Melbourne, VIC

cafe • shopping

Sensory Lab

A cute little coffee shop tucked in David Jones on Little Collins. They’re like coffee experts - with so many different types of coffee to choose from, as well as selling coffee beans and coffee-making equipment. It almost looks like a coffee lab! The coffee is quite good here, but to be honest I prefer their coffee beans to take home. Their coffee beans are one of the best I’ve tried! Also, their croissants ($5) are amazing too.

Flemington, VIC

restaurants

Laksa King (Flemington)

Laksa King never fails to cure my laksa cravings! Definitely one of the best and most affordable places for laksa in Melbourne. The curry laksa is hearty, flavourful, and very coconut-y. The portions are huge and always have us full and satisfied.

Carlton, VIC

restaurants

甘记兰州牛肉面Lanzhou Beef Noodle Bar

Finally tried the hyped Lanzhou Beef Noodle Bar on Elizabeth St, and it didn’t disappoint! The venue isn’t big but it’s pretty spacious, with high wooden benches and a large window at the back to watch the noodle-makers do their magic. It’s a casual, self-serve restaurant - the prepared side dishes and drinks are in a cabinet at the front where you can grab yourself to pay. The menu consists of both beef noodle soups and dry noodles, and they are customisable - including choosing your type of noodles. I decided to get the Lanzhou Handmade Beef Noodle Soup with wider noodles. The soup was so tasty and flavourful! Topped with plenty of leek, coriander and chilli. The beef is so tender and fall-apart. But the star is the handmade noodles - cooked perfectly with a bite, and a very generous portion too. The Braised Beef Noodle Soup was also really good - it’s hard to say which one I like more. The braised beef is even softer, more tender, juicy, and hearty. The Pickled Cabbage Beef Noodle Soup was similar to the original, but with an added sourness from the pickled cabbage which made the broth more complex. For sides, we grabbed some black wood-ear mushroom and chicken giblets with peanuts. Both were very delicious, cool and refreshing - perfectly complementing the hot noodle soups. Overall, we had a really good meal at Lanzhou Beef Noodle Bar, and I’d definitely recommend it.

Melbourne, VIC

restaurants

Juicy Bao

One of the most popular establishments down Chinatown, Juicy Bao serves Shanghai-style baos along with a list of other Chinese dishes. There’s often lines out the door during dinner time, so it’s best to come in early! We came at around 3pm and were seated right away. The menu has a nice variety of Dim Sum and other Stir-Fry dishes. We were here mainly for the dumplings so we decided to get the Xiao Long Bao, Pan Fried Juicy Bao, Wonton in Peanut & Chilli, Pan Fried Pork Dumplings, and the Stir Fried Noodles with Seafood in XO Sauce. The XLB were huge in size - filled to the brim with delicious soup and pork meat. Despite its size, the skin is still quite thin. The Pan Fried Juicy Bao are always a must at a dumpling restaurant for us. The crispy bottom and the thick fluffy dough make a great combo. It’s just as juicy as the XLB inside. The Wonton dish was lovely. Although the wontons weren’t anything special, the chilli sauce was divine! Sweet, salty, sour, spicy, nutty - the flavours were complex and definitely made the dish. The Noodles with Seafood in XO Sauce were quite possibly our favourite dish of the night. The noodles are nice, thick and chewy, and are stir fried with a variety of veggies and seafood. The XO Sauce is really quite amazing, and all the flavours meddled perfectly together. Would definitely recommend trying this over the regular Shanghai Stir-fried Noodles. Service was very fast and staff were pretty friendly. It’s cheap but (very) good food. I can understand now why there’s always such a long line outside!

Springvale, VIC

restaurants

Pho No.1

Pho No.1 is one of our go-to pho places. However, skip the pho and get the BBH! The BBH is awesome - spicy, flavourful, and a very generous portion size. Noodles are thick and chewy, and silky smooth. The dry vermicelli noodles with spring rolls are also pretty nice, and so is the broken rice if you’re not feeling noodles.

Carlton, VIC

cafe • restaurants • shopping

Hi Chong Qing (Hi CQ)

We were curious to try this place for a while now after it’d been featured in Time Out Melbourne and Good Food. It’s a quaint little place tucked in an alleyway close to Lygon St, with not much seating space and only one staff working when we came. The menu is quite small, with only 5 items which are all noodle dishes. Unfortunately, both the Beef Tendon Noodles and the Chinese Herbal Beef Noodles were sold out, which was disappointing. So we just ordered the 3 that were available. The famous Signature Chongqing Noodles was delicious, the broth was very flavourful and with just a slight spice (at the less spicy level). The Spicy Beef Noodles has a numbing broth, very different from the signature one. Not my favourite, but if you prefer something heartier and spicier, this would be perfect. However, the Pork Mince & Chickpea Noodles were probably my favourite - the toppings added a nice texture with the noodles. For each bowl, the noodles were cooked to perfection - very fresh and a nice chew. The only thing we found is that the noodle portions were rather small compared to other Chinese noodle joints, so I’d definitely recommend getting an extra serve of noodles if you’re hungry. Overall, we had a nice meal at Hi Chong Qing and left quite happy. If you’re in the area, it’s worth checking out.

Oak Park, VIC

restaurants

Big Boyz Pizza

We were curious to try this new local pizza joint so we decided to order delivery on a Friday night. They have really good deals such as $21 for a large pizza, garlic bread and drink. The pizzas themselves are priced very generously too! The crust is the perfect thickness and the all the pizzas are loaded with toppings. We loved the BBQ Chicken pizza and the Big Boyz Supreme pizza. The pastas are alright - we had the Spaghetti Marinara which was decent but not very special. They’re specialty is definitely pizza and I’d highly recommend it if you’re in the area!

Preston, VIC

restaurants

My Tho Restaurant

My Tho is one of the best Vietnamese restaurants in North side. It’s a small venue but it’s always bustling with customers. The food served is authentic Vietnamese cuisine that’s both delicious and great for value. Would highly recommend the Banh Canh Cua Tom (Crab and shrimp tapioca noodle soup) and the Bun Bo Hue. They didn’t have a drinks menu, but they do serve Vietnamese iced coffee. The staff are extremely nice too!

South Melbourne, VIC

restaurants

Mrs Kim's Grill Restaurant

We decided to go for the banh xeo as it was recommended by the staff. Although a bit pricey, the dish was pretty good! The pancake was nice and crispy, and filled to the brim with fresh bean sprouts which gave a very refreshing taste. The sweet and sour sauce on the side was delightful and balanced out with the pancake. There’s also plenty of vegetables on the side too. It’s a great dish for sharing!

Richmond, VIC

restaurants

The Modern Eatery Richmond

I was so excited when I heard that The Modern Eatery opened up in HWKR - I’ve been to their main store in Richmond before and I’ve been dreaming about their Salmon Oshi ever since! Of course, we had to get the Salmon Oshi again. It’s their signature dish - the blowtorched salmon is melt-in-your-mouth delicious and the sweet soy and aburi sauce is amazing. I could eat 10 plates of these! ‘Fry Me To The Moon’ was as interesting a dish as it’s name - a deep fried sushi roll with salmon and cream cheese. So delicious and crispy, and the mayo & teriyaki sauce is addictive. The Katsu Curry was pretty good too. Not quite as intriguing as some of their other dishes, but pretty decent and flavourful curry. The katsu was very crispy too. I would definitely come back for their salmon and sushi.