Melbourne's Migrant Food Streets

Melbourne's eating map is organised by migration rather than by cuisine categories. Lygon Street in Carlton was the postwar Italian strip and still carries its cafes and pasta shops. Victoria Street in Richmond became the Vietnamese quarter after the 1970s, a long run of pho kitchens, grocers and herb stalls. Sydney Road in Brunswick is Lebanese and Turkish, with bakeries turning out flatbread all day. Oakleigh is Greek, Footscray is Vietnamese and East African, Box Hill and Glen Waverley are Chinese and Taiwanese, and Dandenong is Afghan, Sri Lankan and Indian. Chinatown on Little Bourke Street in the grid predates all of them, dating from the gold rush years. Each strip is a walk, not a single address.

What you actually see

• Victoria Street, Richmond - pho kitchens, banh mi bakeries and grocers selling herbs by the armful.
• Sydney Road, Brunswick - Lebanese and Turkish bakeries, sweet shops and charcoal grills along a tram route.
• Oakleigh - a Greek strip of cake shops and coffee houses in the south-eastern suburbs.
• Little Bourke Street - the Chinatown of the central grid, in continuous use since the gold rush decades.

When to go

Most strips run all day, but the Asian ones peak in the evening and the Middle Eastern bakeries in the morning. Weekend lunchtimes are busiest and often have queues. Lunar New Year fills Little Bourke Street and Box Hill; Greek Easter does the same in Oakleigh. Trams and trains reach every strip, which matters if you plan to drink.

Honest expectations

These are ordinary suburban shopping streets, not curated food precincts, so they look plain and some stretches are shabby. Parking is difficult on all of them. Places worth eating at rarely take bookings and often deal in cash. The strips are spread across the city and combining two in a day means a long transit. Standards vary widely within a single block.

Nearby

The central grid, Queen Victoria Market and the Fitzroy strips connect by tram.