Where To Eat When You Don’t Know Where To Eat

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We’ve all been there. The fridge is empty, your stomach is screaming at you, the decision paralysis is setting in and you turn to your dining partner and ask what they want to eat. Next comes the dreaded three-word, seven-letter phrase that threatens not only to derail the meal, but your entire relationship: “Up to you.”

Before you freak out and start a culinary call and response that lists cuisines followed by “no”, consider some of Melbourne's Hot Listed venues that trek the path less travelled in this part of the world. Next time your pizza suggestion gets thrown out, try deep-fried Korean pancakes, Thai-style charcoal chicken, or a melting pot of Mauritian cuisine served alongside natty wines – you could even change up your coffee order.

Gamja Hotteok, West Melbourne

Hotteok is a ubiquitous street snack in Korea. Despite the growth of the Korean diaspora in Australia, the chewy fried pancakes were virtually non-existent in Melbourne until 2026. Then came Gamja Hotteok. The name itself is enough to make your dining partner stop to ask what you’re talking about.

The shop is takeaway-focused, with just a handful of seats and a pared-back feel akin to a neighbourhood fish’n’chip shop. Owner Sangsoo Kim, a former fine-dining chef, chose to make dough with potato starch and fresh potato, rather than the traditional fermented wheat flour, for its stability and resistance to overproofing in Melbourne’s variable temperatures.

If you’re on the hunt for something you’ve likely never tried, Gamja Hotteok should be your first stop.

Manze, North Melbourne

Melbourne’s hospitality landscape has just about every cuisine on the map. Yet Mauritian food is relatively underrepresented. Nagesh Seethiah (formerly of Capitano, Bar Rochford and Anchovy) set about changing that with Manze – which means “eat” in Mauritian Creole – a 24-seat wine bar and restaurant serving Mauritian fare alongside natural wines. Expect dishes that hero okra, pickled produce and seafood.

These can be enjoyed inside, where a small archway gives you a peek into the kitchen, or better yet, out the front in the afternoon sun. Set menus here rid you of even the slightest responsibility to make a call, and the staff are always friendly, so they’ll be happy to suggest wine pairings. Everyone wins.

Yang Thai, St Kilda

Charcoal chicken might not fly for a lunch suggestion, but make it Thai and you’ve found an interesting point of difference. At Yang Thai, chef Narit Kimsat combines the classic Aussie charcoal chicken shop with Thai cooking and sensibility from his experience at Earth Angels, La Pinta, Capitano and Clover.

Melbourne might be replete with chicken shops, but many of them sell dry birds. Kimsat combats that by salt-brining his chickens for five hours, then marinating them overnight in black pepper and turmeric sauce before cooking them over charcoal and finishing them in the oven.

Every day they’re served as lunch packs with a quarter chicken, sticky rice, som tum (shredded green papaya salad, pounded to order in a large Thai mortar and pestle) and a punchy green sauce made with coriander, green chilli and lime. There isn’t much like it in Melbourne.

Dua, Collingwood

When Raya founder Raymond Tan visited Stockholm, he was struck by the city’s famous princess cake: a classic Scandi torte of airy sponge, pastry cream and jam wrapped in green marzipan. At his “Scandinasian” bakery Dua (“two” in Malay) he’s put a Southeast Asian spin on it with pandan chiffon, pandan pastry cream and pandan marzipan. You’d be hard-pressed to find another culinary combo of Scandinavia and Southeast Asia in Melbourne.

The inventive cakes, cookies and pastries that Tan built his name on feature here, but Dua’s specialty is bread. There’s fluffy shokupan, Japan’s favourite bread for sandos, but also melonpan, a soft, sweet Japanese bun with a crisscrossed, crumbly cookie crust, here piped with almond paste in a reimagining of Sweden’s semla bun. And pandesal, a light, airy Filipino milk bread coated in breadcrumbs, is packed with ube cream.

Regulars and Tori’s, CBD

It’s a little unfair to group CBD cafes Regulars and Tori’s together. They’re both excellent standalone venues operated by different people. But there are some parallels. Regulars is run by husband-and-wife duo Eddy and Prem Pan; Tori’s by Tinee Su, Prem’s sister. Both serve a popular -85 degrees Celsius drink.

At Regulars, the -85-degree coffee is a viral hit for good reason. It’s the first of its kind in Melbourne and is inspired by Bear Pond Espresso in Tokyo. When you order it, the barista reaches into what looks like a cryogenic freezer and pulls a glass out with tongs; you might ask if it’s all for show, but the signature drink at the CBD cafe is excellent and unlike most coffee you can get in Melbourne.

The same goes at Tori’s, where Su serves a below-zero matcha version. Melbourne’s matcha madness shows no signs of slowing and there are hundreds of flavour, temperature and consistency options out there. The matcha here is imported from Japan and freshly mixed to order, maintaining its bright green hue and vegetal notes while toning down its bitterness. As a result, the cryo matcha strikes a balance between traditional and contemporary that appeals to everyone, and offers an alternative to your usual order.

The Hot List is proudly sponsored by Square.

Additional reporting by Quincy Malesovas and Haymun Win