Chinatown, Melbourne

 Little Bourke St, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia +61 3 9662 2888 Website Melbourne Campervan Hire

kobeclyde (contributor)

Melbourne’s Chinatown resembles most Chinatowns I have seen back in the states. This particular area of Melbourne is located on Little Bourke Street and branches out to side streets and alleyways. This Chinatown dates back to the Gold Rush days of the 1850’s that brought a flood of Chinese immigrants looking to make it rich and is the longest continuous Chinese settlement in the Western world.

Chinatown is a melting pot of Asian cultures; Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Malaysian, Vietnamese people call Chinatwon home and work. Many nice restaurants and shops line the street as well as the Five Arches decorated in traditional style. This is a great place to eat, shop and explore; especially the Tianjin Garden.

My wife and I had a fun time exploring Chinatown and checking out the shops and attractions.

jackiedrip (contributor)

Chinatown today now predominantly extends along Little Bourke Street between Swanston St and Spring St. Eating houses and top class restaurants with the streetscape and its low-rise brick buildings, retaining its historic character is what makes this part of Melbourne history and culture rich. We passed through Chinatown as we made our way to Red Peppers restaurant (I have written another trip on that). The heritage streetscape has been well preserved, with few buildings reaching over three storeys in height. The area is dominated by restaurants from fine dining to laneway and arcade noodle houses, and is home to a number of Asian grocery stores, Chinese medicine and herbalist centres, bookstores, fashion boutiques and other retail outlets in arcades such as the Village Centre, The Target Centre and Paramount Plaza. True to its name and predominantly of Chinese ethnicity, you will also find Melbourne’s Chinatown is truly cosmopolitan with a myriad of cuisines like Thai, Japanese, Malaysian, Vietnamese, Contemporary European and Australian to tempt your taste buds.

tartieslaughing (contributor)

You can’t really miss it – considering the ornate Chinese gates at the entrance of Little Bourke Street on both ends – SO typical – folks wanting to have even more of Chinese culture and food, considering some of you have just left it – you are in Dragonland Central…sort of.

Chinatown actually spills over a few more streets around it and borders the Greek Precinct on the Eastern end. And it’s a little more Asiantown these days too….with Singaporean, Thai, Japanese and Indian eateries mixed in for diversity.

Experience the jostle of students around you going about their grocery shopping among the ethnic stores. OK, I won’t joke about the stores since I actually find a few things I wanted in them.

Hiding amidst the shops selling dried medicinal herbs and statues of Chinese Goddesses and Gods, you will find the very small and compact Chinese Museum. About 4 storeys of displays illustrate the history of the Chinese in Australia and Melbourne. In my personal opinion, I had seen better displays but it wouldn’t hurt to drop in and have a look, if you had never visited such a museum before.

And of course, you can’t be in Chinatown without mentioning about food. Duh. This is the place to come for upmarket Chinese restaurants and Yum Cha spots such as Shark Fin House.

callistosnorkel (contributor)

Chinatown is a good spot to take a stroll and sample some good Chinese food and items. There are also Thai and Japanese options so plenty to to choose from.

After walking past a few restaurants and being invited in for “the best food in Chinatown” you will notice the types of people sitting in the various restaurants. Some, like the Dragon Boat, seem to have mainly tourists and others seem to have locals in them. Try one of the local’s choice though do have a look at the menu first as some items may not be to your liking at all (crispy fried pigs intestine etc etc).

This trip involved stopping at one of the ‘local’ restaurants and we were not disappointed. Apart from being lower cost, being served hot chinese tea (bottomless tumbler) and having lots of poultry in the window our restaurant was a cash only place!! Quite bizzare really.

roscoewaist (contributor)

The Chinese Museum is one of Chinatown’s main attractions, providing visitors, with information about the history of Australians of Chinese descent since the mid19th Century.
The Museum was opened in 1985 and consists of five exciting levels including an audio-visual theatre with a dynamic, multi screened slide and sound presentation.

Opening Hours
Sunday to Friday 10am to 4.30pm
Saturday 12 noon to 4.30pm
(closed Good Friday and Christmas Day)

leeksgoldie (contributor)

During the gold rush of 1851, many Chinese were attracted to Victoria and the goldfields. Ships sailed to Australia from Hong Kong with their cargo of men who had come in search of the “New Gold Mountain”.
The small Chinese community in Little Bourke Street provided for all the needs of these diggers, lodgings en route to the goldfields, food, equipment and medicine.

In the 1860s many Chinese district associations began to purchase land in little Bourke Street to build clubrooms which would serve as meeting places for the Chinese community.
From the early 1870s, until the early twentieth century, Chinatown experienced good growth. For as gold dried up on the diggings, those who did not return to China went back to Melbourne’s Chinatown which, for those who stayed, represented the only community they had.

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