I'd been walking past this place quite often, namely because I work in the area, and have been…read moremeaning to check it out for quite a while. One afternoon I decided to do just that and I have to admit that it was okay, but nothing really all that fantastic. They call themselves a Pan Asian Beer Bar, and seem to be providing an alternative to the Asian Beer Cafe upstairs. It is a bit flashier than the other, but it really didn't grab me as much. Sure, it is much easier to get a seat, and the décor is nice, though the beer selection didn't seem to be all that huge. While it is fairly convenient, it isn't one of those places that I'd probably go back to all that often.

This is a great little hidden secret in the Elizabeth street end of the Melbourne Central Shopping…read moreCentre. Tucked away in Menzies Alley is Monkey King, a Bar/Restaurant inspired by the Chinese 16th century novel 'Journey to the west'. Beers are served in the usual pots and pints, but there is no sign of any old scratchy plastic jugs that other bars seem to prefer. Instead they use over sized ceramic teapots to serve beer in, which is a nod to the prohibition times of the 1920's. The waiter guided us through the menu, which is designed to share and took us on the Monkey King journey through China, Korea and India. We selected the Beef skewers and a assortment of dumplings to start with, then shared the curry of the day, which was a velvety Malaysian chicken curry. Once we finished dinner we moved into the bar area and treated to a live acoustic duo. Which was a great way to finish the night. Monkey King has something different every night from free entertainment to a Mario Kart Comp every Thursday. The team at Monkey King are genuinely keen on making sure you enjoy your experience. Cheers Monkey King looking forward to our next journey together.

This place is amazing! Worked for 3 weeks just around the corner. Kept coming back for lunch after…read morethe first time. Prices are reasonable, and everything we tried was amazing.

Ordered Har mee. Very quick service and delicious food! Place is very busy at lunch time and WEHI…read morestaff love this place!

Being the lover of Thai food that I am, I'm always on the lookout for a great Thai restaurant that…read moreserves up my favourite dishes in a delicious way. I saw the reviews for Thai Rani and decided to finally give it a try. It's got nice decor inside, and the ambience is nice. They have a good extensive and varied menu with photos alongside some of the dishes to get a good visual of. I would normally choose my usual Chicken Fried Rice, but I must say, the photo they've used in the menu is most unappealing, so I went for the Chicken Massaman instead. Beforehand, I ordered the Chicken Curry Puffs as they looked great in the picture. The curry puffs were delicious. A great start to the first time dining here. It did come out a bit slow, but then again, this restaurant (along with many like it) choose to look after their takeout orders first (which irks me very much). When it did come out eventually, they tasted as delicious as the photos showed them to be. The main meal came out VERY slowly and was actually quite irritating. My friend ordered the Lemon Chicken, which looked NOTHING like in the photo. The photo - and dish description - depicted crispy battered chicken, whereas what came out was soggy and almost mushy. I however got the Chicken Massaman and Coconut Rice, both of which were really good. I will say, the food here overall is very good and worthy of all of these positive reviews. It's reasonably priced and has a nice modern atmosphere. However ... I really wish restaurants looked after the patrons that are already inside BEFORE taking care of phone orders. I will be willing to try it here one more time, but if it's as slow as it was last week, that will be my last visit. I'd rather they tell someone on the phone to come down an extra 10 minutes later, than leave people inside watching order after order after order leave the restaurant while we go hungry.

From the owner: Thai Rani offers the best of flavours of Southeast Asia (mainly Thailand and Malaysia). All dishes…read moreare prepared in-house by chefs who have years of experience under their belt. Our restaurant has stood a test of time of over 20 years. We take pride in adding personal touch to our service. That along with our cosy decor, it does not take long for one to feel at home here in Thai Rani.

Ph Nom is an unassuming looking eatery in the food court located on the lower ground level of the…read moreshoping center, The Emporium. The restaurant boasts of MSG-free, high quality ingredients with authentic Vietnamese recipes. My pho bo Saigon came with tender brisket, quality steak, and your usual beef balls. The beef broth was HANDS DOWN the most finest, clean-tasting, and flavorful beef broth that I have ever had. It was not oily and surprisingly had a lightness to it. No hoison sauce or sriracha needed to go into this broth. It was perfect the way it was. I also tried the Saigon sandwich, which came with housemade pate, wagyu beef, and eggs. The sandwich was delicious, flavorful, and hearty. Housemade pate truly makes a difference. I did not think a Vietnamese sandwich could've been enjoyed that much but this was an elevated version of your usual banh mi. The Vietnamese iced coffee was also delicious and almost finished immediately. I will definitely miss Ph Nom when I return home! Vietnamese cuisine is one of my favorite and growing up with it, I thought I had tasted it all but Ph Nom was a whole new level entirely!

What's that? A big fancy new shopping centre has opened in Melbourne and people are flocking there…read moreto visit MUJI and Uniqlo? Ahuh. Very nice dear. I'm more interested in the food offerings they have at Emporium and it was Pho Nom that I was most keen to sample first, as it's been spoken and tweeted about for months now, with chef Jerry Mai even giving potential new customers a sample at some pop up Pho kitchens months ago at the National. I'm glad to say that it lived up to expectations, my Saigon Pho Bo broth rich with spices and flavour and three cuts of beef (rare, brisket and meatball) bobbing around amongst the rice noodles. We also sampled the rice paper rolls - the pork skewered and the lemongrass chicken got the thumbs up from the grown ups and the crispy pork got devoured by Miss 3 before she started in on the Pho. It was only the first week when we visited and it was clear that every store in Emporium was struggling a little with the onslaught of people while trying to bed down systems. The Pho Nom crew did a stellar job, pumping on the food quickly and maintaining a smile the whole time. The only downfall? With hardly any seating (something that seems to be apparent with all food vendors in the centre) it was tricky finding somewhere to sit. Once we did, we could feel the eyes of everyone around us as we ate our last mouthfuls. Apparently more seating has been ordered, which should hopefully create a little more calm. Hooray!

Food is good..:) u may wait for some time if it's dinner time and it's a little bit crowded in the…read moredinning hall during Christmas season, but the food is really tasty

The Travelmints team was in the mood for some pho, and we'd heard that Pho Thin had some of the…read morebest pho in Melbourne. It's safe to say that it lived up to the hype! They only have pho on the menu, and there's a reason why. Their broth is amazing. It's so flavourful, and so thick. It really hits the spot! The meat is tender and delicious, and they stir-fry it before it's added to the pho. The noodles are cooked perfectly, and they add a generous serve of spring onion, exactly what a good pho needs. To top it all off, the homemade chilli sauce is spicy, perfect to warm you up if you're cold! We'll definitely be back next time we have a craving for pho. What more could you ask for from a meal?

Wonderful little local cafe with fresh, authentic Vietnamese treats including excellent pho, rice…read morepaper rolls, and delicious Banh mi. The staff are friendly and easy going, and the cafe itself has a relaxed vibe with mismatched furniture and paper lanterns hanging form the roof.

Very tasty Pho! We had beef and Pork and both were excellent... great selection of other things…read more(spring rolls, salads, breads) but we just stuck to the basics today. If we lived closer, we'd be back!

Chicken pho with all the chicken guts you can imagine…read more Ok. No feet. No beak. The pho has everything else in the chicken. What more can you ask for from life?

Definitely different experience from other Pho places. The tendon in the Pho melts in your mouth…read more The soup base is one of the best I had through my travels. Having a warm cup of water under the hot coffee is a nice touch and it's the strongest cup of coffee I've in Australia.

I came here with a terrible flu and I needed the nourishment that only pho could provide me. I…read moredon't usually order the chicken pho since most places don't do a great version of it but I took the chance because I thought it would've been better for my health. Luckily, the version here is really good. The broth tasted super clean, with a nice heat from what tasted like fried shallots or onions. The chicken was also very moist and it came with a lot of noodles. I couldn't finish since my appetite was small from being sick so I took the rest of the broth home to enjoy again later. The broth alone helped me feel better when medicine and rest couldn't.

Overall this pho place is pretty good. Good service, nice and bright and airy. The problem for me…read moreis that I'm a fusspot when it comes to food. The noodles were slightly overcooked, and the broth was non classical. Don't get me wrong, it's good, but not top tier. Moderately priced I guess it's fair value for money. In other areas it would do well but here where there is so much competition.... well the busyness or lack thereof says something. Also portion sizes are slightly smaller when it comes to meat. All I all... good but not top tier

PhoNomenal! Mekong, no more!?…read more was here for an early dinner before heading down to south yarra for CMYE. this is my first time here, trying only their pho and they have won me over. could it be the trek in winter that made me hungry?;) if you get past closing their tricky glass door, their typically basic pho shop set up will slowly warm you up. hit their free flow hot tea for a quicker thaw. menu is pictorialized, so just point and shoot your order(s). do beware when it comes to sizes, they come in S,M,L but the staff seems to only offer medium or large ones. for me, the medium size combination pho at A$10, was way more than enough! so if you are planning to squeeze into your wedding dress for a photo shoot, do ask them for a small portion instead. the wait was only made agonizing because they do not offer wifi:( but the fact of the matter is, you will soon be presented with fresh garnishes followed in tow by their piping, yet not overly hot bowl of pho goodness. the trick is to add in all the fresh garnishes, if you like them, crunchy bean sprouts, fragrant sweet thai basil and a squeeze of tart lemon, as much as i do. quickly toss up so the heat transfers to the garnishes without overcooking them and yet brings the broth down to a desirable slurping temperature whilst enhancing the depth of the dish. then add the usual suspects like hosin, sriracha and fish sauces and chilli oil for the complex trained palate. another round of gentle mixing and you are ready to reap what you sowed. all the different cuts of beef in their combination pho were exquisitely cooked and offered a marvelous mix of texture and flavour. slurping them silky, slippery rice noodles was a breeze and delight. The genius of a move of keeping my black winter pea coat on, also prevented any unwanted visible splash spots! Service was neither bad nor good. They let their pho do the talking and boy did it speak to me in volumes! It is definitely a 5 star pho but i'll reserve that fifth for after I try their other dishes. p.s. can you please open an outlet in SG!?;-)

This place deserves a standing phovation! I was on a Great Ocean Road tour and it was supposed to…read morebe back in the city at 9pm. Due to some delays, we didn't make it back into the city until close to 10pm. I had phoned ahead to see if they would still be open and they said "Yes." When I saw the time closing in on 10pm, I called them again and explained my situation. They were very friendly and told me to come on and not to worry. They are staying open for me. I could not believe this. When I walked up to the restaurant, they had the "We are closed" sign on the door but had the door unlocked for me. They let me sit down and immediately brought out my warm tea and large bowl of pho that I had pre-ordered. After walking outside all day and being a bit chilly, nothing better to warm you up than a steaming bowl of pho. The broth was tasty which is the most important factor when eating pho and i liked the thick flat noodles as well. They didn't skimp on one thing. My bowl was packed with thinly sliced rare beef and vietnamese beef balls. I used all the fresh condiments they gave me and went to town. I use tons of lime in my pho but it's because I am a huge lover of lime. A place that will not only stay open for you but let you enjoy your meal and give you a big bowl of pho with all the fixings is a place I would keep coming back too. Thank you for providing me my last supper in Melbourne. I know where to tell my friends to go when they visit and I definitely know where to go when I return.