Ready to hit refresh on your office routine? The city is dotted with new hole-in-the-wall spots for light Japanese lunches, gorgeous takeaway coffee bars that’ll brighten your morning, and speedy sit-down restaurants serving noodles loaded with smoky flavour.

Cafes

Milkbar

The workers of deep Docklands will appreciate this new spot from a pair of hospitality pros: Matt Ward and Matt Vero who run Teo’s Pizza and Railway Wine in Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs. They’re running a tight menu that includes all-day breakfast fare such as chilli scrambled eggs, lunch dishes such as gnocchi with tomato sugo and mozzarella, and salads including a Caesar and a Moroccan lamb number.

691 La Trobe Street, Docklands, milkbardocklands.com.au

Market Lane (Mitchell House)

Could this be the most beautiful grab-and-go coffee spot in Melbourne? Literally tucked into a nook of Mitchell House, it’s got a striking green-tiled facade offset by an ultra-minimal fitout that lets the building’s 1930s modernist beauty shine. A stand-up bar is there for Italian-inspired coffee moments, but otherwise get your iced filter, oat milk latte or long black to take away.

356 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne, marketlane.com.au

Project Zero

It’s hard to find serenity on King Street, but Project Zero has done the impossible. Tucked into a walkway beside a Meriton hotel, its gleaming space-age fitout is matched by equally adventurous coffee beans, such as “Lamington” with a juicy sweetness. A handful of seats and pastries from Austro round things out.

1/140 King Street, Melbourne, projectzero.coffee

Sandwiches and bakeries

Banh Mi Stand

The size of this shop is in inverse proportion to its banh mi, which are seriously stacked with herbs, texture and condiments. It’s also one of the few places you’ll find confit duck banh mi. Get it on its own or take it up a notch with the GOAT, which combines duck with hunks of crisp-skinned pork, plum sauce and chilli crisp. There are simpler fillings like smoky grilled chicken, and veg-friendly options include honey and soy-marinated mushroom. Come hungry.

300 Flinders Lane, Melbourne, instagram.com/banhmistandmelbourne

Hector’s Deli

Hector’s first city shop answers the prayers of many an office worker. Slotting nicely into a stretch of Little Collins that includes Raya bakery-cafe and N.Lee banh mi shop, the timber-panelled and terrazzo-tiled space has a few bright red stools for dine-in, but you’re more likely to be getting your beef and pickle toastie to go. Early starters (or hungover rascals) will appreciate the McMuffin-like breakfast sandwich and, for summer, a BLT has joined the morning menu to make the most of peak tomato season.

61 Little Collins Street, Melbourne, hectorsdeli.com.au

Bloomwood

At this light-filled bakery, chefs pipe mascarpone flowers onto danishes, dust the tops of croissants with matcha, and fill pastries with batons of chocolate cake. The Bloom-tini is the drink that’s all over TikTok, with three pinkie-size croissants for dipping into an iced strawberry-matcha (or another drink of your choice). Pastries change often and are influenced by everything from the internet (hello, viral Dubai chocolate croissant) to its chefs’ cultural backgrounds, including Malaysian and Korean. Topped focaccias are also available.

121 Exhibition Street, Melbourne, instagram.com/bloomwoodmelbourne

Noodles and more

Kakilang Char Koay Teow

A leader of Melbourne’s char kwai teow game is now cooking in one of the most convenient locations you could ask for, with trams whizzing past the door every few minutes. Kakilang’s owners Ping Ch’ng and Patricia Cheong hail from Penang and proudly showcase the island’s hawker dishes, including a dark and smoky version of char kwai teow and the prawn noodle soup Penang hokkien mee, plus toast with kaya (coconut and pandan spread) and soft-boiled eggs. Also in Balwyn.

190 Bourke Street, Melbourne, instagram.com/kakilangckt

Onigiri Kitchen

Move over sushi: Onigiri is the hand-held lunch of choice in Japan, bought from convenience stores in cleverly wrapped parcels. While our 7-Elevens aren’t up to Tokyo standards, this Onigiri Kitchen location is Melbourne’s hole-in-the-wall pitstop for Japanese rice balls filled with kimchi, honey and soy pork, and karaage chicken. There are also bentos, shokupan toasties and airy tofu doughnuts.

1 Degraves Street, Melbourne, onigiri.au

R.Harn

Southern Thai food rules at the second restaurant by the Soi 38 team, and at lunch the menu is helpfully geared to solo diners. Find comfort in crab fried rice and hokkien mee noodles, vibrant texture and colour in salads such as khao yum, and deeply savoury flavours in kanom jeen, the curry and rice noodle dish that’s a hallmark of coastal Thai cooking. It’s opposite Melbourne Central station, so express lunches are on the cards.

264 La Trobe Street, Melbourne, instagram.com/r.harn

Kajiken

Good lunch options west of William Street are rarer than good Marvel movies these days. That makes the arrival of this Japanese “dry ramen” specialist at Southern Cross even more exciting. Dry ramen sounds like punishment, but these well-dressed squiggly noodles come in 11 varieties with 14 ways to customise your bowl – boredom is not a possibility.

Southern Cross Station, Level 1, Shop CS11, entry via Collins Street, Docklands, instagram.com/kajiken_melbourne

Read next:

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• Where to find Melbourne’s top 20 snacks