completely forgot to get back to you...

casual lunch/café places

• Gloria on Sydney Rd, great vibes and vegan sandwiches AND cakes. their brazilian carrot cake is my fav
• Rusty's Sandwich Parlour on Nicholson St. obsessed with their bread. just nice filling sandwiches... i think the cubano is my fav?
• recently went to Kuu café on Park St in South Melbourne, really nice japanese food that doesnt feel too fancy or whatever

restaurants

• Soi 38 in the CBD is good... thai BBQ, it gets crowded reaaal quick past 6 or whatever so def recommend having an early dinner there and skip the line
• SSAM korean BBQ also in CBD. also getting their in off-peak hours is a nice way to not be stuck in line for too long.... anyway its cheap bang for your buck all you can eat bbq (with a lot of sides that arent bbq meat too). the alcoholic drinks are expensive though. thats where they make their money haha
• Gong De Lin on Swanston St, vegan chinese restaurant.... really good! regularly go there esp with groups/people with different dietary preferences
• Sam Sam also on Swanston St is decent korean fried chicken i think
• Ca De Vin in a little laneway on Bourke St is a good italian place. good vibes idk i was always intrigued when i passed that place by and finally got to try it last month. pretty good. maybe more touristy? but i dont mind.
• Tiba's lebanese restaurant on Sydney Rd is good..... i just think lebanese is neat

IMO not a lot of good ramen in melbourne but i think im just soured on it bc a lot of places quality dropped after the lockdowns. Ikkoryu on Russell St is maybe the only place i think is still good...

anyway thsts all i can think of rn. i live in brunswick and theres a bunch of coffee places around here, Code Black maybe the most famous one and the coffee is good BUT i feel like they got a lot more expensive with a more annoying brunch menu in recent years so im less of a fan now. seems like u have coffee and pastries covered... maybe i can write down a few gelato places in my next comment if u would like