Where to find Victoria’s best Asian food
From comforting dumplings and silky noodles to perfect seafood and innovative fusion, Victoria’s Asian restaurants deliver impressive examples of these in spades. Here are our best.
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From comforting dumplings and silky noodles to perfect seafood and innovative fusion, Victoria’s Asian restaurants deliver impressive examples of these in spades.
Here’s our list of where to find the best Asian dishes in Victoria, taken from the Sunday Herald Sun’s Delicious. 100.
READ MORE: VICTORIA’S TOP 100 RESTAURANTS RANKED
REGIONAL RESTAURANTS WORTH THE ROADTRIP
ANCHOVY
It’s one of Melbourne’s unmissable bites. Served on a crisp lettuce leaf, a round of Vietnamese blood pudding — at once crunchy and yielding, rich and humid — comes with a sliver of pickled ginger and a dusting of ground rice.
It’s been a staple at Thi Le and Jia-Yen Lee’s three-year-old anchovy since opening and is just one of the non-negotiables at the modern Asian Bridge Rd restaurant.
Beforehand you’ll snack on gratis cumin-and-chilli dusted rice crispies that are a good friend with your first beer, and you might finish with a fermented rice cream with roasted pear and ginger granita. In between, you should plump for a plate of the fattest pine mushrooms seasoned with green chilli and enlivened with lemon balm, or a fig and apple salad that has the sweetness tempered by dried shrimp funkiness and fish sauce savouriness.
Other standouts include whole garfish, splayed across the plate on a powerful sour ochre curry, and whole quail, its roasted crisp skin seasoned with peppery spice, a sharp barberry sauce adding fruity foil to the dancing heat. Wow.
Anchovy is redefining Asian dining in Richmond and keeps going from strength to strength. It is, quite simply, superb.
ANCHOVY
338 Bridge Rd, Richmond.
9428 3526
Cuisine: Modern Asian
Chef: Thi Le
Price: $$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Wed-Sat dinner, Thur-Sat lunch
Instagram: @anchovy338
BYO: No
Licensed: Yes
Separate bar: No
SUNDA
Within a stark cube of concrete, steel and glass that takes industrial chic to almost absurd levels, Khanh Nguyen melds Indonesian, Malaysian and Vietnamese cuisine with indigenous Australian ingredients. What could in less skilful hands turn into a nightmare of lemon myrtle pho and saltbush nasi goreng is, instead, one of this year’s most surprising, exciting and innovative newcomers.
Welcome to Sunda, where curry-oil scented Vegemite butter is spread on crisp shredded roti, and XO egg noodles come with a pepperberry bite.
Accomplished, wildly creative cooking that never forgets to be delicious, Sunda is an exciting ride through South East Asia on an Australian passport that’s one part Bintang, three parts brilliant.
SUNDA
18 Punch Lane, Melbourne
9654 8190
Must eat dish: Vegemite curry roti
Cuisine: Contemporary
Chef: Khanh Nguyen
Price: $$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Lunch Fri, Tues-Sat dinner
Instagram: @sunda_dining
BYO: No
Licensed: Yes
Separate bar: No
MINAMISHIMA
The singular pursuit of perfection defines a meal at Koichi Minamishima’s eponymous temple to sushi. Down an unassuming Richmond back street in a hushed, reverent, dark room you’ll be served a procession of perfect morsels across two hours that showcase Japanese omakase at the highest echelon.
Whelk with tobiko might precede textural octopus brushed with sweet soy that tastes like an ocean walk. Prawn with kelp, torched engawa (flounder from the fin), charred sea eel and oily mackerel flown in from Tokyo are just some of the fish you might be served draped over perfect fingers of rice on any given night. O-toro tuna, the most prized belly piece of the most prized Bluefin tuna will feature, was well as — for those who dare — whisper-thin slices of fugu, the deadly pufferfish that only the most skilled sushi chefs can safely prepare.
It will take you months to get a booking and cost $185 a head, but Minamishima is an experience like no other.
MINAMISHIMA
4 Lord St, Richmond
9429 5180
Must-eat dish: Fugu (pufferfish)
Cuisine: Japanese
Price: $$$$
Chef: Koichi Minamishima
Bookings: Yes
Open: dinner Tues-Sat
Instagram: N/A
BYO: No
Separate bar: No
KISUME
In Kisume, Midas-touch restaurateur Chris Lucas’s Japan is bold, beautiful and buzzy, a multipurpose firecracker encompassing restaurant, sushi counter, Chablis bar and The Chef’s Table — one of the best communal dining experiences in Melbourne.
The omakase (chef’s selection) is a compelling collision of top-end ingredients, technique and performance, enjoyed at a horseshoe-shaped table with up to 11 of your new best friends, as chefs assemble, pour and present each course.
Kisume is a pricey party, but a party nonetheless.
KISUME
175 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
9671 4444
Must-eat dish: Kingfish sashimi with black truffles
Cuisine: Japanese
Chef: Joshua Bedell
Price: $$/ $$$$ (The Chef’s Table)
Bookings: Yes
Open: Lunch and dinner daily
Instagram: @kisume_au
BYO: No
Separate bar: Yes (Chablis bar)
CODA
In the restaurant world, the word ‘fusion’ has more often than not meant collision.
Not at Coda. This raffish basement diner, now in its tenth year, continues to meld Asian and Euro influences with aplomb, expressing executive chef Adam D’Sylva’s quest for “balanced flavours, seasonality and innovation.’’
At Coda, it seems only natural to bring out wok-tossed lamb with banana chilli one minute and steak tartare with quail eggs the next.
As for the vibe, it’s still industrial chic but the lights have dimmed, the sharper edges have been softened and Coda feels very good indeed.
CODA
Basement, 141 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
03 9650 3155
Must-eat dish: Cone Bay barramundi with jungle aromats
Cuisine: French-Vietnamese; Modern Asian
Chef: Adam D’Sylva & Henri Budiman
Price: $$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Lunch daily 12-3pm; dinner Fri-Sat 5:30pm-late, Sun-Thu 6pm-late
BYO: No
Licensed: Yes
Separate bar: No
PROVENANCE
A new room has given new life to Michael Ryan’s Japanese-accented fine diner in Beechworth, which now looks as smart as the cooking and wonderful regional wine list.
With American indie-folk on the stereo, Norwegian pale ale in the glass and Myrrhee goat on the plate, a meal here within the one-time Bank of Australasia is quirky, interesting and delicious.
Though the menu is scattered with yuzu, dashi and umeboshi, this is less Japanese restaurant and more regional venue with timeshare in the Land of the Rising Sun.
For a unique and inspired celebration of the north-east, with cooking that’s smart and delicious, all roads lead to Beechworth.
PROVENANCE
86 Ford St, Beechworth
5728 1786
Must eat dish: Maremma duck-roasted breast, brown rice congee, umeboshi
Cuisine: Japanese
Chef: Michael Ryan
Price: $$$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Lunch Sun; Wed-Sat dinner
Instagram: @theprovenance
BYO: No
Licensed: Yes
Separate bar: No
LONGRAIN/LONGSONG
Longrain may well be into its second decade but its pan-generational appeal is as strong as ever, thanks to a winning formula of spot-on service, precise and friendly Thai dishes and a well-priced, cuisine-matched drinks list.
Our tip: come with a group, for the banquet offering is hard to beat.
There’s another party going on upstairs at Longsong, a cleverly converted warehouse where chef David Moyle works his magic with a woodfired grill and stove.
The whole place celebrates primary producers, brewers and distillers, so you’re bound to find the right drink to go with those buttery Moreton Bay bugs and coal-roasted potatoes.
LONGRAIN/LONGSONG
44 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne
03 9653 1600
longrain.com/Melbourne or longsong.com.au
Must-eat dish: Crispy fried fish with chilli, tamarind, lime
Cuisine: Contemporary Thai
Chefs: Chaowarat Arté Assavakavinvong and David Moyle
Price: $$
Bookings: Yes for groups 6+
Open: Longrain Dinner daily; Longsong Dinner Mon-Sat
Instagram: @longrainrestaurant, @longsongmelbourne
BYO: No
Licensed: Yes
Separate bar: Yes
LONG CHIM
Planning a trip to Thailand? Visit Long Chim before you go.
This lively Thai restaurant on the Yarra Promenade has all the heat and hustle of a street canteen in Bangkok.
And with David Thompson (Nahm, Bangkok) at the helm, a man who understands Thai food better than any other Australian chef, you’re assured of an authentic, uncompromising experience.
Long Chim’s offer is backed with swift, knowledgeable service and a fun fitout.
LONG CHIM
Yarra Promenade — Crown Melbourne
8 Whiteman Street Southbank
03 9292 5777
Must-eat dish: Soft shell crab, chilli, black pepper and coriander
Cuisine: Thai
Chef: Steven Ngo
Price: $$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Wed-Sun lunch and dinner
Instagram: @longchim
BYO: No
Licensed: Yes
Separate bar: No
EZARD
Staying the fine-dining distance in Melbourne is Ezard, the sleek Adelphi Hotel home of Teage Ezard’s refined Asian-leaning plates since 1999.
Today, whether in tasting menus or a la carte, mains shine brightest, like the Chinese-style duck, rosy-centred slices on a bed of funky black rice, freshened with spring onion and turnip. Or the confident harmony of just-cooked blue eye trevalla topped with wisps of pancetta, perched on silky creamed cauliflower with a crumbed quail egg, and chicken consommé.
However, two signatures land wide. Selections on the dessert platter were fridge-cold, while the dressing on the scallop dumplings was too sweet with mirin to be enjoyable.
Service also stood out for the wrong reasons. A slightly early arrival sees us sent to the waiting area with a less-than-warm welcome.
With prices unabashedly occasion (or corporate card) dining, this flagship can lack the finesse of old.
EZARD
187 Flinders Lane, city
03 9639 6811
Must eat dish: Chinese-style duck
Cuisine: Contemporary
Chefs: Teage Ezard and Jarrod di Blasi
Price: $$$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Lunch Mon-Fri, dinner Mon-Sat
Instagram: @ezardmelbourne
BYO: Yes
Separate bar: No
Drinks list by Brendan Bennett
ANNAM
Melbourne isn’t short on pan-Asian eateries, but Jerry Mai’s personality-packed Annam stands out from the crowd.
Her brand of Vietnamese, Cambodian and Thai flavours are zesty and exciting, as are the party-starting moves of red chopsticks and kung fu movies projected on the wall of this sleek industrial space.
But for all the playfulness, there’s also precision — in the killer cocktails list masterfully blending Asian ingredients, as well as in the small(ish) but perfectly formed menu.
The sweet hit of the oxtail dumplings, the meat braised in masterstock and syrupy sarsaparilla, rightfully have a cult following, while the pork hock, all crunchy outer, juicy flesh and sticky with pineapple salsa, comes with lettuce and herbs to apply to banh tieu (soft, hollow doughnuts) for some finger-licking fun.
And do do desserts, especially the tropical trip of a cracked young coconut cupping coconut sorbet and jelly.
ANNAM
56 Little Bourke St, Melbourne
9654 6627
Must eat dish: Oxtail dumplings
Cuisine: Asian
Chef: Jerry Mai
Price: $$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Dinner Mon-Sat, lunch Mon-Fri
Instagram: @annam_melbourne
BYO: N
Licensed: Y
Separate bar: Y
Owners: Jerry Mai and Rani Doyle
Drinks lists: Rani Doyle
SUPERNORMAL
This hip Asian diner manages to stay effortlessly on trend year on year, its boundless X-factor and hustle all part of the frenetic fun.
Pinch a perch at the bar for a birds-eye view of the kitchen action, or join the main fray.
Dishes are cemented in the Melbourne make-up — those famous lobster rolls, the duck bao, dumplings and the peanut butter parfait are tops, but Supernormal is never resting on its laurels.
The raw bar is a good place to start, particularly if you choose the kingfish tiles laced with slices of kohlrabi and slicked with orange-fresh dashi. Or try the shredded chicken salad tussling with egg noodles, funky pickled cucumbers and lip-tingling Sichuan pepper.
Whether it’s old faves or new classics, this hospo hive is always reliably exciting.
SUPERNORMAL
180 Flinders Lane, city
9650 8688
Must-eat dish: Sichuan chicken salad
Cuisine: Asian
Chefs: Andrew McConnell and Perry Schagen
Price: $$
Bookings: Lunch only
Open: Lunch and dinner daily
Instagram: @supernormal_180
BYO: N
Licensed: Y
Separate bar: Y
Drinks list: Leanne Altman and Stephanie Jacob
LUCY LUI
The Melbourne night might be cold and young but Lucy Liu is jumping — this four-year-old pan-Asian laneway haunt still packing them in any night of the week.
And why not? There’s a buzzy bar serving smashing cocktails, smart cooking at a sharp price point and switched-on staff who know their stuff and make the crowd — aged anywhere from 20 to 50 — feel special and just a bit cool. It’s busy, buzzy and whole lot of fun.
The crowds come for vibrant Thai fish cakes to swipe through peanut sambal with tickly chilli, and soft-shell crab pancakes slathered in spicy hoi sin. They order the kingfish sashimi for its persuasive blend of green chilli heat and toasted coconut crunch, and lick the plate clean of the sticky tamarind sesame dressing that’s drizzled over crisp and tingly Sichuan duck.
Every second table seems to come for the stand-out crispy Korean pork hock that remains a hands-on, hands-down winner of a wrap-and-roll DIY dinner, and they finish with an excellent take on Vietnamese coffee in ice cream form. It’s fun, it’s funky, Lucy Liu is still on fire.
LUCY LUI
23 Oliver Lane, Melbourne
03 9639 5777
Must eat dish: Korean-style crispy pork hock
Cuisine: Modern Asian
Chef: Zac Cribbes, Michael Lambie & Jenna North
Price: $$
Takes bookings: Yes
Open: Daily lunch and dinner
Instagram: @lucyliumelbourne
BYO: No
Licensed: Yes
Separate bar: Yes
UNCLE
Lively modern Vietnamese food, killer sips and tropical vibes make this Uncle one relative you’ll want to visit more often.
Slightly more upmarket than the St Kilda original, this chic first-floor perch up the Paris end of Collins Street leaves a good first impression, with swift service and quality snacking.
A disc of white bread goes luxe, lavished with buffalo ricotta, Yarra Valley salmon roe and chewy-sweet-salty candied anchovies for a two-bite textural riot, while crowd-pleasing banh mi — tofu, soft-shell crab and crispy pigs’ ear — inspire orders of “one of each, please.”
Delve deeper with mackerel and mussels amped with XO sauce, matched with food-friendly wines mainly from Victoria or cool cocktails like the Uncle Mary, raucous with Szechuan and chilli-infused vodka.
UNCLE
1/15 Collins St, Melbourne
9654 0829
Must-eat dish: Candied anchovies, ricotta and roe on Wonder White
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Price: $$
Bookings: Yes
Chef: Dai Duong
Open: Mon-Fri lunch, Mon-Sat dinner
Instagram: @unclerestaurants
BYO: N
Licensed: Y
Separate bar: Y
Owners: Rene Spence and Dai Duong
Wine and cocktail lists by Peter Signato
CHIN CHIN
It’s still queue-tastically busy, its menu still crowd-pleasingly broad and, though it’s spawned a thousand imitators across the country, is still in a league of its own. More than seven years and many, many diners later Chin Chin is still pumping.
No one’s coming here for a quiet, refined time to ponder the intricacies of a Thai-ish menu that runs more than four-dozen dishes deep — it’s big, it’s brash, it’s bold with flavours that tend to the sweet, bar the brilliantly brow-mopping duck larb.
Gnarly, tender pork ribs that slide from the bone are great finger food, with crisp-fried duck delivering a plate of ginger-amped crunch. A side of stir-fried green beans with a burnt chilli peanut sambal is an unexpected showstopper of a wok star.
The heaving bustle can get in the way of a logical progression of plates from the kitchen — though gooey chilli-spiked son-in-law eggs are good enough to eat for dessert — and service can tend to err on the “no worries mate” side of casual.
Cool cache is amped with excellent house beer collabs and cracking local crafties in tins, while the wine focus remains pleasingly strong.
For a fun feed that still has incredible pan-generational appeal, to Chin Chin we say cheers.
CHIN CHIN
125 Flinders Lane, Melbourne.
03 8663 2000
Must eat dish: Twice-cooked pork ribs with crispy rice salad
Cuisine: Modern Asian
Chef: Benjamin Cooper
Price: $$
Bookings: Groups 8+ only
Open: Daily 12pm-late
Instagram: @chinchin
BYO: No
Licensed: Yes
Separate bar: Yes
LEE HO FOOK
In our fast-paced, screen-dominated days we all need a moment to take time out and when a grey day demands a hug of comfort, head straight to Lee Ho Fook for chef Victor Liong’s crab fried rice.
For this sublime steaming bowl of XO-seasoned rice flecked with sweet swimmer crab and scallops is at once gloriously gloopy, warming and deeply delicious, bringing a joy that rights all wrongs.
Within this converted warehouse dining room Liong has been honing his “new style Chinese” for the past few years (five years since first opening the doors in Collingwood), and such plates as the signature crisp eggplant are better than ever, now favouring the savoury over the sweet.
Punchy flavours and vinegar sharpness abound — excellent Shandong-style chicken does aromatic succulence and seasoned crunch in equal measure — though generosity is sometimes at the expense of refinement. A whole murray cod piled high with juicy Goolwa pippies is impressive, but was drowned in its spicy sauce.
While the wine list is expensive (and $12 for a Furphy schooner is eye-poppingly cheeky), service can tend to the uninterested and the Nova-100 styles of the playlist at curious odds with a crowd that’s surprisingly middle aged, Lee Ho Fook remains a consistently popular CBD destination for Chinese with laneway swagger.
LEE HO FOOK
11 Duckboard Place, Melbourne
03 9077 6261
Cuisine: Chinese
Chef: Victor Liong
Price: $$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Lunch Mon-Fri 12pm-2:30pm; dinner nightly 6-10pm
Instagram: @leehofook
BYO: No
Licensed: Yes
Separate bar: No
NOBU
It might still be the most famous Japanese restaurant in the world, but Nobu has lost some of the fusion-driven edge and top-shelf excitement that heralded its arrival at Crown more than a decade ago.
That doesn’t stop the crowds coming here for the signature miso cod, wagyu tacos, king crab tempura and California rolls, and to hit the sake list and make a night of it.
Sharp and knowledgeable service helps to navigate the extensive menu that has misses — a pub-level salad strewn with salmon skin; out-of-season asparagus crowning fine-if-forgettable pork belly — among the hits. Sushi and sashimi remains a highlight, along with such pretty dishes as a chilli-dusted scallop tiradito crowned with Japanese plum, and deftly dressed tuna tataki.
The wine list traverses the eye-watering — $32 for a glass of Veuve, ouch! — through a good range of more accessible $60-70 bottles nicely suited to the cuisine. It’s expensive, but, for many, Nobu still means Japanese and it continues to deliver a Big Night Out.
NOBU
Crown Complex, 8 Whiteman Street, Southbank
03 9292 7879
Must-eat dish: Scallop tiradito
Cuisine: Japanese
Chef: Sean Tan
Price: $$$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Lunch daily 12-3pm; dinner daily 3-10pm
Instagram: @nobumelbourne
BYO: No
Licensed: Yes
Separate bar: Yes
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