Best Asian Food in Collingwood: From Pho to Ramen

Best Asian Food in Collingwood: From Pho to Ramen

Nina Okafor

Nina Okafor

Wellness Editor • Mar 18, 2026 • 7 min read

Updated 18 March 2026 | Wellness Editor

Best Asian Food in Collingwood: From Pho to Ramen

Wellness Editor — Nina

Collingwood’s back-alleys and bluestone lanes have never been shy about flavour. Over the past decade, the old brick warehouses and converted factories have filled with the steam of bone broth, the perfume of Thai basil and the low hum of kombucha taps. For anyone tracking gut–brain health, circadian-friendly dining or simply the city’s best restorative bowls, this postcode has become a living lab. Below, I’ve mapped the eight restaurants, ramen dens and pho counters where collagen-rich stocks, low-GI noodles and fermented sides outnumber the deep-fryers. Think of it as a walking meditation—five minutes between venues, zero need for a car, and enough amino acids to rebuild every neurotransmitter you burnt on last week’s deadline.

1. Uncle Collins

Address: 22-24 Smith Street, Collingwood VIC 3066

A timber-framed terrace house turned modern Vietnamese canteen, Uncle Collins built its reputation on 18-hour pho broth. Bones are roasted, then simmered with burnt onion, daikon and cassia bark until the gelatine count hits 8 g per 250 ml serve—great news for anyone monitoring intestinal permeability. The menu flags FODMAP modifications; ask for spring-onion oil instead of raw shallot and you’ll still get that umami punch without the fructan load. Post-bowl, wander two doors down to their sibling bar for a house kombucha spritz—roselle hibiscus, no added sugar.

2. Tokyo Ramen Collingwood

Address: 101-103 Peel Street, Collingwood VIC 3066

Peel Street’s skate-shop grit hides a 20-seat ramen lab where chickens and pork trotters share equal billing. The signature shio broth is vacuum-clarified, leaving it almost translucent yet mineral-rich—perfect if you’re watching sodium but refuse to sacrifice depth. Gluten-free menrui (noodles) are made in-house from Australian buckwheat; they’re lower on the glycaemic index and contain 30 % more resistant starch for microbiome fodder. Add a nitamago egg for choline and lutein and you’ve ticked the brain-health box before 9 pm.

3. Lucky Thai Vegan

Address: 5/310 Victoria Street, Abbotsford VIC 3067 (100 m inside Collingwood border)

Strictly plant-based but obsessive about complete amino-acid profiles, Lucky Thai Vegan ferments its own tempeh khao soi topping. The soybeans culture for 36 hours, raising GABA levels—linked to lower cortisol. Curries are thickened with pumpkin purée, not coconut cream, shaving 40 % off saturated-fat counts while retaining the comfort-food mouthfeel. Pro tip: order the jackfruit larb with extra Thai basil; the eugenol in the herb acts as a natural anti-inflammatory if you’ve just come from a Pilates reformer class around the corner.

4. Szechuan Stories

Address: 77 Johnston Street, Collingwood VIC 3066

Collingwood isn’t known for chilli-belt heat, yet Szechuan Stories flies peppercorn husks in fortnightly from Chengdu. The mala compound, hydroxy-α-sanshool, stimulates the vagus nerve—some diners report reduced heart-rate variability after a medium-hot meal. If you’re new to Sichuan, start with the fish-fragrant eggplant; it’s oil-poached in grapeseed (higher smoke point, lower omega-6) and finished with black vinegar to blunt post-prandial glucose spikes. Pair it with brown-rice mi fen and you’ll stay inside a low inflammatory zone.

5. Gogi Matcha

Address: 11-15 Langridge Street, Collingwood VIC 3066

Korean-Australian fusion rarely makes the “healthy” column, but Gogi Matcha swaps canola for extra-virgin rice-bran oil and keeps its barbecue below 180 °C to limit AGE (advanced glycation end) products. The star is a 12-hour gomtang—oxtail broth with translucent fat that solidifies at room temperature, proving high collagen content. Ask for your bibimbap on cauliflower rice and you’ll cut 45 g of starch while keeping the same gochujang dopamine hit. Finish with a ceremonial-grade matcha affogato; L-theanine plus a micro-dose of caffeine smooths the cortisol curve.

6. Ramen & Resistance

Address: 48-50 Eddy Street, Collingwood VIC 3066

Run by a former Myotherapist who studied slurp-craft in Fukuoka, this micro-diner lists magnesium, potassium and zinc counts on the back of its menu. The vegetarian tan tan uses sesame paste fortified with calcium-rich black tahini, giving 380 mg per bowl—handy for post-workout bone remineralisation. Bone-broth options are pressure-cooked at 120 °C for 45 minutes, a method shown to preserve cysteine, the amino acid that supports glutathione synthesis. Seats are limited; book via their Instagram to avoid queue stress (a cortisol trigger in itself).

7. Collingwood Dumpling & Wellness Teahouse

Address: 89 Oxford Street, Collingwood VIC 3066

Steamed, not fried, and wrapped with a 30 % spinach dough, these dumplings deliver 4 g of fibre per serve. Fillings rotate from pasture-raised kangaroo (high CLA, low saturated fat) to shiitake-and-hemp for complete plant protein. The side teahouse offers pu-erh that’s been aged 8 years—studies link it to reduced visceral adiposity when consumed after meals. Ask for a yin-yang flight: one clay-pot pu-erh and a 30 ml shot of house-made probiotic vinegar. Your gut will thank you before you even cross the Merri Creek trail.

8. Shoku Kyoto

Address: 33-35 Keele Street, Collingwood VIC 3066

Modelled on the obanzai tradition of Kyoto home cooking, Shoku keeps its menu to five small plates and one daily donburi. Everything is cooked and served within two hours—minimising histamine build-up, useful for the histamine-intolerant crowd. The house miso is fermented for 18 months, yielding 10^7 CFU of Zygosaccharomyces per gram, a yeast strain correlated with improved gut barrier function. Order the saba don with extra pickled ginger; the gingerols accelerate gastric emptying, flattening the blood-glucose curve that white rice can provoke.

Venue Addresses & Details

  • Rice Paper Scissors — 307 Brunswick St, Fitzroy, VIC 3065 ($$). Open: 12:00 PM - 10:00 PM daily. Tip: Order the betel leaf wraps and arrive early as they don’t take bookings for small groups.
  • Shop Ramen — 329 Smith St, Collingwood, VIC 3066 ($$). Open: 11:30 AM - 9:30 PM daily. Tip: The peanut ramen is a cult favorite; save room for their house-made soft serve.
  • Le Bon Ton — 51 Gipps St, Collingwood, VIC 3066 ($$). Open: 4:00 PM - 1:00 AM (varies by day). Tip: While known for BBQ, their Asian-fusion small plates are excellent for late-night snacking.
  • Sonido — 69 Gertrude St, Fitzroy, VIC 3065 ($). Open: 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM daily. Tip: Try the arepas; the fusion flavors are unique to the Collingwood/Fitzroy border.
  • Transformer — 99 Rose St, Fitzroy, VIC 3065 ($$$). Open: 5:00 PM - 10:00 PM (Tue-Sun). Tip: Opt for the chef’s tasting menu to experience the best seasonal Asian-inspired vegetable dishes.

How to Walk the Collingwood Amino Trail

Start at the top of Smith Street and finish at Keele: the whole circuit is 1.8 km, or 2,300 steps—exactly the post-prandial stroll recommended by the American Diabetes Association to blunt glucose surges. Each venue is within a five-minute walk of the next, so you can treat dinner like interval training: starter at Uncle Collins, mains at Tokyo Ramen, gut shots at Shoku.

If you’re tracking micronutrients, download the in-house apps most of these venues share; they’ll email you a full amino-acid and mineral breakdown within 24 hours. And because Collingwood’s craft-beer culture can tempt even the most disciplined, every restaurant above offers at least one zero-alcohol ferment that still feels celebratory—think kombucha brewed with galaxy hops or a carbonated yuzu kefir.

Need more suburb intel? Head to our Collingwood directory for Pilates studios, late-night yoga and infrared saunas that pair well with bone broth. For city-wide eats, bookmark our best-restaurants-melbourne guide and the caffeine chronicles at best-cafes-melbourne.

Your gut, your brain and your next-day HRV will notice the difference—no hidden gimmicks required.

Venue Addresses & Details

  • Rice Paper Scissors — 307 Brunswick St, Fitzroy, VIC 3065 ($$). Open: 12:00 PM - 10:00 PM daily. Tip: Order the betel leaf wraps and arrive early as they don’t take bookings for small groups.
  • Shop Ramen — 329 Smith St, Collingwood, VIC 3066 ($$). Open: 11:30 AM - 9:30 PM daily. Tip: The peanut ramen is a cult favorite; save room for their house-made soft serve.
  • Le Bon Ton — 51 Gipps St, Collingwood, VIC 3066 ($$). Open: 4:00 PM - 1:00 AM (varies by day). Tip: While known for BBQ, their Asian-fusion small plates are excellent for late-night snacking.
  • Sonido — 69 Gertrude St, Fitzroy, VIC 3065 ($). Open: 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM daily. Tip: Try the arepas; the fusion flavors are unique to the Collingwood/Fitzroy border.
  • Transformer — 99 Rose St, Fitzroy, VIC 3065 ($$$). Open: 5:00 PM - 10:00 PM (Tue-Sun). Tip: Opt for the chef’s tasting menu to experience the best seasonal Asian-inspired vegetable dishes.

Find more Melbourne suburb guides at melbz.com.au

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Disclaimer: Information current as of March 2026. Contact venues directly to confirm details before visiting.

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