Eating
Whichever part of the world you come from, you'll find a little piece of home in Melbourne and regional Victoria.
Food markets
If you don’t have the budget to dine out, you can find the ingredients to cook favourites from home at local and specialty grocers across town.
Queen Victoria Market is Victoria's historic open-air market and draws millions of visitors every year. A vibrant, cosmopolitan atmosphere and vast array of goods and fresh produce on sale have made this a Melbourne city landmark for 130 years. You'll find fresh fruit and vegetables, herbs, spices, meat, chicken, seafood and delicatessen products . Clothes, shoes, household items and kitchen utensils are also on sale every day of the week, except Monday and Wednesday.
Specialty Indian, Vietnamese, Chinese, Lebanese, Turkish, Greek, Italian, Eastern European, Spanish and African supermarkets can be found across Melbourne's city and suburbs.
You'll also find supermarkets selling everything from basmati rice to ginger, lemongrass and coconut milk in regional Victoria.
Cafes and restaurants
A broad range of cuisines is on offer in Melbourne. There is a great variety of restaurants, bistros and cafes, where you can enjoy many of your favourite dishes from home.
All over Melbourne, cafes and restaurants represent the hundred or more ethnic groups living in Victoria, Australia. In the past fifty years, migration from Italy, China, Greece, Lebanon, Vietnam, Turkey and the Middle East have brought new flavours to Melbourne. Today, students from India have helped make South Asian food the most popular cuisine in the city.
Grab delicious dal and naan at an Indian restaurant in Bourke Street, Melbourne; try a heart-warming 'Pho' at a Vietnamese cafe on Victoria Street, Richmond; fill up on falafel and baklava at Brunswick’s Middle Eastern eateries; or have yum cha at a laneway restaurant in Melbourne's Chinatown.
Colleges in regional Victoria are also located in towns with a rich history of multicultural settlement and local communities of international students. Thai, Indian, Vietnamese, Chinese and Italian restaurants are easy to find in Victoria's regional town centres.
Victorians love their coffee. From busy inner city cafes in Melbourne to relaxed bakeries and coffee houses in regional Victoria, there is a wide range of places to meet up with friends between lectures or to catch up on some quiet reading.
Special dietary and cultural needs
You will be able to access food products to suit any of your dietary requirements in Melbourne and Victoria. When shopping, refer to the information on the package to check for ingredients and for halal or kosher certification. You will also find specialty halal and kosher grocery shops and restaurants all across the region.
Vegetarians and even vegans will have no trouble having their dietary needs met in Victoria, whether self-catering or eating out. An excellent range of vegetarian produce is available in supermarkets and grocery shops. Restaurants will almost always offer vegetarian options and around the state there are many restaurants dedicated to the vegetarian diet.
Click on the links below to find useful information on halal, kosher and vegetarian outlets and restaurants in Victoria.
