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Little Collins Street is no longer a wallflower − it’s one of the city’s tastiest strips, where sandwich shops, bakeries and bars now jostle with institutions. And the queues at lunch are conversation-worthy.
Wedged between well-manicured Collins Street and the much edgier Flinders Lane, Little Collins Street has struggled to find its own identity. Long defined by car parks, private members’ clubs and discreet dining rooms, it’s suddenly a street on everyone’s lips, where major developers and small operators are vying for (highly valued) space.
Dianne Lowe, who opened takeaway lunch spot Onigiri Kitchen at the Parliament end of the street two years ago, has watched the balance shift.
“That end of town has definitely evolved. There are more good restaurants now, and it feels like younger people and more diverse crowds are being drawn further up Little Collins than they once were.”
In February, Sydney hospitality mogul Justin Hemmes paid $55 million for an eight-storey car park at the Paris end, with plans for a hotel, restaurants, bars and a sky garden. The proposal triggered opposition from Melbourne’s oldest gentlemen’s club, but it also confirmed what many already knew: the east end of Little Collins has momentum.
That momentum is drawing attention from operators beyond the CBD. Stefanie Breschi, co-owner of Cremorne venue Suupaa, is considering the street for a new venue. “The top end of Little Collins Street feels both intimate and dynamic, a place where a new wave of food culture is taking root,” she says.
According to Tan Thach of Ainsworth Property, who leases several venues along the strip, the once-muted back street has entered a new chapter. “This stretch of Little Collins is seeing a fresh wave of operators move into the east end,” he says. “It’s being fuelled by a growing office and residential population, a resurgence in food and beverage spending, and a sharp drop in vacancies over the past 18 months.”
That shift, Thach adds, has allowed landlords to bring in stronger tenants and shape a bona fide hospitality hub − one anchored by Hector’s Deli, Raya, Kudo Bakery, Lupino and Palace Coffee. “It’s a real mix of day and night operators,” he says. “And demand for this pocket of the CBD just keeps growing.”
The covered arcade shared by Warkop cafe and Onigiri Kitchen fills quickly at lunch: its seating offers one of the few communal spots on the strip. A few doors up, sandwich specialist Hector’s Deli has joined banh mi veteran N Lee in drawing long queues.
Value keeps foot traffic steady. Cafe Excello still charges $8.50 for eggs on toast, N Lee’s banh mi start at $12, and most venues favour takeaway-friendly menus, with plenty of sub-$20 options along the street.
Most of the momentum might be at the east end, but Little Collins rewards the full walk. You’ll find sandwiches, hatted restaurants and gluten-free patisserie near Spring Street, and late-night Pakistani curry and Irish pubs at the western edge.
Gluten-free CBD bakery Kudo.
Kudo
Pastry chef Felix Goodwin (ex-Sunda) and partner Elena Nguyen have turned heads with their cabinet of completely gluten-free patisserie and breads. Caneles boast burnished crusts, Basque cheesecakes are edged with caramel, cookies are pleasingly chewy and the baguettes are so good, you’ll swear they’re sneaking in wheat. Everything is coeliac-certified, but nothing feels like a compromise.
8 Little Collins Street, Melbourne, kudobakery.com.au
Warkop’s breakfast muffin served with a house-made sausage patty, fried egg, optional hash brown (pictured) and “Bazzinga sauce”.Ed Sloane
Warkop
The second of Barry Susanto and Erwin Chandra’s cafes channels the same spirit as their Richmond tribute to Indonesia’s coffee shops. Sandwiches are the headline act, from Susanto’s sambal-spiked riff on a Filet-O-Fish to a spicy chicken BLT, a rotating special where the grilled chicken is marinated in chilli and lemongrass. Breakfast muffins − sausage or bacon − come with the option to add hash browns, cruller doughnuts glazed with kaya (coconut jam) anchor the sweets, and Duke’s Coffee keeps diners caffeinated.
Shop 13, 1 Little Collins Street, Melbourne, warkop.com.au
Choose from seven flavours of onigiri at Onigiri Kitchen.Justin McManus
Onigiri Kitchen
Open for two years, Onigiri Kitchen specialises in Japan’s triangular rice snacks of the same name, wrapped in crisp nori and sealed in clever packaging so the seaweed stays fresh. There are seven onigiri flavours − marinated salmon and bright kimchi are fan favourites − alongside toasties, bento boxes and a soft tofu doughnut that’s become a quiet hit. Produce is sourced from the owners’ farm in the Dandenong Ranges, keeping this takeaway-forward shop tied closely to the seasons.
Shop 15, 1 Little Collins Street, Melbourne, onigiri.au
Temaki platter, nori sheets and rice, ready for DIY assembly.Penny Stephens
Temaki Sushi
The fine-dining sibling to grab-and-go Onigiri Kitchen, this teeny-tiny restaurant turns the hand roll into a primo omakase experience. Diners move through five courses guided by chef Hiroshi Uchiyama, with much of the produce grown on the business’ farm near Sassafras. (Experiments are under way to cultivate wasabi.) The standout item is eel temaki, the meat grilled over charcoal and folded into a crisp nori cone. The room is minimalist, seating just five tables, and it’s open for dinner only, four nights a week.
Shop 14, 1 Little Collins Street, Melbourne, temakisushi.au
Spanish stalwart Bar Lourinha’s wall of knick-knacks.Chris Hopkins
Bar Lourinha
Since 2006, Bar Lourinha has been a Mediterranean mainstay of Little Collins Street. The room is kitschy and maximalist, hung with art and objects collected over many years, while the menu leans traditional with a few flamboyant twists, like spiced pork sausage grilled tableside on a custom pig-shaped grill. Anchovy toasts and jamon appear alongside rotating small plates, while chickpeas with greens have never left. Larger seasonal dishes from braised goat to clams with fino sherry round it out. It remains one of the street’s most distinctive dining rooms, both for its food and its personality.
37 Little Collins Street, Melbourne, barlourinha.com.au
Palace Coffee
At Palace Coffee, the focus is on precision; both in the cup and in the space. Beans come from Seven Seeds, while the cabinet is anchored by Small Batch pastries. It’s a detail that sums up Palace’s quiet confidence as a standing-room-only coffee bar: familiar, but a little elevated. Designed by Kerry Kounnapis Architecture Practice, its deep red facade nods to Pellegrini’s here in Melbourne and the coffee bars of Milan. It’s the third venue from the owners of Midi and formerly Burnside, a polished little espresso bar built for repeat long blacks and caneles.
22 Ridgway Place, Melbourne
Ribena layer cake at Raya.Chris Hopkins
Raya
Raymond Tan blends the flavours of his Malaysian childhood with French technique at this cafe-bakery. Sardine hand pies sit alongside squishy kuehs, bite-sized desserts usually made of rice flour, and cakes soar sky-high in flavours such as kaya toast or Ribena. Cookies are thick and heavy-set, with a rotating monthly special. Drinks such as malted milk matcha and frothy teh tarik make this more than a drop-in bakery stop. In fact, many use Raya as a meeting point: wedged between Hector’s Deli and banh mi stalwart N Lee, it draws both weekday regulars and weekend wanderers.
Shop 2, 61 Little Collins Street, Melbourne, rayamelbourne.com
A selection of Malaysian dishes at Ho Liao.Alex Coppel
Ho Liao
If you head down a side lane off a side street, you’ll find Ho Liao − the entry-level spot in Sydney chef Junda Khoo’s three-storey Malaysian food hall. With a line-up of $15 staples − from nasi lemak to laksa − it’s an easy drop-in for lunch or dinner. The broader menu reworks Malaysian comfort food with polish and punch: Hainanese chicken stays true to form, while half a crisp-skinned Aurum duck for $49 feels like a steal. There’s a playful side too, like the highly decorated blue pea sago pudding that serves strong tropical resort dessert bar energy.
Level 2 Rainbow Alley, Melbourne, holiao.com.au
La Petite Creperie
While technically on the corner of Swanston and Little Collins, this kiosk is a worthy pitstop. It’s been serving French crepes since 2008 and each one is made to order. Sweet fillings include Nutella, sugar and lemon, and fresh fruit and nuts; savoury fans flock to ham, spinach and cheese. There’s also the option to have your crepe flambeed with rum or Grand Marnier. Founded by Michael Gatta-Castel and Patrizia Maselli, the creperie also pops up across Melbourne with vintage caravans (named Juliette and Lucile), but the Swanston Street kiosk remains the most beloved outlet.
125 Swanston Street, Melbourne
Claypot rice topped with shaved truffle at Aru.
Aru
Aru takes cooking over fire as its starting point and then runs wild. Japanese scallops are grilled over charcoal and red gum embers, then dressed with a broth of prawn stock and coconut milk heady with shallots, chilli and galangal. Claypot rice, hefty cuts of meat and even pavlova are also kissed by flame. Back vintages of landmark European labels like Pierre-Yves Colin Morey burgundy are poured alongside bottles from Australian producers including Mornington Peninsula’s Amrit. It’s one of the CBD’s most ambitious restaurants, equal parts smoke and polish.
268 Little Collins Street, Melbourne, aru.net.au
Reflective surfaces and soft lighting inside Bench Coffee.Chris Hopkins
Bench Coffee
A ritual stop for coffee purists, this roaster’s petite location is as design-led as it is caffeine-focused. Glass bricks frame the long counter, an Alexander Calder statue anchors one corner and designer lamps throw soft light over a space that’s mostly standing-room only. Espresso and filter are dialled in with precision, but the seasonal drinks are where the baristas flex. Often multi-layered and unexpected, examples include an iced jasmine tea with filter coffee concentrate, plum yoghurt cream foam and fig leaf.
321 Little Collins Street, Melbourne, benchcoffee.co
Anita Gelato offers both gelati and fro-yo.Chris Hopkins
Anita Gelato
The newest addition to the ever-growing frozen dessert universe that is Melbourne dining. Anita Gelato is a New South Wales transplant that takes its visual cues from both classic Italian gelato bars and the kitschy, Sailor Jerry-esque monikers of the 2010s. Its flavours are both broad − traditional chocolate sits alongside macadamia cream − and hyper-niche, with references to the viral Dubai chocolate moment we currently find ourselves in. If a scoop isn’t what you’re after, there’s also a frozen yoghurt bar with a choose-your-own-adventure topping option that’s pay by weight.
273 Little Collins Street, Melbourne, anita-gelato.com
Good times at The Irish Times.Chris Hopkins
The Irish Times Pub
Sadly, you won’t find spice bags or colcannon on the menu, but you will get generous pies, parmas and steaks − and one of the best Guinness pours in the city. On Friday nights, this nostalgic, knick-knack-heavy pub fills with city workers; at weekends it’s a family-friendly crowd; and on St Patrick’s Day it heaves. A long-standing presence at the street’s western end, Irish Times is as close to a Dublin local as you can get within Hoddle’s grid.
427 Little Collins Street, Melbourne, theirishtimespub.com.au
Foc
The name’s the giveaway: this shop, built for the Little Collins Street lunch rush, is dedicated to house-baked focaccia, sliced thick for hefty sandwiches. There’s mortadella with stracciatella and pickled green tomato (above); roast pork with salsa verde; and a kebab-style lamb merguez sausage with yoghurt and herbs. Pepperoni gets a lift from honey spiked with Lao Gan Ma chilli crisp, while the rare beef sandwich is sharpened with horseradish mayo. House-made doughnuts and specialty coffee round out the short, sharp menu.
423 Little Collins Street, Melbourne, instagram.com/focmelbourne
Mika Chae’s Korean restaurant Doju was awarded one hat in The Good Food Guide 2026.Simon Schluter
Doju
At his first restaurant, chef Mika Chae (ex-Grain of the Silos, Launceston; Sezar) takes Korean foundations and builds on them with Australian produce. Snacks and small plates are where the sparks fly, with Korean techniques colliding with local ingredients in unexpected ways. Aged dairy cow beef is roughly minced and served with dill emulsion, and raw squid is tossed in aged soybean paste and served atop perilla leaves. The minimalist, split-level room once housed a food court stall, but now has the polish of an international hotel bar.
530 Little Collins Street, Melbourne, doju.com.au
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Aroma Restaurant
By day it’s quiet. Come night, prepare to wait. Aroma’s menu sees the Pakistani classics pumped up: rich mutton curry studded with heavy knobs of butter and finely julienned ginger; chicken tikka biryani served as a jewel-toned mound; and samosa chaat cut into quarters and doused in chickpea gravy like a highly-seasoned baked potato. Naan is light, crisp and blistered. Servings are huge, the atmosphere is buzzy, and mango lassi comes by the pint.
Shop 2-3, 540 Little Collins Street, Melbourne, thearomarestaurant.com.au
