A great city should feel like a giant playground, a place to explore and discover and climb all over. Melbourne has always felt that way to me, especially as a teenager when I had the freedom to roam the parks and laneways and riverbanks with my friends, but also as an adult who returned to Australia weary of the highway-bound non-walkability of many of the American cities where I'd spent two-plus decades. There is such a sense of discovery to this city, so much to unearth.

That sense of discovery is part of what makes our laneways iconic, and it's also one of the many reasons that Soi 38 has such a devoted following. The restaurant is only kind of down a laneway – McIlwraith Place, to be exact.

Its more confounding and endearing locational peculiarity is that it's smack in the middle of an above-ground parking garage, which was built over McIlwraith Place in 1964. Stumbling upon it for the first time is a bit like finding a magical portal to another world, a doorway to Thailand between a car rental office and a bank of grotty elevators that lead to the other carpark levels.

I first came upon Soi 38 back in 2018, when it was operating as a modest lunchtime noodle joint. (Owners Andy Buchan and chef Vherachid "Top" Kijthavee began years before then as a pop-up using a mobile cart that still sits in the restaurant; they moved to the parking garage in 2015.)

Still, it was exceptional in that it served fantastic boat noodles, a dark aromatic soup so named because it was originally sold from boats along Bangkok's canals. Boat noodles are among the less-common Thai dishes to be found in Melbourne, partly because the broth is traditionally made with blood (Soi 38 achieves the required meaty flavour without the use of blood).

A couple of years later, I was thrilled to discover that they had also begun serving khao soi, a spicy red curry soup full of noodles, on-the-bone chicken and crispy shallots that is one of the world's great comfort foods and is also hard to come by.

In the years since then, Soi 38 has undergone a number of transformations, and it reminds me of a coral reef or some other organic being expanding into the space that nature (or in this case, a carpark) allows.

First, they started to offer dinner, with a much-expanded northern Thai menu. Lines began to form early in the evening for their spicy papaya salads and Thai hotpots.

Then, a couple of months ago, the restaurant took over the adjacent space – a large garage-like room that allows for more than twice the original seating capacity. It is as bare bones as a space can be, utterly fitting with the style of service (friendly, perfunctory) and industrial surrounds.

And like a coral reef that blooms outwards, it has attracted other life to the space. In September, in what had originally been a ticket booth, Le Cave Garage set up shop directly across from Soi 38's entrance. There you can buy natural wines to take home, or to drink at Soi 38 with no corkage fee. It's a symbiotic relationship, and a beautiful one at that.

While I wouldn't classify everything on the menu this way, much of what Soi 38 serves should be considered some of the best Northern Thai food in the city. Don't come here expecting a predictable menu of curries and noodle dishes – this is street food, spicy and funky and made for sharing.

I've had plenty of papaya salads with fermented crab; I'm not sure I've ever had one that tastes somehow like the ocean itself, like funk and seawater and brine, as the one here does ($15).

Their deep-fried chicken is moist and crackly and fantastic ($15).

The ultimate bowl ($35) is like tom yum soup on steroids, brimming with prawns, Japanese scallops, calamari, crispy pork, instant noodles and egg yolks. It could easily feed two as a full meal or a crowd as part of a larger order.

There are dishes on the dinner menu that are downright elegant: scallops and kingfish both are served as ceviche ($18), pristine and fresh and raw and served with salmon roe and a bright, lightly spicy dressing.

Crying tiger black Angus beef ($15) is grilled and sliced and served rare with a fiery dipping sauce that's full of chilli and ginger and fish sauce and a dozen other flavours that go off like fireworks.

I've had larb here that's fantastic, and also versions that are so salty it's hard to taste the base protein, be it duck or raw tuna. I thoroughly enjoy the bucket of Thai-style cocktail ($25) that is made of something boozy and something sweet and comes, yes, in a bucket, but it's hardly the height of mixology.

Frankly, that kind of thing would be out of place here – part of what's so wonderful about Soi 38 is how deeply itself it is, how it's taken the time to grow into exactly what it should be. Which is one of the most fun, most distinctive, most delicious places to play, explore and eat in Melbourne.

Vibe Colourful, utilitarian, parking garage chic

Go-to dish Ultimate bowl ($35)

Drinks Basic beer list, Thai-style cocktail, a couple of wines in-house, and BYO wines from Le Cave Garage just outside the door Thu-Sun

Cost $40 for two, plus drinks