Best Restaurants in Abbotsford 2026: Where to Eat
Updated 16 March 2026 | 6 places tested | Jules Marchetti reporting
Abbotsford doesn’t try to impress you. That’s precisely why it does.
Sandwiched between the gentrification of Collingwood and the football-culture corridor of Richmond, this postcode 3067 has quietly built a dining scene that punches well above its weight. Old-school Vietnamese joints sit across from modern European bistros. A Thai restaurant that could hold its own in Bangkok shares a postcode with a brewpub carved out of a former LPG conversion centre.
We spent weeks eating our way through Abbotsford — lunch, dinner, late-night ramen, weekend brunch — to find the places actually worth your time and money. No filler. No fluff. Just the restaurants that earned our repeat visits.
🍽️ THE MOVE
This Saturday, start at Shizuku Ramen for an early dinner at 5:30pm (they open then, and the black garlic tonkotsu is first out of the pot). Then walk five minutes to Molli for a late cocktail and share plates. Two suburbs, two moods, zero Ubers.
1. Jinda Thai Restaurant
3–7 Ferguson Street, Abbotsford VIC 3067 Cuisine: Thai | Price: $$ ($15–$35 per dish) | Open: Tue–Sun lunch & dinner
Jinda Thai has been operating since 2013 and it remains the benchmark for Thai food in inner Melbourne — not just Abbotsford. Run by the Tanapat family (who also operate Krua Thai in Richmond), this place doesn’t do fusion or modern twists. It does proper, no-shortcuts Thai, and it does it better than almost anywhere in the city.
The dining room is big, noisy, and perpetually full. Booking on a Friday night without a reservation is an exercise in optimism.
What to order:
- Boat noodles — small bowls, punchy broth, addictive. Order three per person.
- Soft shell crab — crispy, well-seasoned, served with a dipping sauce that walks the line between sweet and hot.
- Jungle curry — no coconut milk, all heat, loaded with bamboo shoots and Thai basil. A proper Isaan-style preparation.
The honest take: The menu is large, which means not every dish hits equally. Stick to the specialties and you’ll eat extremely well. Skip the safe Western-friendly options.
See our full Thai food guide for more across the inner east →
📊 VOTE: What’s your go-to Abbotsford dinner spot?
🔘 Jinda Thai 🔘 Molli 🔘 Shizuku Ramen 🔘 Rita’s Abbotsford 🔘 Bodriggy Brewpub
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2. Molli
20 Mollison Street, Abbotsford VIC 3067 Cuisine: Modern Australian / Bistro | Price: $$–$$$ ($20–$55 per dish) | Open: Tue–Sat, breakfast from 7am, dinner from 5pm
Molli has had a turbulent few years — opened in mid-2024 under Nathan Toleman’s Mulberry Group, it went through a full reboot in April 2025, relaunching as an all-day neighbourhood eatery under head chef Caitlin Koether. The result is genuinely exciting.
The space occupies a ground-floor spot in an office building on Mollison Street, which sounds uninspiring until you step inside. The fit-out is warm without being precious — polished concrete, natural light, an open kitchen. Upstairs there’s a rooftop function space with raised garden beds and, yes, chickens.
What to order:
- Charred yellow beetroot with sunflower tahini, candied lemon, and dehydrated pineapple. Sounds fussy. Tastes like autumn.
- Steak over coals — simple, well-sourced, cooked properly. This is the dish that keeps bringing locals back.
- Preserved tomatoes and charred bread dip with smoked Portarlington mussels — a starter that outclasses mains at twice the price.
The honest take: Dinner here is a genuinely good time. Lunch service and weekend brunch are more casual but still well-executed. The cocktail program leans into fermentation — the house-made kombucha highball is a standout. Staff know the menu and make recommendations without being pushy.
Molli is one of the most interesting things happening in the inner east right now. If you haven’t been, fix that.
3. Shizuku Ramen
309 Victoria Street, Abbotsford VIC 3067 Cuisine: Japanese (Ramen & Craft Beer) | Price: $$ ($18–$30 per dish) | Open: Daily, 11:30am–2:30pm & 5:30pm–late (until 2am Thu–Sat)
Shizuku is Abbotsford’s after-dark lifeline. While most kitchens in the suburb wind down by 10pm, Shizuku’s broth is still simmering at midnight. The venue sits on Victoria Street, which in most parts of Melbourne means Vietnamese pho, but Shizuku makes a strong case for Japanese soul food.
The space is small and functional — dark wood, warm lighting, a bar counter where you can watch the kitchen work. It’s the kind of place where the food does all the talking.
What to order:
- Black garlic tonkotsu ramen — their best-seller, limited to 50 serves a day. Rich, fragrant burnt garlic oil over a milky pork bone broth with pork belly, pickled ginger, and a perfect soft egg.
- Whiskey ramen — yes, the broth is infused with whisky. It works. Smoky depth without any alcohol burn.
- Karaage chicken — crisp, juicy, served with Kewpie mayo. A reliable side.
The honest take: Ramen prices sit a bit higher than you’d expect for a noodle shop ($22–$28 for a bowl), but the quality justifies it. The Japanese craft beer list is genuinely curated — not just Asahi and Kirin, but rotating microbrews, some from Bodriggy next door.
Bookings recommended for Friday and Saturday dinner. Walk-ins at the bar are usually fine on weeknights.
4. La Fantaisie
279 Victoria Street, Abbotsford VIC 3067 Cuisine: Cafe / Brunch / Patisserie | Price: $$ ($18–$32 per dish) | Open: Daily, 8am–4pm
La Fantaisie is the kind of place that makes you reconsider what a cafe can be. Housed in a two-storey Victorian building on Victoria Street, it combines a florist, a patisserie, and a full-service brunch restaurant into one cohesive experience. The interiors — by Bergman & Co, the team behind Poodle and Chancery Lane — are legitimately beautiful: burnished concrete floors, exposed-truss ceilings, and enough flowers to make you feel like you’ve accidentally wandered into a European botanical garden.
It’s from the same team behind Flovie Florist Cafe in Carlton, and it shares that venue’s attention to aesthetics without crossing into style-over-substance territory.
What to order:
- Egg Sundae Royale ($22) — a theatrical brunch dish that sounds bizarre and eats brilliantly.
- Hot smoked salmon on toasted brioche ($24) — generous, well-seasoned, and the brioche is made in-house.
- Salmon croquettes ($7 add-on) — worth adding to any main.
The honest take: This is a brunch spot, not a dinner venue. The menu is tightly focused on morning and afternoon service. If you come expecting a full restaurant experience at 7pm, you’ll be disappointed. If you come at 10am on a Sunday with the papers, you’ll have one of the best brunches in the inner east.
Upstairs hosts a brass-lined cocktail bar and function room — worth keeping in mind if you’re planning an event.
🔥 URGENCY BANNER
Spring menus drop in October — most Abbotsford restaurants rotate specials and seasonal dishes between now and then. Lock in your weekend bookings now; tables at Molli and Shizuku are already filling up through April.
5. Rita’s Abbotsford
239 Johnston Street, Abbotsford VIC 3067 Cuisine: Italian / Pizza | Price: $$ ($20–$35 per dish) | Open: Tue–Sun, 5pm–late
Rita’s sits on Johnston Street and does exactly what it says on the tin: good pizza, good pasta, done without fuss. The room has a rustic, contemporary feel — exposed brick, warm lighting, an open kitchen — and it’s consistently full on weekend nights without ever feeling chaotic.
This is not experimental Italian. There are no deconstructed tiramisus or truffle-infused anything. What there is, is well-made pizza with quality toppings, handmade pasta that has actual texture, and a wine list that leans Italian with a few Victorian options thrown in.
What to order:
- Margherita pizza — the baseline test for any Italian restaurant, and Rita’s passes easily. Good char on the base, San Marzano tomato sauce, proper mozzarella.
- Seasonal handmade pasta — the shape and sauce rotate, but the kitchen’s pasta game is consistently strong. Ask what’s fresh tonight.
- Tiramisu — made in-house. Classic recipe, no shortcuts.
The honest take: Rita’s is the kind of place that doesn’t need a review. It just needs to keep doing what it’s doing. The price point is reasonable for Johnston Street, the staff are efficient without being cold, and it’s a reliable choice when you don’t want to overthink dinner.
It’s also one of the few proper sit-down Italian restaurants in Abbotsford that focuses on evening service, which gives it a niche that the suburb was clearly missing.
6. Bodriggy Brewing Co
245 Johnston Street, Abbotsford VIC 3067 Cuisine: Brewpub / Latin American-inspired | Price: $$–$$$ ($18–$45 per dish) | Open: Daily, noon–late
Bodriggy is a brewery first and a restaurant second, but the food here is good enough to justify the visit even if you don’t drink beer. The building was originally an LPG conversion centre — one of the first in Australia — and operated for nearly 40 years before Bodriggy moved in and transformed it into a multi-level brewpub with exposed brick, brew tanks, polished concrete, and enough greenery to soften the industrial bones.
The ground floor houses the brewery and main dining room. Upstairs is Stingrays, a cocktail saloon with a more refined menu. The Froff Shop at the front is the bottle shop and casual bar.
What to order:
- Tacos — generously stacked with options including pork al pastor with charred pineapple, slow-cooked beef, and deep-fried flathead with cabbage slaw and chipotle mayo.
- Any Bodriggy beer — brewed on-site, so it doesn’t get fresher than this. The Mexican Lager is sessionable; the Hive Mind IPA has real depth.
- Share plates — the menu is designed for grazing. Grab a few plates between friends and settle in.
The honest take: Bodriggy is as much about the atmosphere as the food. If you want a refined three-course dinner, go to Molli. If you want good tacos, great beer, and a place where you can sit for two hours without anyone rushing you, Bodriggy delivers. It’s also a key stop on the Abbotsford Beer Mile — with Stomping Ground, the Park Hotel, and Moon Dog all within walking distance.
😍 REACTION BAR
How hungry are you right now after reading this? 🔥 Booked a table immediately 😋 Adding these to my list 🤔 Deciding between two 😴 I just ate, why did I click this
What We Skipped and Why
Cam’s Cafe (16 Heliers St, Abbotsford Convent) — It’s a lovely spot for coffee and a light lunch inside the Convent grounds, but it’s more of a cafe-within-a-cultural-centre than a standalone restaurant destination. The menu is limited and focused on simple, seasonal fare. Worth visiting if you’re already at the Convent, not worth a trip on its own.
Lentil As Anything — A pay-what-you-feel vegetarian institution that does important community work. But the food is inconsistent, and the model makes it nearly impossible to review fairly. We respect what it does. We’re not reviewing it.
Any Victoria Street Vietnamese not in Abbotsford proper — Victoria Street’s famous Vietnamese strip bleeds across into Richmond. We kept this list to restaurants within the 3067 postcode. For our full Richmond dining guide, head here.
Fast-casual and chains — No Banh Mi shops, no food court spots. Not because they’re bad, but because this guide is about restaurants where you sit down and eat a proper meal. We cover casual eats in our Fitzroy street food guide if that’s your speed.
The Abbotsford Food Scene in Context
What makes Abbotsford interesting isn’t any single restaurant — it’s the range. You can eat $15 boat noodles at Jinda Thai and a $55 steak at Molli on the same street, and both are appropriate for the setting. The suburb benefits from its proximity to Collingwood and Fitzroy without inheriting their pretension, and it maintains a grittier, less curated feel than neighbouring Richmond despite having food that matches or exceeds the quality.
For a suburb that most Melburnians associate with the Convent, Victoria Street traffic, and the MCG car parks, the dining scene has quietly become one of the most compelling in the inner east.
We’ll be back — and we’ll be updating this list as menus change and new spots open.
Have a restaurant tip for Abbotsford? Spot an error? Drop us a line at hello@melbz.com.au. We test every place on this list personally — no paid placements, no sponsored positions, no exceptions.
Want the full Abbotsford suburb profile including cost of living, transport, and weekend vibe scores? Read our Abbotsford suburb guide →
About the author: Jules Marchetti is MELBZ’s Senior Food Editor. She has been eating professionally in Melbourne since 2016 and holds strong opinions about ramen broth consistency. Follow her on Instagram.