Chef: Laikang Xu
Price: $
Bookings: Yes
Open: Lunch & dinner daily
Instagram: @daintysichuan
LUCY LIU
23 Oliver Lane, Melbourne
03 9639 5777
Lucy Liu loiters in a bluestone alley, her name glowing in pink neon.
From the exterior, this Asian eating and drinking house has a nightclub vibe. But once inside, Lucy’s come-on is brilliant pan-Asian fare with a cracking drinks list, served with laid-back style in a buzzy canteen space.
Pale timber meets polished terrazzo, booth seating nudges up to communal tables, and pumping beats keep the chatter level high.
Order a well-muddled cocktail to get you going or one of the many aromatic varietals that suit Lucy’s spirited food. Then tuck into the ‘small bites and tastes’.
The kingfish sashimi, scattered with toasted coconut and drenched with lime, could well be the best in town; while the soft-shell pancake roll, amped up with spicy hoi sin sauce, delivers joy in every mouthful.
The Korean-style crispy pork hock is Lucy’s signature dish for good reason. You can hear the snap of the tanned crust as you drive a knife through it, revealing lovely pale porky meat inside ready for folding into pliable Peking duck-style pancakes.
Still, the kitchen here would love you to try their Cantonese-steamed blue cod with ginger, or crispy fried Sichuan duck with a garland of watercress.
Pricey? Nah. Flexible? You bet. So many reasons to love Lucy.
Must eat dish: Korean-style crispy pork hock
Cuisine: Modern Asian
Chefs: Michael Lambie, Zac Cribbes
Price: $$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Lunch and dinner daily
Instagram: @lucyliu_melbourne
NOBU
Crown Towers, Southbank
03 9292 7879
Ten years after Robert De Niro helped to officially open it, breaking open a cask of sake, Nobu Melbourne is travelling well.
This southern outpost of Nobuyuki Matsuhisa’s culinary empire has lost some of its high gloss glamour (the riverfront dining room needs a refurb), but the service is as personable as ever while the food keeps evolving in subtle ways.
Bring on the lunchtime bento boxes, a great entry level way to experience this otherwise pricey place.
Backed with a formidable drinks list, brimming with cocktails and sake, Nobu still showcases all things great and raw. The sushi and sashimi rocks. Especially the Hiramasa yellowtail with jalapeño.
We also love the pretty-as-a-picture soft shell crab nori tacos but should you need to choose between Nobu’s umami sea bass or the signature black cod miso, go the bass.
Its thrillingly delicious, a testament to Matsuhisa’s restless exploration of flavours, textures and traditions.
Must-eat dish: Umami sea bass
Cuisine: Japanese
Chef: Sean Tan
Price: $$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Lunch and dinner daily
Instagram: @nobuworldwide
Uncle CBD
Level 1, 15 Collins St, Melbourne
03 9654 0829
Rene Spence and Dai Duong, having won over St Kilda with their fun-and-funky take on
Vietnamese — hello pig’s ear banh mi and Maggi-doused chicken wings — have added a CBD Uncle to the family. And it’s a chilli-and-lemongrass scented breath of fresh air.
House-aged fish sauce adds bright tang to a rainbow of tomatoes served with a fat pouch of creamy burrata, and is a clever plate of Melbourne via Da Nang.
Batons of crisp-fried pulled pork served with slivers of char-branded tongue is offally good ‘tongue and cheek’, while raw kingfish teamed with juicy logan and dotted with coconut and tamarind cream is a burst of tropical sun that breaks through the greyest of Melbourne days. So, too, will a Mekong Splice cocktail (rum, mango sorbet and chilli-coconut foam), while an ice cold can of Bia Ha Noi slakes summer thirsts, and which you can be sure Spence’s switched-on team will deliver swiftly.
Uncle CBD is a welcome addition to the family in Melbourne’s top end of town.
Must-eat dish: Tongue and cheek
Cuisine: Asian
Chef: Dai Duong
Price: $$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Mon-Fri. noon-late, Sat from 5pm
Instagram: @unclerestaurants
LONGRAIN
40-44 Little Bourke St, Melbourne
03 9653 1600
Longrain’s fresh Australian take on Thai still feels fresh.
Into its second decade, this mid-level Melbourne fave has got the hot, sour, sweet and salty mix thing exactly right with a cracking drinks list to match. But far from resting on its laurels, Longrain is springing plenty of share-dish surprises to spice up restaurant visits.
Yes, the one-bite betel leaf wraps still beckon, but you might chance upon chargrilled cuttlefish with a roasted shallot and prawn relish, or stir-fried diamond clams fizzing with wild ginger.
Longrain’s famed eggnet filled with pork and prawns still reigns supreme, along with the always ethereal coconut-poached chicken and green papaya. But the chefs here — who personally serve some dishes — would also love you to try their fragrant yellow curry of hapuka, dense with Thai eggplant and snake beans.
Furnished with long tables, Longrain is great for groups but this moodily lit room, all brick and timber, also accommodates couples well.
Along with the ‘greatest hits’ menu, the fleet-footed floor staff are among the best in town, and so it’s no wonder that Longrain is here for the long haul.
Must-have dish: Coconut-poached chicken, green papaya and Vietnamese mint
Cuisine: Thai
Chef Sarah Chan
Price: $$
Bookings: For groups of five or more only
Open: Lunch Fri., dinner daily
Instagram: @longgrainrestaurant
RICKY & PINKY
211 Gertrude St, Fitzroy
A year on, and the mod-Canto styles of Andrew McConnell’s Chinese restaurant in a pub have settled into a comfortable groove.
The dining room — as to be expected of a McConnell venue — is as sleek, colourful and stylish an interpretation of a Chinese restaurant, as head chef Perry Schagen’s cooking is elegant.
The standout dish is mapo tofu with all its tingling heat and numbing nuance, just one highlight among many on a menu that is a refined ode to the classic Chinese restaurant.
Fried wontons sing when swiped through a sweet and sour dipping sauce. Rice cakes topped with lap cheong and best-in-class spiced quail segue into bigger plates of whole flounder and cumin lamb that lead into DIY bao. It’s familiar stuff, but done with the modern McConnell flair Melbourne has come to expect.
The extensive wine list is filled with fare-friendly drops, while changing taps keep the beer interesting and the pub spirit alive. Friday, Saturday and Sunday, spin the lazy Susan with the whole family for yum cha.
No need to watch your elbows, it’s trolley-free zone, where ample staff are on hand to ferry baskets filled with plump sui mai and steamed pork buns, along with honeycomb tripe for the brave.
If that wasn’t enough, there are retro-tastic prawn toasts and an XL fortune cookie for dessert.
Must eat dish: Mapo tofu
Cuisine: Asian
Chefs: Perry Schagen, Andrew McConnell
Price $$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Dinner daily, Yum cha from noon Fri.-Sun
Instagram: @rickyandpinky
CHIN CHIN
125 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
03 8663 2000
The queues, the queues. Even now, after six hectic, trailblazing years, you still have to wait to get into Chin Chin at peak times. And, as always, it’s well worth the wait.
What’s half an hour, and a while-you-wait drink at GoGo bar next door, when you’ve got slow cooked pulled pork ‘Roll Ups’ waiting for you? Or a well-priced wok-fried spanner crab omelette?
This omelette, amped up with coriander and a spiky Sriracha sauce, is always on Chin Chin’s menu (chef Benjamin Cooper would be a marked man if he ever dropped it) but it’s not the only hot-shot dish here.
Look for Cooper’s cooling salad of shiso and sesame prawn dumplings, his lip-smacking Isaan duck larb with ground roast rice, and a goat curry that’s as delectably southern Thai as it comes.
The kitchen here juggles the mix with aplomb, but it’s Chin Chin’s vibe — the noisy, neon lit, elbow-to-elbow, hawker-market craziness of the place — that keeps us coming back for more. That and the cracking staff who get a cocktail in your hand before you can say, well ... Chin Chin.
Must-eat dish: Wok-fried spanner crab omelette, snow pea, coriander and Sriracha
Cuisine: South-East Asian
Chef: Benjamin Cooper
Price: $$
Bookings: Groups of eight or more only
Open: Daily 11am-late
Instagram: @chinchin
CATFISH THAI
42-44 Main Rd, Bakery Hill, Ballarat
03 5331 5248
Visitors to Ballarat love panning for gold at Sovereign Hill but Bakery Hill, just minutes away, holds a gem of its own: an uncommonly good contemporary Thai restaurant glowing with imagination, energy, and old fashioned commitment.
Catfish Thai is its name and owner-chef Damien Jones — almost always found behind the stove — is the Ballarat man mining magic from this singular Asian cuisine.
“Ours is a shared dining experience,’’ he explains of his stylish 70-seater.
So larger dishes at Catfish — balancing the sweet and sour with the hot and salty, are always taken together with rice. Steamed jasmine rice, to be exact, scooped from a bowl with a stylish wooden spatula.
Dining here, in a room painted bordello red with grey trim, you might luck upon a salad of roast duck salad with squelchy, lychee-like longans.
Or a slow-cooked beef cheek curry, heady with onions and coriander. Then again, you might not.
The Catfish menu is always changing and Jones, a disciple of David (Nahm) Thompson, is on a constant quest for superior ingredients. His sensibly priced ‘Tasting Plate’ of street snacks showcases them: lime-dressed oysters and sticky Berkshire pork skewers, peppered soft shell crab and emerald green betel leaves embracing smoked scallops.
Traditional techniques may underpin Catfish, but Jones’s view of Thai food is elastic enough to accommodate a playful dessert combining peanut ice cream, chocolate rough and raspberry marshmallow.
Must eat dish: Salad of roast duck
Cuisine: Thai
Chef: Damien Jones
Price: $$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Dinner Tues.-Sat from 6pm, lunch Wed-Sat from noon
Instagram: @catfishthai
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