My opinion:
Overall restaurants: Immigrant heavy suburbs (can’t beat pho, dim sum, and kebabs)
Takeaway food: Posh suburbs (the potato bake, shepherds pie, and roasts in the wealthy markets are fucking delicious)
High end restaurants: CBD areas
Which suburbs/area in Australia do you think has the best food?
I grew up in Auburn, and the food is one thing I miss since moving far away 20 years ago.
It's 20 - 30 min drive for me (Inner West). I go there just for food - and often some quality cheap groceries while I'm there.
Asian butcher in the main shopping centre is so cheap and quality is as good as expensive butchers
I lived in Sydney in the mid 2000s. everytime I go back its straight to Auburn for a proper kebab.
Which place? Granville is more known for middle eastern food than curry.
Himalayas. Pakistani I believe?
I just recently moved in, any suggestions? Been to Jasmins and star kebabs.
Auburn has unreal food, so so good
Western Sydney
Western Sydney does NOT have good food. The Inner West has amazing food.
I respectfully disagree
Where in the West do you think has good food?
The Inner-West is over mate. It’s the new Bondi! Western Sydney hands down has the best food in Sydney.
Agree.
The inner west is good for pretend-ethnic food that is overpriced, in tiny portions, would never fool a third gen Aussie from the country where the food claims to be from, and just for the "vibe" and experience.
Whereas in Western Sydney you get the same food yet authentic, much more generous portions, muuuuuuch cheaper, just in a dingy place rather than a "vibe" place.
Name 2 notable spots
Khans Curry Delight, Mrs Wongs, Quick Shawarma, Profiterole Patisserie, Ruse Bar, Temasek just off the top of my head. 4 of those successful since the early 00s.
Been to Temasek, the laksa was good, but I didn’t walk out of there thinking it was special. Khans Curry looks okay, might try that.
Banks Town
I honestly know way too many places that I cannot even name two because they are all too good.
Tell us you've never been further west than Ashfield without saying you've never been further west than Ashfield.
I’ve been going to Western Sydney all my life and grew up there. The only place I haven’t been recently is Harris Park, which sounds promising.
Other than that, I’ll be happy giving Rashay’s a miss thanks.
Rashay's is an overly commercialised franchise that is NOT really authentic Western Sydney anymore. Maybe a long time ago when it started it was.
As someone who lived in western Sydney for 25 years before moving to the inner west, you have some serious issues if you genuinely think that
As someone who grew up in the West before living all over the world, my issues are just fine.
Weird to be fine with bad taste.
No one gives a fuck about the inner west
Nowadays just Rich trust fund babies playing poor people dress ups
Some decent places in Burwood which if you are not a real estate agent is western Sydney
Best Indian food I had in Australia was at Harris Park (NSW), but for variety I love our little strip at East Vic Park (WA)
Came here to say this. Indian cuisine in Harris Park is great.
My favourite food places in Perth in no ranking order:
Thanh Dat Vietnamese Restaurant Cicerellos Fremantle The Floreat Market Pappagallo Zhangliang Spicy Hot Pot Cafe Rosso Southland Fish and Chips Any IGA Good Grocer or Foodies Market Lapa Brazilian
Sunnybank QLD
The place for yum cha and Korean fried chicken
Also, there's an incredible Japanese place away from Market Square down Beenleigh Rd (more Sunnybank Hills than Sunnybank proper). The sashimi is to die for.
Pinelands shopping centre, the other market square and the parking is just as bad
No, the one I'm talking about is at the old Shauna Downs shopping centre down the road from Pinelands
you ever seen a 5 story carpark just for a small corner restaurant district. you have now.
I went to a nice hotpot place around there
Sunnybank is great. So many good options.
Melbourne has hands down the best European and “Modern Australian” food.
Sydney has hands down the best Asian and Middle Eastern food.
There's some great Malaysian in Melbourne. Frankly I don't feel that the cities can be separated foodwise.
Sydney’s Hainanese chook is the comfort food of the Gods.
You do realise that there is a Chinatown in Melbourne, too?
I'll see you with Hainanese and raise you with Schezuan.
You mean box hill? Many Chinese restaurants there.
Just popping in to confirm that I don't think I've ever had a bad meal in Box Hill
I’m going to Sydney next month for work for a few days. Any recommendations on where to head for great Asian food not too far from the CBD?
If you like noodles, dumplings, and want to try the most unexpectedly delicious meal of your life - Chinese Noodle Restaurant in Haymarket. (Not to be confused with Chinese noodle house or Chinatown noodle restaurant).
You’ll know you’re in the right place if you see plastic grapes hanging from the roof for no discernible reason, and framed pieces of carpet on the walls.
Order the braised eggplant. It’s hands down one of the best things I’ve ever tasted and probably the most significant ‘food’ memory I’ve ever had.
Thanks! Just found on maps and saved.
Haymarket is literally Chinatown, like 1 tram stop past town hall. Facing away from the CBD, left side is thai town, right side Chinatown and dotted around is every other Asian cuisine. Can recommend Kiroran Uighur if you want something pretty unique, think Turkish Chinese fusion, Dapanji is amazing as are the skewers. Otherwise zhangliang hotpot is my favourite Malatang, "Chinatown noodle house" for dumplings and handmade noodles (cash only dodgy mfs lol), "spice town" for Szechuan.
Otherwise just pick anything you see and it will be pretty good just avoid the restaurants on Dixon St before Goulburn st, overpriced tourist crap (you'll know you're there). Worth wandering through though.
If you're willing to hop on the train Burwood is better imo, proper authentic, again pick anything and it will be good.
Awesome - thanks for the detailed response!
XOPP near Central
Best asian joints for CBD lunch spots:
Alice’s Makan - Malaysian in the food court opposite KFC Town Hall. Great chicken rice and nasi lemak
Malaysian shop in the corner of the food court underneath Woolies Town Hall, entered from the other side of the block on Pitt st down the stairs. Also great chicken rice and nasi lemak but longer wait than Alice’s Makan
For ramen - Ichi-ban Boshi in the galeries (only for their tonkotsu ramen), Gumshara (Sydney OG staple)
Kopitiam - best Malaysian in Sydney (Ultimo, close to CBD)
Pho Gia Hoi George st Chinatown for pho and Vietnamese
Plenty of good Chinese hot pot restaurants - Spice World, YX mini hot pot, Great Dragon hot pot
Japanese bbq - Musou Yakiniku, Pitt st
Korean bbq - Bornga in Chinatown
Darwin got the best Asian food.
Sydney has hands down the best Asian and Middle Eastern food.
Middle eastern maybe but no way for Asian, there are massieve vietnamese and chinese communities here. not to mention the abundence of Thai, Korean, and Japanese.
Sydney has more Chinese people and an equal amount of Vietnamese people (as of 2021)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Sydney
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Melbourne
I can't say I've had Asian food in Melbourne, so I won't volunteer further opinion except to say both cities have massive Asian communities and probably have similar quality Asian food.
and probably have similar quality Asian food.
except melbourne in general has better quality food. We have a similar amount of people and a better food culture.
If by better you mean queuing everywhere. WTF is it with Melbourne and making you queue outside, not like booking a reservation? All the good places I tried going to just had queues, fuck that. For pretentious food, yeah Melbourne wins.
But like little family restaurants with cheap food that shits all over fancy places? I dunno man, I definitely had way better in Sydney.
But then again I'm sure Melbourne has good places if you know where to look. Either way both big cities with large ethnic communities, you'll find good food.
All the good places I tried going to just had queues
Because you were going to hype places. There are plenty of places that allow reservations. Most of the places with large queues are event type places tourists go to to put on instagram.
This was going for Korean BBQ on the princes highway in the CBD. Every place there had queues. I saw enough places with queues just wandering about to make me think it's a Melbourne thing.
But yeah for pretentious Instagram spots, Melbourne has Sydney beat for sure.
Melbourne shits me to tears in many ways, but the best viet I've had has been there. It's weird, as it doesn't feel like it should be that way, Cabra is so great, and feels much more... alive/authentic or whattever than anywhere similar in Melbourne... but the meals I've had in Melbourne have still been better.
Sunnybank in Brisbane shire for Asian food.
I agree!! My go to place!
I live in the Margaret River Wine Region. The food is pretty fantastic.
I am in Busso and Margs is right up there! So much in the region.
Wine regions serve some of the best restaurant food ever I swear
Hobart has incredible food. It’s a small city and there’s only about thirty or so nationalities represented in the international foods market, but I entertain a lot through work and have never had a bad meal. Food is always top notch, fresh and delicious.
If you like good Chinese food and don't mind a drive, the Chinese restaurant in Snug is to die for.
I’ve been there and it’s fabulous.
Some great food to be had in Launceston also, it’s got some great spots.
Last time I was in Hobart there happened to be a multi-day Tasmanian food festival.
We ate there every night and it was incredible!
My oldest son (who is now an engineer in WA) flies himself and some mates out for one of the Tasmanian food festivals each year these days. He couldn’t wait to leave Tasmania when he was a teenager but now he wants to come back because of the food, beer and gin. I think when he does eventually return, he will be bringing a bunch of hungry WA dudes to prop up our food industries.
Absolutely give me an ethnic suburb. In Melbourne, give me Box Hill, Springvale, Footscray.
Footscray Vietnamese is something else 😌
Dandenong pretty good if you want Afghan kebabs. Can’t remember the name of the place I went to a couple of months ago, but it had a sizeable sit down area and was serving Ethiopian coffee with Afghan kebabs. I’d pay a lot of money for that normally, however it was pretty cheap. About $15 from memory.
You’ve described restaurant Paradise.
Small country takeaway joints. Few and far between but the best value quality meals you'll find.
I’ll add country town bakeries to that. Bulahdelah has a great one not too far off the highway heading nth from Newcastle.
It's a gamble though. I found country town bakeries range from amazing to "inedible dry blob of flour and margarine"
Yeah but every country town's bakery has been voted "Australia's best pie"
Except the national vanilla slice champions
Can it beat New Zealand though?
Dandenong Vic for cheap and excellent Indian food, as well as Afghani food.
Sunshine 100%
Scumshine, Vic? The BBH, Afghan Star, that Polish place on Bell St, even Vegan Hut slaps!
Cabramatta in Sydney
Authentic Asian and Foodie Experiences. Worth the pilgrimage
Oakleigh for the Greek food. Amazing
There’s a couple of very nice Italian restaurants in Oakleigh too. Dare I say it, better than the Greek ones.
Burger with the lot at the beach, where you can find a good one
Occasionally you find one that make them like they use to be made
Sitting under the shade of a tree with a 'burger with the lot' juices dripping down your arms
This is me.
All due respect to people that put out great food in restaurants
great for nostalgia value but the country's moved on from a burger wiht the lot being the peak of cuisine street food.
edited for clarity.
All due respect to people that put out great food in restaurants
See above, I think with all due repect you are missing the point
I can see where you misinterpreted me - I wasn't clear. I shouldn't have written 'peak of cuisine' I should have written 'peak of street food'.
So, I'm not missing the point at all - there's better street food in Oz now, by far.
I am not talking about restaurants - I'm talking Korean chicken, Bahn mi, Chinese dumplings, laksa, proper pizza, authentic kebabs, I could go on... the aussie burger with the lot really isn't anything special - except as nostalgia.
Had disagree. Obviously there's a demand for all that but sometimes you just want something basic and hearty. It doesn't need to be a case of either/or, it's food. There's room for everything.
So you think that a hamburger with the lot meets the OPs definition of Australia's best food?
Seriously dude... they come with cheap white buns, a bland pattie, tinned beetroot, tinned pineapple and, often as not, limp lettuce.
Sure sometimes I also want something basic and hearty - so I go a Mee Goreng or banh mi. There's nothing fancy about them. They're just street food with actual flavour.
I'll occasionally go a burger with the lot but let's not pretend that it's the best street food Australia has to offer.
Dude, it's food. It's subjective. Everyone has different tastes and quality can vary with all types of cuisines.
You're being downvoted but I couldn't agree more. I would hands down take a decent banh mi over the nicest ever burger with the lot. No disrespect to it, but it's not 1990 anymore.
Well said - its not 1990 anymore!
I’m getting fat just reading these comments.
Western Sydney!
Dandenong has some of the best Afghan I have ever eaten.
Footscray has amazing Vietnamese and Ethiopian cuisine.
I’ve been to Parramatta once in my life a few years back and the CBD area seemed full of good smells and people eating at nice places. It’s the place i’ve gotten the nicest impression from regarding food. More from personal experience i’d pick chinatown. It’s just always such good value and the quality is better than average.
Laughs in Cabramatta.
Bloody oath man, the roast pork and dim sum in Sydney Chinatown is the best
And I’ve been to Hong Kong, the quality is on par with HK if not better
I’ve been to Honkers too and i agree. I did have the opportunity to eat at a restaurant on the Peak that was next level and a traditional style Chinese place that was indescribably good but they were super expensive, in general the quality is noticeably better in Sydney’s Chinatown.
I’m not rich, i used my sisters flybuys to get there and stayed at their place. They had flyer points falling out of their bum because my brother in law would travel internationally almost weekly and got the points to keep personally. They used them to send their Amah back to the Phillipines a couple of times a year too. Fuck housekeepers are awesome, she was an outstanding cook.
They even took me to Macau for a few days. Portuguese people are stunning.
Oakleigh in Melbourne for Greek food.
South Yarra/Prahran in Melbourne for French food.
Oakleigh in VIC if you want that quality Greek 🤤🤤
Chatswood, Harris Park and Pendle Hill in Sydney
Springvale, Victoria. So many cheap Vietnamese joints. Always with the kids doing their homework on the back table
Any neighbourhood with a high asian or Indian population. They got the best takeaway and corner shops.
And Middle Eastern
Italian in Melbourne is pretty amazing. Also some fantastic Japanese as well, especially a few great ramen places.
Eastwood in Sydney
Redcliffe/ the Peninsula for good seafood
Sunnybank for Asian food
Woodridge for Middle Eastern and Islander food
Brunswick. It's just got everything. Add in Coburg, and wow.
Inala (Queensland) has many Vietnamese resturants and fruit stores.
East Vic Park in Perth has some good places to eat.
Dickson in Canberra for all cuisines
Footscray. Amazing Ethiopian, Vietnamese and Indian in west Footscray
My favourite suburb to eat in is Footscray. Many migrant communities started their settlement in Australia coming through Footscray and surrounds, and established restaurants there. Currently it has many Vietnamese and Horn of Africa restaurants, but you can still find other cultures there too. Indian, Korean, even Italian...and Footscray Market has my favourite deli, and the best butchers and fishmongers, as well as great green grocers. There are also Indian, African and Vietnamese supermarkets to stock up on some cultural delicacies
Can you recommend a good Horn of Africa restaurant you’ve eaten at? Would love to go there.
Where is the best seafood? I’m in Melbourne and Greek restaurants tend to amazing seafood.
I tried lobster cave and it was rubbish.
Our opposition leader and gangland figures seem to enjoy it!
Must be why it’s crap
East Vic Park in Perth is good.
I’m just gonna say for those nominating Melbourne.
Yeah. All well and good if you know where you’re going. For every decent joint there are 3-4 shit, overpriced joints rolling their arms over.
I just got back from NZ and their cafe and restaurant food was far more consistently good than Aus.
Come to lakemba during ramadan
Why does Lakemba always remind me of onebuck
https://youtu.be/vlH_sZ6LhEE?si=AQx2_FxL1GQPHzDq
Its still a banger and makes me cry laughing 10 years later.
nah don't want to be stabbed for being white
Least brainwashed Murdoch media enjoyer
i presume you meant 'most'?
or do you concur with my point?
No, I'm making fun of you for being hysterical
Bro what you talkin abt
North Melbourne for culture, Melbourne CBD and eastern suburbs for fine dining
I absolutely hate Melbourne. However, I will always concede that it's the cultural capital of Australia. Particularly the food. Nowhere else can you get such a huge range of well prepared cuisine.
Cheaper housing than Sydney too (sadly saying as a Sydney bred guy)
It hurts saying it, doesn't it. I feel the same about Sydney and conceding the harbour is iconic.
Are the “eastern suburbs” the posh part of every Australian city??
Eastern suburbs of Perth are pretty povvo.
Only cos there’s not really western suburbs 😏
No suburbs near the ocean/beach and close to the CBD are the "posh" ones
Seems to be a surprising pattern
In Brisbane they are a bogan shithole. Inner north and inner south are nice, everywhere else is serial killer and bogan territory.
Think outside your Sydney-centric frame of mind, the world doesn't end at Parramatta.
Brunswick for food. Some great middle eastern places there, and one hell of an ice cream shop.
As a Qlder, it hurts me to say this but unfortunately, any Indian joint in Sydney city area and West CLEARS. Genuinely so good. Beats Melbs too.
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The local bakery in every single country town
Inala for Banh mi. Amazing Vietnamese food.
Morningside qld best curry. Balmain syd best pizza. Broadmeadows Melb best kabab. That is all.
Darra in QLD for Vietnamese food.
Auburn, Sydney
Any small town/country bakery
Springvale
Melbourne CBD
Dandenong
In that order.
Any of the original Darwin street markets
Cabra/Fairfield area in Western Sydney!!!
Byron Bay for high-end restaurants
Mullumbimby for more relaxed options
I agree with other comments that Auburn, Cabramatta and Harris Park are great suburbs for Middle Eastern, Vietnamese and Indian cuisine.
For something different, Surry Hills and Marrackville have a good variety and quality of food options.
Eastwood has good Japanese and Korean restaurants.
Leichhardt used to be the Little Italy of Sydney. Though, sadly it really lost the vibe over the years. I'm not sure if they have revived it more recently as I haven't been there for awhile, but from my experience a few years ago, the neighbouring suburb Haberfield is more Italian these days with a nice selection of restaurants.
Western Sydney.
Tie between Aurburn and Lakemba for Middle eastern, Burwood for Chinese, Harris Park for Indian. Dunno about best but Marrickville has dope Vietnamese.
Dandenong for the Afghan restaurants.
Darwin. Hands down. Youse can argue, but you wrong
Cbd
Belgrave has a bit of everything. Two upper class Euro-style bistros, A gastro pub and a cheap pub. Multiple cafe's from a quality country bakery to vegan, organic and locally sourced options. An award wining Indian, plus a cheaper greasy one downstairs, Vietnamese and Dumpling places as well as an old school fish and chips and kebaby.
It's got everything you might want. The only problem is that the Thai was replaced by a Taco place, so you have to go 500m up the road to Tecoma to get a Thai restaurant.
Bars with live music all weekend.
All off western Sydney
But people too scared to go so they gonna say no
cries in Northside Brisbane
Hahndorf, South Australia.
Amazing German pastries, sweets, and meals.
I like ethnic immigrant food like fish and chips, can find them in most places
Traditionally, the whiter (and wealthier) the suburb the more traditional/western the food is going to be
Three of the best Indian restaurants:
Parramatta: Handi Lazeez
Harris Park: Punjabi Fusion and Chatkazz
In a month in India eating out almost every night, we found maybe 2 as good as these.
Chatkazz is not as great as it used to be.
I think my local pub has a pretty mean schnitty
Chatswood
I’d go Hurstville and Burwood for Chinese food in Sydney over Chatswood imo
Melbourne’s northern suburbs are saturated with quality restaurants, bars and pubs. I don’t think anywhere else in the country could possibly come close.
Springvale VIC is the best for Vietnamese and Malaysian food in one suburb all together. Otherwise Eastwood NSW has great Korean and some Chinese options too.
Melbourne has food suburbs. Sydney, Brisbane and Perth generally don't. I agree that Chinatown in Sydney is the best food there.
The advantage of Melbourne having food suburbs such as Brunswick is that the quality of low cost great food there is excellent.
The problem with Melbourne having food suburbs is that once you get further than about 10 km from the city centre, the quality of food drops off noticeably.
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20d
Melbourne has great food in the burbs. In City of Wyndham there is a large South Asian population so they have amazing Indian restaurants. I'm 13km from the cbd, and we have some great Italian and fusion places around me. If you go out to Glenroy, Broadmeadows or Caroline Springs there's fabulous middle-eastern and Turkish restaurants. On the whole, Australia does food (cultural or fusion) well
The problem with Melbourne having food suburbs is that once you get further than about 10 km from the city centre, the quality of food drops off noticeably.
Box Hill is 20km from the CBD and has the best Chinese food in the country.
This couldn't be anymore wrong.
Burwood is like a whole permanent Chinese street food market now. Harris Park has a whole strip of South Asian restaurants. Lakemba has a lot of middle eastern that comes together as the Ramadan night markets.
Sydney is often criticized for having ethnic enclaves but that also creates food suburbs as well.
Can't speak for Brisbane and Perth but I'm sure they have something too.
Not in Box Hill and Glen Waverley
The joints on Kingsway behind The Glen... oooohhh. Lovely stuff.
Sunnybank enters the chat.
Inala, Darra and Runcorn also enter the chat
Whilst I don't disagree, but that is more of a region than a concentrated suburb like the Sunnybank places are.
I haven't been to Sunnybank in years, but from memory probably 80% of the restaurants are within the two block area around Sunnybank Plaza/market square and a few more down the road at Pinelands.
Edit: I guess OP did say area. So kind of counts if you include those suburbs from Inala out to Redbank
Brisbane's food hotspots are generally more spread out across the city and its suburbs more than all in close proximity to each other. The general rule of thumb is the Southside has more multicultural/modern options while the Northside mostly has more traditional options.
Sydney here, but never had a bad meal in the Auburn area. Had a life-changing curry in Granville on the weekend.