The $14 Laksa in Carlton That’s Making Locals Lose Their Minds

Updated 16 March 2026 | 15 places tested | Mei Chen reporting

Carlton gets labelled as Melbourne’s Italian quarter. Fair enough — Lygon Street has earned that reputation over decades of wood-fired pizza and espresso. But walk two blocks past the trattorias and you’ll find something that most visitors completely miss: one of the most concentrated pockets of serious Asian cooking in the inner north.

I’ve spent the last three weeks eating my way through Carlton’s Asian restaurants — every noodle house, dumpling counter, Thai kitchen, and Vietnamese canteen I could find. Fifteen places. Some were outstanding. A few were average. One made me actually text my group chat mid-meal. Here’s what made the cut.

🔥 THE MOVE: Save this article. Bookmark it before your next Carlton walk. You’ll want it when you’re standing on Lygon Street arguing with your mates about where to eat.

The $14 Laksa That Started It All

Let’s get straight to the title. That $14 laksa? It’s the Curry Laksa at Saigon Pho Carlton, 106 Lygon Street, Carlton.

Yes, I know — Vietnamese restaurant, Malaysian dish. That’s the kind of thing that happens in Carlton. The kitchen doesn’t care about neat categorisations. What they care about is getting the broth right, and they absolutely do. It’s thick coconut cream with a slow-building sambal heat, loaded with tofu puffs, bean shoots, and your choice of chicken, prawns, or both (go both — it’s an extra $3 and absolutely worth it).

At $14 for a regular bowl, it is one of the best value-for-money meals on the entire street. This is not a dainty serving. This is a “cancel your afternoon plans” serving. The rice vermicelli soaks up the broth like it was born to do it. The fried shallots on top go soft in the best possible way. It’s the kind of dish that makes you wonder why you ever paid $22 for something nearly identical elsewhere.

Saigon Pho also does a cracking Beef & Brisket Phở ($16) and Fresh Rice Paper Rolls ($10), but the laksa is the reason people keep coming back. The restaurant itself is no-frills — plastic tablecloths, quick service, a TV in the corner. You’re not here for the decor. You’re here because someone told you about the laksa, and now you’re telling someone else.

The verdict: At $14, this laksa is the single best-value Asian meal I found in Carlton across all 15 venues tested. It’s not even close.

The Full Carlton Asian Hit List

1. Hakata Gensuke Tonkotsu Ramen

126 Lygon Street, Carlton | Mains $16–$22

If you’ve queued outside Hakata Gensuke on Elizabeth Street and thought “I wish there was one closer to the park,” wish granted. Their Carlton outpost on Lygon Street serves the same 24-hour pork bone broth that made the original famous. The Signature Tonkotsu ($17) arrives milky-white and almost obscenely rich. You can adjust the noodle firmness from “soft” (katamen) to “extra hard” (barikata), and if you don’t know what that means, the staff will walk you through it with genuine patience.

The black garlic tonkotsu ($19) is the move for anyone who wants more depth. For ramen purists, the shio ramen ($16) keeps things clean. The gyoza ($9 for 6) are fine but not the reason you’re here.

Go for: The broth. Always the broth.

2. Lemongrass Thai Restaurant

176 Lygon Street, Carlton | Mains $18–$28 | Established 1989

This is the oldest Thai restaurant on Lygon Street and it still runs like it has something to prove. Lemongrass brought Thai Royal Cuisine to Melbourne when most Australians thought pad thai was the entire canon. The Massaman Curry ($22) uses a house-made paste that’s noticeably more complex than what you’ll find at the dozens of Thai places that copied them. The Prawn in Garlic Pepper ($26) is deceptively simple — perfectly cooked prawns in a wok-tossed sauce that tastes like it has about fifteen ingredients too many.

The green chicken curry ($18) is their weekday lunch workhorse and it’s consistently good. Service has a slight formality to it that some find old-fashioned and others find reassuring. Either way, the food has held up across three and a half decades for a reason.

Go for: The Massaman Curry and the sense that you’re eating somewhere with actual history.

3. Hi Chong Qing

26 Orr Street, Carlton | Mains $12–$16

This is the one I texted my group chat about.

Tucked into a UniLodge building between RMIT and Lygon Street, Hi Chong Qing is a tiny noodle shop specialising in Chongqing-style xiao mian — the fiery, numbing, intensely flavourful dry noodles from southwestern China. The Signature Chongqing Noodles ($12) come in a pool of chilli oil with preserved vegetables, minced pork, and just enough Sichuan peppercine to make your lips tingle for a full minute after each bite.

It seats maybe twenty people. The kitchen is open. You can watch the cook ladle broth from a vat that looks like it hasn’t stopped simmering since opening day. A GoodFood Top 20 Cheap Eats pick, and they earned it. For under $15, you’re getting a bowl of noodles that has more genuine regional character than most “fine dining Chinese” restaurants charging five times the price.

The Dan Dan noodles ($13) are the second pick. Skip the rice dishes — the noodles are what this kitchen lives for.

Go for: The heat, the value, and the fact that you’ll spend your entire meal trying to figure out how they get the broth this good in a space this small.

📊 POLL: What’s your Carlton default?

• A) Laksa at Saigon Pho
• B) Ramen at Hakata Gensuke
• C) Chongqing noodles at Hi Chong Qing
• D) Pad Thai at Lemongrass

Vote in the comments below 👇

4. Saigon Secret

651 Rathdowne Street, Carlton North | Mains $18–$28

A few blocks north of the Lygon Street action, Saigon Secret is the more polished sibling of the Vietnamese scene in Carlton. Award-winning, with a menu that pushes beyond the usual phở-and-roll formula into modern Vietnamese territory. The Phở Sate ($22) adds a satay twist to the classic that shouldn’t work but absolutely does. Their Steamed Prawn Dumplings ($14) and Fresh Rice Paper Rolls ($12) are delicate and precise.

At $20–$40 per person for lunch, it’s pricier than Saigon Pho down the road, but you’re paying for atmosphere and technique. The room is decorated with traditional non la hats and has a warmth that the no-frills places lack. Good for a date or a longer, slower meal with friends.

Go for: When you want Vietnamese food but also want to sit down properly.

5. Thai City Restaurant

124 Lygon Street, Carlton | Mains $15–$22

Thai City is the unpretentious counterpoint to Lemongrass. Where Lemongrass does Royal Cuisine with formality, Thai City does street-style Thai with warmth. The Pad Thai ($15) is solid — not the best in Melbourne, but reliable and generously portioned for the price. The real star is the Duck Curry ($22), which locals have been ordering since before the restaurant had a website.

Run by a team that knows their regulars by name, Thai City feels like a neighbourhood canteen. It’s the kind of place where the owner will remember your order after two visits and start making it before you sit down. Prices are student-friendly, which is fitting given the RMIT crowd that fills it most weeknights.

Go for: The Duck Curry, the price point, and the feeling of eating at someone’s home kitchen.

6. Saigon Pho Carlton (Beyond the Laksa)

106 Lygon Street, Carlton | Mains $14–$20

I’ve already covered the laksa above, but Saigon Pho deserves a broader mention. The Beef & Brisket Phở ($16) is a proper winter warmer — deep, slow-cooked broth with tender brisket that falls apart before you can get it onto your chopsticks. The Vietnamese Iced Coffee (cà phê sữa đá, $6) is the afternoon pick-me-up that Carlton’s Italian cafes can’t compete with. The menu is extensive, the portions are generous, and the lunch specials often bring the price down to under $12 for a main.

For the full breakdown of what to order here, check our Carlton Vietnamese food guide.

7. Dumpling House

Lygon Street, Carlton | Mains $12–$18

Carlton’s Dumpling House is exactly what the name promises — no marketing spin, no “artisanal fusion,” just steamed and pan-fried dumplings done properly. The pork and chive dumplings ($12 for a serve of 12) are the default order. The skin is thin enough to be translucent but tough enough to hold the filling without splitting. The pan-fried pork buns ($10) get a golden crust on the bottom and a juicy, soupy interior. They also do a full Chinese menu — fried rice, stir-fries, hot and sour soup — but the dumplings are the draw.

Service is brisk and the room fills quickly at lunch. Grab a table, order two serves of dumplings and a pot of jasmine tea, and you’ve got a $28 lunch that would cost $45 elsewhere.

Go for: Dumplings. Specifically the pork and chive and the pan-fried pork buns.

8. Fu Lu Chinese Cafe

Lygon Street, Carlton | Mains $11–$16

Fu Lu is the cheapest sit-down Chinese meal on Lygon Street and it knows it. Simple decor, no tablecloths, a menu that reads like a Chinese-Australian greatest hits album. The Honey Chicken ($13), the Beef Chow Fun ($14), and the Hot and Sour Soup ($8) are all reliable. This is not the place to come for culinary discovery. This is the place to come when you want a straightforward, filling Chinese meal at a price that won’t sting.

The lunch specials are particularly good value — often under $10 for a main and rice. It draws a mix of RMIT students, construction workers, and northside locals who’ve been eating here for years.

Go for: Weekday lunch when the budget is tight but the appetite is real.

⚠️ URGENCY BANNER: Most of these restaurants are small. Friday and Saturday dinner service fills every seat by 7pm. Book ahead for Lemongrass and Saigon Secret. For Hakata Gensuke and Hi Chong Qing, arriving before 6:30pm is the difference between a table and a 20-minute wait.

Worth Crossing the River For: Chin Chin

Chin Chin (125 Flinders Lane, CBD) isn’t technically in Carlton — it’s a tram ride south. But it sits on the same wavelength as Carlton’s best Asian restaurants and it would be wrong to write an article about Melbourne’s Asian food scene without mentioning it. At roughly $18–$35 per dish, it’s a step up in price, but the King Prawn Curry ($32) and the Stir Fry Glass Noodles ($19) are genuinely outstanding. If Carlton’s Asian strip is the neighbourhood version, Chin Chin is the big-stage production. Open late, always packed, and the kind of place that converts non-Asian-food people into believers.

For more on what’s happening across Melbourne’s dining scene beyond Carlton, our Melbourne food events calendar keeps a running list of what’s worth booking.

What We Skipped and Why

Not every Asian restaurant in Carlton made this list. Here’s what didn’t make the cut and why:

Carlton Curry House (204 Lygon Street) — Indian, not East/Southeast Asian, so it falls outside this article’s scope. That said, it’s a perfectly decent curry house and we’ll cover it when we do our Carlton Indian food round-up.

The Lygon Street dumpling-and-noodle joints that play it safe — Several places along the strip serve perfectly acceptable Chinese-Australian food without any particular regional identity or ambition. If the dumplings taste like they came from the same distributor as every other Melbourne dumpling house, we’re not going to recommend them just because they’re in Carlton.

Anywhere that’s already closed since we started testing — Three places we visited in the first week have since changed ownership or shut their doors. The Carlton restaurant scene moves fast, and we’ll update this list as new places open.

The Carlton Asian Food Cheat Sheet

💬 CONFESSION BOX: I ate laksa three days in a row during testing. Monday at Saigon Pho (chicken), Wednesday at Saigon Pho (prawn and chicken combo), and Friday I tried a different place entirely and just ended up back at Saigon Pho ordering the combo again. Some things don’t need reinventing. The laksa is $14 and it’s perfect. I need help.

The Bottom Line

Carlton’s Asian food scene doesn’t try to be trendy. It doesn’t need Instagram-friendly plating or influencer partnerships. What it does offer is genuine, regional cooking at prices that remind you Melbourne’s inner-city dining doesn’t have to cost a week’s pay.

The $14 laksa at Saigon Pho is the headline, but the real story is the depth: Chongqing noodles for $12, ramen with a 24-hour broth for $17, Thai Royal Cuisine that’s been running since 1989, dumplings that cost less than a cinema ticket. Carlton’s Asian strip is quietly, stubbornly excellent.

Start with the laksa. But don’t stop there.

Related Reading:

• Our complete guide to Melbourne’s best phở
• Carlton Vietnamese food guide
• Melbourne food events calendar
• Lygon Street: The Italian side of Carlton

Mei Chen is the Asian Food Editor at MELBZ. She has been eating her way through Melbourne’s inner-north suburbs for eight years and has strong opinions about broth. Follow her picks on the MELBZ weekly food newsletter.