The 20 Best Melbourne, VIC Chinese Restaurants

This is the first Melbourne location for one of Hanoi’s most famous pho spots. Its signature is the “stir-fried up” rare beef, with lots of garlic in a steaming bowl of broth. There’s also beef brisket, poached chicken and a red-wine pho.
Primo in Northcote has some of the best vegan pizza in Melbourne. The casual diner on High street has crafted several tasty options including the Westgarth with Roasted pepper, confit zucchini, eggplant, and vegan Fior di latte. They’re also kew restaurants coeliac accredited so there are plenty of gluten-free options. Neko Neko, whose acclaimed 20-ingredient vegan broth is practically at icon status. They’ve also got a few Bento boxes for you to try, all entirely authentic and entirely vegan.

Lock this one in for a special occasion in 2023 at one of Melbourne's best restaurants—plan ahead here because tables fill up weeks in advance. This authentic French brasserie is not for the faint-hearted. It’s busy and noisy and chaotic, but that’s all part of the charm.
At this sprawling restaurant by Chris Lucas, there’s an experience for just about  every taste. Indian flavours are far too uncommon at the top-end of dining, an issue Tonka has been smartly redressing for years. The wine list is a cracker, but we're more partial to the smart cocktail menu and its wealth of refreshing, South Asian-inspired mixes. There are still constant queues during the dinner rush at this buzzing Thai diner. The pay-off is some of Melbourne’s best Thai food, including more than a dozen kinds of papaya salad, a crowd-pleasing tom yum with instant noodles and mookata, the signature hotpot-barbeque hybrid.

As a general rule, your local pub shouldn't be doing food this good. Legend has it, when MoVida first put the cecina on the menu, its wagyu supplier could not keep up with demand. This dish of air-dried wagyu topped with a soft poached egg obscured by a cloud of whipped truffle foam is the stuff that date nights are made of. While you're in town you should check out these101 things to do in Melbourne in your lifetime.In between, grab a drink at Melbourne's best barsand best restaurants. A Chinese chain dating back to the Qing Dynasty serving authentic peking duck. Fiery Indian cuisine with a refined and contemporary touch is what you can expect from this CBD mainstay, tucked off one of Melbourne’s most iconic laneways.
There are other seafood varieties on the menu, like crocodile stir fry, which tastes amazing. Of course, you can’t go wrong with their beef, chicken or pork varieties. If you are vegetarian, they have vegetarian options as well and you will be filled and satisfied.
Melbourne’s most exclusive soup is notorious for its limited supply. Only 40 portions of the Parco Lobster Ramen a day are available and unlike your classic tonkatsu broth this ramen uses corn starch. This means you get that familiar, viscous soup, without the post-requisite cardiologist appointment. The broth is simmered for eight hours which results in a sweet, distilled crustacean flavour. It contains handmade, springy noodles and some typical and not-so-typical ramen accoutrements – including a whole Moreton bay bug tail. While there, try some of Parco's other less-than-usual ramen broths, including yuzu or truffle ramen.

There is also a dedicated Sichuan hot pot menu if share plates aren’t your thing. Among the many reasons why the Afghan Gallery Restaurant in Fitzroy is a local favorite are its neighborhood charm, romantic ambiance, and Afghani food. In addition to the fact that it's BYO, you may bring your own beverage. When the restaurant originally opened its doors in 1983, its genuine Middle Eastern food won over the town.
Go for regional Thai dishes rarely seen outside the country. Expect punchy peanut, lime and herb betel leaf wrap, 24-hour-stewed pork belly and caramelly mackerel with green-mango relish. There’s also a killer list of lo-fi wines from Australian producers and disposable cameras to capture it all. This wine-slinging laneway bar has been a city staple for more than 20 years. Expect a 200-strong wine list that spans Italy, France and Australia. Longrain started in Sydney in 1995 and headed to Melbourne a decade  later.

We’ve partnered with Australian farms to ensure absolute freshness and quality for all of their ingredients. Before the recent wave of Chinese students, the most exciting non-Cantonese offering came from Dainty Sichuan, cofounded in 2003 by Tina Li, who is also the head chef. Dainty is one of the most-recognized restaurant groups in Australia after appearing on No Reservations in 2009, where Anthony Bourdain claimed it served the best Sichuan meal he’d had in his life outside of China. The group now has 10 restaurant concepts in its portfolio and 21 branches located within Melbourne’s Central Business District, Glen Waverley, and Box Hill.
Owner Chee Wong quickly made his mother-in-law’s char kway teow a hot commodity. Choose one of the seven options of the popular Malaysian hawker dish for a sumptuous midweek meal. Hearty ramen for all tastes – from the traditional to the adventurous.