Updated 19 March 2026 | Priya Sharma reporting
Best Asian Food in Hawthorn 2026
Hawthorn’s Asian food scene doesn’t get the attention it deserves. While everyone’s arguing about whether Carlton or Richmond has the best pho, or whether Footscray’s banh mi trumps Springvale’s, Hawthorn quietly goes about its business — serving genuinely excellent Malaysian hawker food, Japanese izakaya plates, Vietnamese vegetarian cooking, and some of the best dumplings in the inner east.
The Asian dining options here cluster along Glenferrie Road and Burwood Road, with a few outliers worth the detour onto Auburn Road. We’ve eaten at every Asian venue in Hawthorn at least twice. Here are the ones that actually deliver.
1. Petaling Street Malaysian Hawker Food — Hawthorn VIC 3122
This is the one locals whisper about. Petaling Street is named after the famous food street in Kuala Lumpur, and the kitchen takes that heritage seriously. The char kway teow is the headliner — flat rice noodles, prawns, Chinese sausage, bean sprouts, and egg, all flash-fried over a screaming-hot wok until everything gets that distinctive smoky char. At $15, it’s one of the most satisfying plates of food in Hawthorn.
But the laksa ($16) is the sleeper hit. Thick rice noodles swimming in a rich, spicy coconut broth with tofu puffs, prawns, and a hard-boiled egg. The sambal on the side actually has heat — not the watered-down version you get at tourist-friendly Malaysian restaurants. If you’re sharing, add the roti canai ($8) — flaky, buttery, and perfect for mopping up whatever sauce is left.
More Malaysian food in Melbourne: /melbourne-cbd/best-asian-food
2. Izakaya Jiro — Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn VIC 3122
Hawthorn’s answer to the question “where can I get proper Japanese without paying CBD prices?” Izakaya Jiro does the izakaya thing properly — small plates designed to be shared over drinks, with a focus on grilled items and comfort food. The yakitori selection rotates but usually includes thigh with tare sauce, tsukune (chicken meatball), and enoki mushroom wrapped in bacon. At $4–$6 a skewer, it’s easy to build a meal that feels indulgent without the bill reflecting it.
The karaage ($14) is crispy outside, juicy inside, served with kewpie mayo and a squeeze of lemon. The katsu curry ($16) is generous — thick curry sauce over a properly breaded pork cutlet with steamed rice. Sake selection is small but well-chosen. The room is moody and intimate — dim lighting, wooden booths, Japanese rock posters on the walls. It’s the kind of place you go for “one quick drink” and leave three hours later. More Japanese in Melbourne: /hawthorn/best-restaurants
3. Fina’s Vegetarian Cafe — 664 Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn VIC 3122
Don’t let the word “vegetarian” put you off. Fina’s is a Vietnamese vegetarian restaurant that serves food so flavourful you genuinely won’t miss the meat. The pho is the standout — a deeply aromatic broth (simmered from mushroom, ginger, and star anise rather than beef bones) ladled over rice noodles with fried tofu, fresh herbs, and bean sprouts. It’s $13 and it’s restorative in a way that most pho in Melbourne isn’t anymore.
The rice paper rolls ($9 for four) are fresh, tightly wrapped, and come with a hoisin-peanut dipping sauce that’s better than it needs to be. The banh mi ($10) uses a crusty roll with proper crackle, filled with tofu, pickled vegetables, fresh chilli, and coriander. It’s the best value lunch on Glenferrie Road. Full stop. More vegetarian dining: /south-yarra/best-restaurants
4. Dumpling Bar Hawthorn — Hawthorn VIC 3122
Hawthorn isn’t traditionally a dumpling suburb, but this spot changes the conversation. The dumplings here are made fresh — you can see the kitchen team folding them through the glass partition. Pork and chive steamed dumplings ($12 for 12) are the baseline order, but the prawn har gow ($14) and xiao long bao ($15 for eight) are where the real skill shows. The soup dumplings arrive with thin, delicate skins that don’t break when you pick them up — a genuine test of technique.
Beyond dumplings, the dan dan noodles ($13) are worth ordering — spicy peanut sauce, minced pork, Sichuan pepper, and spring onions. The mapo tofu ($14) has real depth of flavour, properly numbing from the Sichuan peppercorns. It’s a no-frills room with fast service and honest prices. Exactly what a dumpling spot should be. More dumplings: /collingwood/best-asian-food
5. Samurai — Hawthorn VIC 3122
Samurai brings a contemporary edge to Asian dining in Hawthorn. The menu pulls from across East and Southeast Asia — there’s sushi, there’s stir-fries, there’s curry — but the execution is a step above the typical pan-Asian catch-all. The sashimi platter ($28) is generous and properly sliced. The teriyaki salmon ($22) comes with perfectly steamed rice and a side salad that doesn’t feel like an afterthought.
Where Samurai stands out is in the details: the miso soup is made with dashi from scratch, the gyoza are pan-fried to order (not reheated from frozen), and the service is warm without hovering. It works well for a date night that doesn’t require a CBD trip or a second mortgage. The wine list has a few surprises — a crisp Albariño alongside the expected sake and Japanese beer. More date night spots: /hawthorn/best-bars
6. Kapitan — Hawthorn VIC 3122
Kapitan rounds out Hawthorn’s Asian dining scene with a menu that celebrates the breadth of Asian cuisine without losing focus. The curries are the draw — a massaman that’s slow-cooked and complex, a green curry that hits the right balance of coconut and heat. The satay skewers ($12) are marinated properly and grilled with visible char marks.
It’s a warm, inviting space that works for both weeknight family dinners and casual weekend meals. The lunch specials — curry and rice for $14 — are some of the best value in the area. If you’re in the Auburn Road end of Hawthorn, Kapitan is the reliable choice that won’t disappoint. More Asian dining across Melbourne: /south-yarra/best-asian-food
The Verdict: Hawthorn’s Asian Food Punches Above Its Weight
Hawthorn’s Asian food scene is understated, and that’s part of its charm. There are no viral TikTok queues here, no “limited edition” menu drops designed for Instagram. What you get instead is a tight cluster of genuinely good restaurants — Malaysian hawker food, Japanese izakaya, Vietnamese vegetarian, dumplings, and contemporary Asian — all within walking distance of each other along Glenferrie Road.
The sweet spot for a food crawl: start with dumplings at Dumpling Bar, walk up to Petaling Street for laksa, then finish with sake and yakitori at Izakaya Jiro. Total damage: under $45 per person. Try doing that on Chapel Street.
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More Hawthorn: /hawthorn/ | More Asian food: /melbourne-cbd/best-asian-food