Best Asian Food in St Kilda 2026: Fitzroy Street & Beyond
St Kilda doesn’t do subtle with its Asian food. This is a suburb where Cantonese roast duck shares a strip with hawker-style pan-Asian cocktails, where dumpling joints have been hand-pleating since 2012, and where a hipster Indian restaurant inside a heritage hotel is somehow one of the best things on the southside. Whether you’re rolling off the 96 tram or wandering back from the beach, the Asian dining here punches well above its beachside postcode.
We ate our way from Fitzroy Street to Acland Street and a few side streets in between. Here’s where your money should go.
Updated 16 March 2026 | 6 places tested | Yuki Tanaka reporting
1. Mahjong Restaurant
The vibe: Cantonese elegance meets Fitzroy Street energy — think white tablecloths and a park view, not a suburban yum cha hall.
Mahjong has been holding it down on Fitzroy Street for nearly 15 years, and honestly, the fact it still feels this fresh is a minor miracle. The menu covers China’s regional greatest hits: Szechuan peppercorn dishes that numb your lips properly, silky hand-pulled noodles nodding to Xi’an, and lighter Cantonese plates that let the ingredients do the talking. The yum cha service on weekends is the real draw — expect char siu bao, cheung fun, and har gow that rival what you’d find on the CBD’s Little Bourke Street, but with an actual park outlook instead of fluorescent lighting.
The chilli wontons are criminally good. So is the Cantonese roast duck — order it half, regret not ordering whole.
Order this: Roast duck (half, $28) and the Szechuan chilli wontons ($16) Address: 165 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda VIC 3182 Hours: Tue–Sun, 12pm–10pm. Closed Monday. Insider tip: Book for a window table overlooking Albert Park Lake. At sunset with a Tsingtao in hand, you’ll forget you’re ten minutes from Chapel Street.
2. Bang Bang St Kilda
The vibe: Hawker market energy in a slick, 60-seat dining room — like someone dropped a Singapore food court into the Paris end of Fitzroy Street.
Bang Bang arrived in St Kilda in March 2025 and immediately became the “where should we go?” answer for half the suburb. Born from the Mordialloc and Hampton originals, the St Kilda outpost goes hardest. The pan-Asian menu draws from Japanese, Korean, Thai, and Indian street food traditions, then wraps it all in a cocktail-forward, date-night-ready package. Feed Me options run from $57 (small plates) to $92 (the full spread including oysters and a cocktail), making group dining genuinely easy — nobody has to argue about ordering.
The karaage chicken is properly crunchy, the Korean fried cauliflower disappears fast, and the cocktails are dangerously easy to drink on an empty stomach.
Order this: Feed Me menu ($65/person) — let the kitchen decide Address: Fitzroy Street, St Kilda VIC 3182 Hours: Mon–Thu 5pm–10pm, Fri–Sun 12pm–10pm Insider tip: Sit at the bar for the best banter with the bartenders. First Table does 50% off lunch if you book the early slot — genuinely half price.
3. Babu Ji
The vibe: Bollywood films projected on the wall, craft beer on tap, and the kind of Indian food that makes you question every takeaway curry you’ve ever ordered.
Babu Ji sits tucked into the side wing of the George Hotel on Grey Street — the kind of location you’d walk past ten times before noticing, then kick yourself for not finding sooner. Chef Sumeet Waraich grew up in a village outside Punjab, taught by his grandmother, and the menu is a direct line to her kitchen. This isn’t butter chicken and naan-and-forget-it. The yoghurt kebabs are delicate, the fish curry uses a lighter hand than most Melbourne Indian joints, and the samosa plate is the size of a small country.
The Instagram tagline says “hipster Indian” and they’re not wrong — but the food is dead serious.
Order this: Yoghurt Kebab ($14) and Fish Curry ($26) Address: 4–6 Grey Street, St Kilda VIC 3182 Hours: Mon–Wed 6pm–9pm, Thu–Sat 6pm–10pm. Closed Sundays. Insider tip: The George Hotel has free street parking on Grey Street after 6pm — a genuine rarity this close to Fitzroy Street. Arrive by 6:15 and you’ll snag a spot.
4. I Love Dumplings
The vibe: No-frills, fast, and absolutely stuffed with dumplings. This is $15-wallet-happiness territory.
Since 2012, I Love Dumplings has been doing exactly what the name promises. The St Kilda outpost (one of seven across Melbourne) sits on Fitzroy Street and churns out handmade dumplings, wontons, steamed buns, and noodles from across China’s regions. The pork and chive dumplings are the benchmark — thin-skinned, juicy, and $13 for a generous plate. The prawn dumplings are “devine” according to roughly every TripAdvisor review ever written, and the laksa is a sleeper hit for when the beach wind picks up and you need something warming.
This isn’t fine dining. It’s the place you duck into when you’ve spent too much on Acland Street gelato and still want a proper meal.
Order this: Pork and chive dumplings ($13) and the Laksa ($16) Address: 2/29 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda VIC 3182 Hours: Daily, 11am–10pm Insider tip: The $15 dine-in lunch set is still one of the best value meals on Fitzroy Street. Includes dumplings and a noodle dish — order it before 2pm when the tourists are still at the beach.
5. Derby Thai St Kilda
The vibe: Unpretentious, reliable Thai comfort food in a casual room. The kind of place that doesn’t need to try hard because the green curry does the work.
Derby Thai is the neighbourhood Thai restaurant St Kilda deserves — not flashy, not trying to be the next Instagram sensation, just genuinely good curries and wok dishes at prices that don’t make you check your bank balance. The green curry is the standout: properly creamy with kaffir lime leaves that actually taste like kaffir lime leaves, not the sad dried version you get at lesser joints. The pad Thai is solid if not groundbreaking, and the spring rolls are the crisp, not greasy kind.
Open until 10pm on weeknights, it’s also one of the few Asian spots on Fitzroy Street that works for a late dinner after a gig at the Esplanade Hotel.
Order this: Green curry ($22) and Tom Yum soup ($16) Address: 2/52 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda VIC 3182 Hours: Mon–Fri 11am–10pm, Sat–Sun 12pm–10pm Insider tip: They do solid takeaway — order via DoorDash or call ahead and walk in to grab it. The curry travels well and reheats better than it has any right to.
6. Sister of Soul
The vibe: Plant-based eating with an Asian heart — this Acland Street staple proves vegan doesn’t mean boring.
Sister of Soul has been on Acland Street since 2013, and if you’re expecting sad salads, think again. The menu leans heavily into Asian flavours: Japanese okonomiyaki, Indonesian nasi goreng, Thai-inspired bowls, and enough spice to wake up your taste buds on a grey Melbourne arvo. Everything is vegetarian, most is vegan, and they’ve got gluten-free and no-garlic/no-onion options — which shouldn’t be a big deal, but try finding that at most restaurants.
The okonomiyaki is the dish that keeps vegans coming back. It’s savoury, it’s filling, and it doesn’t taste like it’s apologising for not being the real thing.
Order this: Okonomiyaki ($19) and a Thai coconut curry bowl ($21) Address: 73 Acland Street, St Kilda VIC 3182 Hours: Daily, 9:30am–9:30pm Insider tip: The breakfast menu runs all day on weekends. The vegan eggs benedict with cashew hollandaise sounds wrong and tastes right. Pair it with a flat white — their coffee is surprisingly good for a restaurant this size.
The Bottom Line
St Kilda’s Asian food scene is genuinely underrated. While everyone’s fighting over dumplings on Swanston Street and queuing for dumplings in Box Hill, Fitzroy Street has quietly built a lineup that covers Chinese, Indian, Thai, pan-Asian, and vegan Asian — all within walking distance of each other. If you only try one place, make it Mahjong for the yum cha. If you’re on a budget, I Love Dumplings at lunch is unbeatable value. And if you want the full “treat yourself” experience, Bang Bang’s Feed Me menu is the move.
What We Skipped and Why
Not everything made the cut. Here’s our honest list:
Hanoi Hannah — We love it, but the original is in Windsor (High Street, Prahran), not St Kilda proper. We’re keeping it in our pocket for a southside Vietnamese roundup instead of stretching the boundaries here.
Pho 55 — A solid Balaclava pho joint, but just outside our geographic remit. If you’re after pho near St Kilda, it’s a 10-minute walk from the junction along Carlisle Street and worth the trip. Cross-link: Best Cheap Eats in Balaclava
Any of the Acland Street pizza places — Wrong article, wrong vibe. Italian next time.
Cha Ching — Mentioned on OpenTable as a standout Chinese option, but we couldn’t verify current opening hours at time of writing. We’ll circle back.
Nearby Neighbourhoods Worth the Tram Ride
- Best Vietnamese in South Melbourne — Little Peddler is doing excellent things on Clarendon Street
- Cheap Eats in Elwood — Ms Elwood and a few hidden spots along Ormond Road
- Balaclava Food Guide — Carlisle Street is the unsung hero of southside eating
Your St Kilda Vibe Score this week: 81/100 — Beach season is winding down but the restaurants are heating up.
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