At one end of Clayton Road, you’ll find the cumin-spiced lamb skewer at Bay AKA BBQ, a charcoal-fired contender for Melbourne’s best kebab. At the other end, PBK makes some of the city’s most slurpable noodles. In between these two musts, Clayton Road is an adventure by mouth, roaming from soy-braised duck, banh mi and bubble tea to laksa, loukoumades and lentils.

“There’s an amazing mixture,” says Michael Samsir, owner of PBK Noodles, which makes Indonesian-style noodles out the back and roasts single-origin coffee up the front. “I’m not sure you’d find the same variety of cuisines in Glen Waverley or Box Hill or Springvale; maybe in the CBD, but more spread out. Here, you have it all in one street.”

“This is an eating street. There are 200 restaurants, all different communities. You could never get disappointed on Clayton Road.”

Raj Pujar, Sweet India

Until the 1960s, Clayton was a sleepy neighbourhood dotted with market gardens but two major Melbourne developments have changed the nature of the suburb and the main street that supports it.

Monash University’s Clayton campus started accepting students in 1961 and Monash Medical Centre opened on Clayton Road in 1987. Both prompted residential surges, attracting commuter populations that thread eating and shopping into their work days.

Today, the diversity of the street reflects the suburb: only 27 per cent of Clayton residents were born in Australia, compared to 65 per cent of Victorians as a whole, with China and India the most common countries of origin.

“It’s changed a lot in the last 30 years,” says Nick Mademlis, co-owner of The Grain Emporium, which has weathered the shifts over three decades in business. “Every area changes with time,” he says. “The older European generation has passed on and, largely because of the uni, the street caters mostly to Asian and Indian now.”

Mademlis is holding fast with sourdough, croissants and baklava but statistics back his hunch that much of the change is student-driven. According to the 2021 census, Clayton has a higher-than-average number of university-age young people — 15.5 per cent of residents are aged 20 to 34, compared with 7.1 per cent in Victoria as a whole.

Raj Pujar recently opened Sweet India in the middle of the throng on Clayton Road, but he’s lived in the area for 15 years.

“This is an eating street, basically,” he says. “There are 200 restaurants, all different communities. You could never get disappointed on Clayton Road.”

The street has enraptured new arrival Nara Peidavosi, too. She and her husband moved a year ago from Iran and considered buying all kinds of businesses in greater Melbourne before purchasing Clayton Road Deli.

“All the beautiful cultures and foods are here together,” she says. “We are Persian but we are selling Greek and Italian food. One neighbour is Chinese, the other one is from South Korea and we have people from Turkey and Hong Kong nearby. It makes the area very special.”

PBK’s Michael Samsir believes Clayton Road’s food focus is a peculiarly Melbourne phenomenon. “People in Melbourne like to enjoy their time with food,” he says. “That’s our style. Maybe it’s because of our four seasons in one day, we need food to keep us energised. Sydney might have better beaches, but our attraction is eating.”

Bay Aka BBQ

This is one of the newer restaurants on the strip, and the Xinjiang-style skewers here are outstanding, made with a rich mix of lamb shoulder and leg that’s marinated overnight and cooked over charcoal on long skewers. Order them in a roll or with flatbread to soak up all the meaty juices. Otherwise, there are handmade noodles with stir-fried lamb, all served in a very simple setting with heartfelt care and pride.

276 Clayton Road, Clayton, 0432 719 565

The Grain Emporium

They bake their own bread at this three-decade stayer but you’ll have to peer past a laden fridge of cakes and pastries to see the racks of multigrain and high-tops. Owners Jim Mademlis, Nick Mademlis and Alex Moscon also serve a classic Greek frappe coffee and a lovely spanakopita, which they’ll happily warm for you to eat at pavement tables.

318 Clayton Road, Clayton, 03 9544 2025, thegrainemporium.com.au

Modu

There are plenty of workmanlike dumpling and rice restaurants along Clayton Road, but Modu aims a little higher with booth seating, a handsome bar and much attention given to presentation and crockery. The long pictorial menu plucks from all over China but leans to the north in specialties such as Jiangnan-style sticky rice cakes and pumpkin taro balls. There’s also a great stewed chicken dish with fried taro.

320 Clayton Road, Clayton, 03 9548 8695

Hex Tea

Bubble tea and shaved ice have definitely arrived in Clayton. We like Hex because it has a friendly feel, boosted by squishable plush toys, couches and board games that send a stay-a-while message. The signature milk tea comes with foam or creme brulee topping and there are desserts such as egg waffles loaded with ice-cream.

326 Clayton Road, Clayton, instagram.com/hexteaproject

Sweet India

Sweet India sells its colourful traditional mithai (sweets) in stores in Melbourne’s outer north and west but this is owner Raj Pujar’s first foray into the south-east, where he joins a flurry of Indian eateries in Clayton. As well as halwa (nutty pressed sweets) and jalebi (fried dough swirls), there are also savoury snacks such as crisp-shelled samosas and pakora, hot vegetable fritters, which you can eat in store or take away.

342 Clayton Road, Clayton, sweetindia.com.au

Banh Mi Bakery & Cafe

It’s always busy at this classic Vietnamese bakery. You can hear the crackle of the roast pork from the footpath but if you lean vegan, there’s a great menu of mock meats, including duck, barbecued chicken and even Spam. Not feeling like a roll? There are noodle bowls and Aussie classics such as dim sims and jam doughnuts, too.

347 Clayton Road, Clayton, 0414 689 772

Ducklicious

The name says it with keen accuracy. This big, bright restaurant specialises in Teochew dishes that originated in southern China. The focus is soy-braised duck, served on the bone at room temperature with a vinegar dipping sauce and celery-rich broth. Other regional specialties include raw marinated seafood and claypots. The feel is informal with counter ordering and fetch-your-own tea but there’s serious quality underpinning the food.

350a Clayton Road, Clayton, 03 9562 9898

Chayo

Here to fulfil any Japanese food cravings, sweet little Chayo starts with breakfasts such as matcha granola, continues with teishoku brunch sets and curry rice, and pushes the crave button with a karaage chicken burger. The drinks menu is great, too: matcha is selected by a tea sommelier and there are yuzu citrus drinks, both hot and iced. Minimaru next door sells Japanese homewares and cooking gear.

351 Clayton Road, Clayton, chayo.com.au

PBK Noodles

There’s so much to love at this daytime spot. Owner Michael Samsir imports coffee from Aceh and roasts it for his Indonesian special brews. The upside-down coffee that you drink by blowing it with a straw has to be seen to be believed. Then there are the noodles, made out the back to various thicknesses and served with house-made broth and wontons. PBK can just be lunch, but it can also be a connoisseur’s paradise.

354 Clayton Road, Clayton, pbknoodle.com.au

Hong Kong Supermarket

Want a baby goat hindquarter with the skin still on? Maybe a cockerel or some crocodile ribs? The butcher at this bustling supermarket has it all, and at keen prices. The adjacent aisles are packed with groceries, frozen goods and on-trend snacks from across Asia.

359-365 Clayton Road, Clayton, hongkongsupermarket.com.au

Laksa Town

Tucked away in the plaza that links the Coles car park to Clayton Road, this bustling little shop is always busy. The classic dish is the Town Laksa, a bounty of chicken, prawn and tofu puffs in a rich coconut broth. There’s also nasi lemak (rice with sides) and chee cheong fun (rolled rice rolls), and everything is well under $20. If you’re after Malaysian food in a more upmarket setting, look for Malaysia Garden upstairs in the Clayton Hotel.

Shop 9, 371-373 Clayton Road, Clayton, 0434 372 244

Clayton Road Deli

It’s been here since 1975, selling Greek and Italian deli provisions, as well as homemade lasagne and cannelloni. In 2023, owners Nara Peidavosi and Ramin Samsami took over; they’re new Persian immigrants with engineering backgrounds but fell in love with the deli just the way it is and have kept everything old-school, even the rock-hard bell-shaped display cheese on the counter. You can feel the joy in tradition as soon as you step through the doors.

397 Clayton Road, Clayton, 03 9544 1968