Pekopeko's guide to Melbourne: 24 picks

We visited Melbourne in mid-March 2025 and spent a week exploring the CBD. Here's a list of the 2 dozen places we checked out. For each place, we'll also give you our recommendations for the place where applicable.

From a photographic perspective, I primarily shot everything on the Ricoh GR IIIx as it is super pocket friendly. For fancier venues like OMEN, Osteria Ilaria and Askal I brought out the trusty Sony a7iii with Tamron 28-75mm f2.8 (I tend to do this when I want to be less creatively constrained).

To make it easier, we've the organised the list into 5 categories.

Japanese

Nikuland ⭐️
Yamamoto Udon
Kajiken ⭐️⭐️
Norimaki
Katsuretsu ⭐️

Cafes & Casual

Warkop ⭐️
OMO ⭐️⭐️
Overlay Coffee ⭐️⭐️
Soul Soul
Schmuck's Bagels
Hector's Deli ⭐️
Agathe
Market Borek
Easey's

Slightly fancier

OMEN ⭐️
Osteria Ilaria
Askal ⭐️

Sweet treats

Kudo
Fuwa Kakigori
Kumo Desserts ⭐️
Fluffy Torpedo

Sippy

Caretaker's Cottage ⭐️⭐️
Tea White
Hey Tea ⭐️

⭐️ indicates places we'd strongly consider revisiting and ⭐️⭐️ were the absolute standouts.

Japanese

Japanese cuisine is probably our favourite cuisine. Heck, the name of this blog is Japanese. These are the handful of Japanese places that sparked our curiosity.

Nikuland

📍 Level 1/258 Lonsdale St, Melbourne VIC 3000
⭐️ Recommendation: Wagyu hamburg and fried rice

Nikuland is Melbourne's homage to Hiniku to Come - a specialty wagyu hamburger steak restaurant that you've most likely on socials.

The restaurant is divided up into two sections - one side is an open kitchen concept with high stools by the kitchen counter (probably better for single diners or couples), while the other side features teppan built into tables.

Photos don't the food here justice as it's very much what you see is what you get, but the hamburger steaks were deliciously juicy. We did pay a little more to upgrade to the A5 wagyu steak which was worth it. Fried rice was great and flavourful too. There's also a bunch of sauces on the side, so you can season your hamburger steaks to your liking.

They also have some fun Asian inspired cocktails on the menu as well as Hokkaido soft serve. The soft serve wasn't the milkiest, but it was a reasonable serve at the $4 price point.

Yamamoto Udon

📍 Shop 12/108 Bourke St, Melbourne VIC 3000
⭐️ Recommendation: Regular udon (sanuki udon)

Yamamoto Udon is specialty udon restaurant that uniquely offers himokawa udon, a flat style specialty udon from Gunma prefecture in Japan. Servings are limited though - so do get in quick. They had just sold out by the time we ordered around 7:30 pm on a Saturday. Ordering is done via QR codes.

Curry udon with their sanuki udon was my pick, while Paige opted for a beef udon with a small side of himokawa udon.

We'd probably give the himokawa udon here a pass. It reminded us strongly of the thin cheung fun you get at dim sum, not in an ideal way. I think it could be slightly thicker to give it more chew, as it lacked structural rigidity and maybe was a little overcooked.

In writing this, I think back to a more enjoyable himokawa udon we had at Godaimae Hanayama Udon (a.k.a. one of the trending Japanese flat udon places that you've probably seen on Japan TikToks). Attributing to said enjoyable experience was the ever so slightly thicker udon with more chew.

What I did enjoy, was the bouncy sanuki udon. It paired wonderfully with my serve of curry beef.

Remember to slurp loudly when eating your udon! It's not rude in Japanese culture.

Kajiken

📍 Southern Cross Station, Shop11/L1/99 Spencer St, Docklands VIC 3004
⭐️ Recommendation: Roast beef aburasoba or meat lover aburasoba

Hands down, one of our favourite meals in Melbourne was at Kajiken - a specialty aburasoba (dry ramen) restaurant with over 100 stores world wide.

Our favourite was their roast beef aburasoba. The rich yoghurt and egg yolk nicely coats the soft and springy noodles. Sliced spring onion and fried onion add the perfect amount of texture to the dish. Optional, but recommended, is a squirt of the included vinegar or chilli oil, which helps cut through the richness.

I opted for their meat love aburasoba - essentially a (don't say it, don't say it) beefed-up bowl of their regular aburasoba.

We don't say this often - but for us this was one of the most delicious and memorable things we've had for a while. We ended up squeezing in a second visit, just before we headed back to the airport.

Please open a branch up in Perth 🙇‍♂️

Norimaki

📍7/235 Bourke St, Melbourne VIC 3000
⭐️ Recommendation: CholesteRoll, Crystal Bay Prawn & JP Zuwai Crab & Kani Miso

A fancy hand roll sushi place. Menu prices reflect the fancy decor. At time of writing, Norimaki is headed by the ex-NOBU Melbourne head sushi chef.

As I write this - I'm hesitant to recommend Norimaki, as the elevated price point didn't really justify the food. Sure the handrolls were fine with fresh ingredients and the aesthetically pleasing fit-out and plateware were nice, but aside from that, it's a bit of a hard sell here for me.

Maybe I'm not in the right target demographic for this place. I'm sure some of you might be - and no shame in that.

Food gentrification I'll call it. Lunch came close to $59, a little steep for 4 handrolls, one of which being more "premium".

If you do go, I'd suggest getting ordering stuff you don't see as often on menus like the torotaku (toro and pickled raddish - great texture), Crystal Bay Prawn (enjoyed the freshness and sweetness of the prawn and the additional crunchy texture from the freeze dried soy sauce*), Japanese zuwai crab and kani miso (if there's a crab hand roll I'll order it..) and of course, their special rolls.

Their aptly named CholesteRoll was basically the richest and creamiest bunch of ingredients which definitely made for a decadent experience.

*If I remember correctly.

Katsuretsu

📍 6/200 Bourke St, Melbourne VIC 3000
⭐️ Recommendation: Any of their tonkatsu (with tonkatsu sauce or dark miso sauce)

One of the dishes we miss the most from Japan is tonkatsu - fried pork cutlet. Katsuretsu got pretty close. At time of writing, we do have a couple tonkatsu specialty restaurants in Perth, that get close, but not close enough to get the metaphorical cigar in my opnion.

Katsuhon (which actually took over Namsan (Melbourne), a fave from our last trip) is another tonkatsu restaurant that came recommended from a friend. Ultimately we chose Katsuretsu for the menu.

We lined up just before opening at 12 pm on a Friday. The restaurant filled up pretty quickly after, so we'd suggest going early to minimise waiting.

We weren't too sure about serving sizes going in and even contemplated ordering three dishes between two - but we were met with reasonable serves. Tonkatsu was crunchy and fluffy.

Vibes are very Japan. If dining with a friend - I'd suggest getting one with their regular tonkatsu sauce and one with their miso tonkatsu for a bit of flavour variation.

Cafes & Casual

Can't visit Melbourne without cafe hopping!

Warkop (multiple locations)

📍13 Little Collins St, Melbourne VIC 3000
⭐️ Recommendation: Filet o Fish and Brisket & Pickle

Warkop is an Indonesian influenced coffee and sandwich bar, with locations near Parliament (CBD) and Richmond.

What to get? Depends on your mood. I was after something Reuben-y, so their beef brisket & pickle was my order. Paige opted for their filet o fish.

No faults with both the sandwiches. If I lived in Melbourne I'd probably come back for the beef brisket & pickle sandwich.

To finish up - a kaya cruller donut. Crisp and saturated in kaya. It gets the staple Asian accolade of not too sweet ✅.

OMO

📍 18 Merriman Ln, Melbourne VIC 3000
⭐️ Recommendation: Tuna mayo pan-fried butter soy onigiri, plain tuna mayo onigiri, yuzu spritz and shio cream cold brew

OMO is a cosy Japanese style cafe (kissaten) located towards Southern Cross station / Ritz Melbourne. The vibes of the cafe definitely transport you back to Japan. It's in a reasonably high foot traffic area as well, so it's a great place to people watch.

On the menu you'll find a range of Japanese staples, Japanese influenced brunch favourites as well as a handful of common kissaten dishes (yoshoku). OMO had just opened during our visit in mid-March 2025, but have since launched a dinner menu.

We'd recommend their onigiri on the menu. With Paige preferring their tuna ones. I probably wouldn't order the shokupan again as it'd probably be more "worth it" to me to grab two onigiri for the price of the shokupan.

Drinks were fun!

Overlay Coffee

📍 320 Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne VIC 3000
⭐️ Recommendation: Peanut cream cold brew

We first discovered Overlay Coffee during our last trip in 2022.

It was then when we discovered their peanut cream cold brew and years later, it's still our favourite.

We recommend the peanut cream cold brew over their peanut cream latte - as we found the milk in the latte diluted the drink.

Soul Soul

📍 Shop 1/158 Victoria St, Carlton VIC 3053
⭐️ Recommendation: Soul big breakfast

Full disclosure - we tagged along with our friend @angelica.mayy who was invited. We didn't pay for this meal.

Soul Soul features a wide range of Asian inspired dishes. Our favourite for the day was their soul big breakfast - presented in a way very reminiscent of Vietnamese bò né. Be sure to soak up all the flavours with the baguette.

The pasta alle vongole was a rich and creamy seafood affair. Squid ink pasta makes for a stunning contrast against the garlic creamy white sauce.

To finish up - a French toast. Nicely plated and visually pleasing. It gets the "not too sweet" tick of approval ✅. The cone made for nice textural contrast.

A noteworthy thing about Soul Soul is that they're a part of Society Melbourne, a social enterprise that’s helping young people in Victoria who are at risk of homelessness. They offer steady jobs, proper training, and real support to help get people back on track. A great initiative.

They're also probably one of the very few places that have documented their own story, helping build a connection to the cafe. This is the stuff I love to hear when chatting to chefs and owners in hospo.

Soul Soul Coffee Shop in Carlton Melbourne

THIS OASIS AMONGST THE CONCRETE DESERT IS AN ECLECTIC DESTINATION FEATURING A MENU OF YOUR FAVOURITES WITH AN ASIAN FUSION TWIST, BUBBLE TEA, AND STELLAR COFFEE.

Soul Soul Brunch & Dinner Melbourne

Schmuck's Bagels (multiple locations)

📍 Guests Ln, Melbourne VIC 3000

Yum bagels! Schmuck's was great place to start our day off at and people watch. Before of course, going to eat more food. We don't have a specific recommendation here. As there are over a dozen different bagels on the menu, we're sure you'll find something to suit your taste.

Hector's Deli (multiple locations)

📍 253 Coventry St, South Melbourne VIC 3205
⭐️ Recommendation: Chicken salad

A Melbourne institution. I'll be honest though - I had just eaten a borek from Market Borek prior to eating this sandwich. Paige enjoyed her fresh sandwich though.

Paige enjoyed her chicken salad. Her comment "it was fresh" (from a light flavour perspective).

We'll have to give this place another shot when I visit again - apparently their toasted sandwiches slap.

Agathe

📍 322 Coventry St, South Melbourne VIC 3205

We've known of Agathe probably since it opened up in 2015 and we finally got around to trying it!

The hojicha and strawberry croissant could've used a stronger hojicha flavour - especially when paired with something more sweet and tart like the strawberry puree. The croissant was crispy and flakey though.

Market Borek

📍 Coventry St & Cecil Street, Coventry St, South Melbourne VIC 3205
⭐️ Recommendation: Spicy lamb & spinach

Simple, economical and delicious. Kind of like gozleme but with a better eating UX.

Easey's

📍 3/48 Easey St, Collingwood VIC 3066

"Burgers and beers served five stories up in a rooftop train carriage overlooking Melbourne city". If that ain't peak Melbourne, I don't know what is. Service and the food was great!

There is a short climb up half a dozen or so flights of stairs, but once you're at the top you're met with the rather interesting interior - a literal train carriage. Our waiter told us that the other carriages are other businesses that are operating as well.

No specific recommendations here as there's the usual standard range of burgs here. I opted for a triple cheeseburger (cause why not). The smashed patty was nicely salted and everything worked well in the burg.

Paige enjoyed the mac n cheese dog. Addition of the cheesy mac and cheese injected a bit of fun into the hotdog.

Slightly fancier

A list of more upmarket, fancier, nice "date night" spots.

Osteria Ilaria

📍 367 Little Bourke St, Melbourne VIC 3000
⭐️ Recommendation: Tagliolini, spanner crab

The first of our "nicer dining" visits is Osteria Illaria - located to the perpetually busy and well regarded Tipo 00. We did look at Tipo 00's menu, but nothing had particularly interested us.

We'd skip the beef tartare.

Octopus was good.

The standouts for us were the pasta dishes. I can't exactly remember the squid ink pasta special we had, but that was the dish of the night.

Their tagliolini spanner crab pasta came close in second place. Loved the textural addition of the pistachios.

Pricing here is on the more expensive side but we felt the quality of the pastas reflected the price point. I did leave hungry - so that's something to consider if you're a bigger eater, or someone who doesn't drink.

Pro-tip - sit at the kitchen as it makes for a fun dining experience.

Askal

📍 167 Exhibition St, Melbourne VIC 3000
⭐️ Recommendation: Collison & co Angus beef rump cap with pares 'claypot rice' & bone marrow

We got influenced via a IG Reel on Askal, so here we are blogging about our experience. Askal is a modern Filipino restaurant, with chef and co-owner, Kariton Sorbetes, also behind Kariton Sorbetes, a Filipino and Asian inspired gelateria.

All in all - flavours and textures were well balanced and not overpowering.

The dish of the night was their beef rump and bone marrow claypot rice. The bone marrow added a nice rich, fatty element to the beef rump, while the claypot gave the dish nice texture (especially the charred bits). Lime added a little zestiness to ensure the dish wasn't too heavy.

OMEN

📍 149 Victoria Ave, Albert Park VIC 3206
⭐️ Recommendation: Beef tartare tartlet, parmesan crisp, wood grilled kingfish

There's no f*cking here when a restaurant is headed by three ex Rockpool staff, of which include two chefs with a great culinary CV (including some Michelin-starred restaurants). This is all evident in their food - Beautifully presented with beautiful flavours.

The menu here changes monthly, but we're sure a number of their dishes will be available throughout.

In hindsight, we much enjoyed OMEN's beef tartare tartlet over Osteria Illaria's beef tartare. Sharing one between two was enough to get a rough taste.

Next up - the parmesan crisp. The heavier flavours - parmesan, shallot jam paired nicely against the light, airy crisp biscuit it was served on.

Our friend wanted to grab the saucisson sec. We do like charcuterie, but we couldn't appreciate as much as we'd like to. Probably one we'd skip.

Never can go wrong with grilled octopus.

Chicken was done nicely with sweetness from the corn succotash and a bit of texture from the crispy thigh.

The prawn bisque in the wood grilled kingfish was a standout. One of the dishes of the evening.

Steak was done perfectly - as one would expect from a duo of Rockpool chefs. The blue cheese sauce was just a right level of richness.

You can never go wrong with fried potatoes either, especially when there's cheese involved.

Finishing up, we have creme brulee for dessert. No complaints about this one. It was enough to be shared between the four of us.

Sweet treats

Kudo

📍 8 Little Collins St, Melbourne VIC 3000
⭐️ Recommendation: Matcha earl grey & lychee Swiss roll and whichever caneles tickle your pickle

Kudo is an artisanal bakery specialising in canelé. This place is right across from Warkop as well - making it a perfect stop to check out for a sweet treat.

The matcha Swiss roll was as little on the pricey side at around $16. But for that price, the serving can comfortably be shared between 3, maybe 4. Not too sweet and the right level of richness.

The tiramisu canelé was what you'd imagine a tiramisu canelé to taste like.

Fuwa Kakigori

📍 28 Guildford Ln, Melbourne VIC 3000
⭐️ Recommendation: Special cheesecake kakigori

Fuwa Kakigori is a lively kakigori store tucked away in a very Melbourne laneway closeby to Melbourne Central. Ordering here is done via QR codes.

At time of writing - Melbourne has what we don't have in Perth. We have a myriad of bingsu options (Korean shaved ice) but are yet to have as many places serving up bingsu's Japanese equivalent, kakigori.

When we searched for kakigori in the Melbourne CBD, we found premium Japan based Sebastian Kakigori but found the price point a little steep for our liking. Hence going to Fuwa Kakigori, which was ever so slightly cheaper.

You can probably share a kakigori between 2-3 people. We ordered 2 between 4 of us but didn't end up finishing it.

Of the two we had - the special cheesecake would be our pick.

Kumo Desserts

📍 198 Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne VIC 3000

Around mid 2021, our friends over at Kumo Kumo dessert sold the business in Perth, did a pop-up stint in Brisbane and finally settled in Melbourne in a new permanent location. To date brothers Jin (FOH manager) and Jason (head chef) continue to manage Kumo Desserts.

Full disclaimer - Kumo were kind enough to comp our visit (A.K.A. we did not pay for the food shown). That doesn't change our opinions of visit.

Their new Melbourne store features a much larger decor with warm, cosy vibes.

Having had their pancakes for years, we can unequivocally say that their current iteration of their pancakes are the best yet. We've been told by Jin that, Jason, has worked on perfecting the pancakes over the years, ensuring a more consistent and robust pancake.

As for our favourite between the two - both were equally as soft and fluffy, so it really depends on your flavour preferences. We do recommend getting the Nomtella with gelato to prevent the dish from feeling "dry". The Pistachio papi comes with raspberry coulis which prevents this.

The drink complimented the pancake well - being refreshing and not overly sweet.

Fluffy Torpedo

📍 5/159 Smith St, Fitzroy VIC 3065
⭐️ Recommendation: Whichever flavour you're in the mood for

When our friend and fellow Asian musician and creative, Minhy asked if we were up for "wacky ice-cream flavours" after burgers at Easey's, of course I said yes. And of course, I did what all food obsessed people do. Look up the menu to see what I'd get.

I can confirm flavours here were wacky indeed - blue Powerade, butter baguette or buttermilk pancakes, anyone?

For our Perth readers, it looks like Fluffy Torpedo is Melbourne's equivalent of Stampede Gelato.

Sippy

Caretaker's Cottage

📍 139-141 Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne VIC 3000

This place comes in at 21 in the top 50 bars in the world. The venue is a small cottage with a reasonable amount of seating outside - best enjoyed when Melbourne isn't having a "4 seasons 1 day" type of day.

How cute is the bird 🥺.

We forgot to snap a menu here, but I ordered a deliciously refreshing cocktail with cereal milk popcorn. Paige opted for a cocktail with a cute bird on it.

Last thing to note - Paige told me to note about the exceptional hospitality here. We've been in hospo collectively for over two decades, so it's not often we mention this!

Tea White

📍 272 Swanston St, Melbourne VIC 3000
⭐️ Recommendation: Premium matcha

According to the receipt - Tea White was established in 2023 in Melbourne. It came recommended to us from a friend.

Opted for the premium matcha with 70% ice and 50% sugar. It made for a nice sippy drink with a nice matcha flavour and balanced level of sweetness.

The straw provided was a flat, stirrer like ones, which actually prevents you from taking massive sips. Not sure if this is intentionally a feature, or a bug, but it allowed the drink to coat your mouth nicely and ultimately let me savour this drink a bit more ($9 ish price tag).

Hey Tea

📍 256 Swanston St, Melbourne VIC 3000
⭐️ Recommendation: Supreme matcha latte

Around Teawhite you'll find a myriad of bubble tea stores. Hey Tea was another one that was recommended to us.

We don't drink bubble as much as we used to (peak being maybe 4-5 years ago during the "brown sugar boba" days) and these days it's not uncommon to see drinks hover between the $8 - $10 mark. This came in close to $11, so by no means was it cheap.

The verdict? I'd get it again and wouldn't hesitate to. Great matcha taste and the foam added a bit of textural variation.