Final boarding call for the Northside 5km World Food Tour! On Saturday, we're flying south.

1. VIETNAM » Co Thu Quan, Richmond (and Footscray)

Ask me to pick a single restaurant on Victoria Street to eat at for the rest of my life and I won’t hesitate: Co Thu Quan. The original burnt down along with Footscray’s Little Saigon Market, but not before I took the late Jonathan Gold there; the chief food critic for the Los Angeles Times sung its praises. Another store has since opened in Footscray, but Richmond is my local. I always start with banh trang bo, shrimp-flavoured rice paper rolled around pork pemmican (jerky made with berries), fried shallots and mayo; or hog plum salad with beef jerky and shredded dried squid. Then it’s a matter of deciding between the regional noodle soups: murky fermented fish bun mum, northern canh bun water spinach noodle soup and countless others. Co Thu Quan is also the only place I’ve seen com am phu, a claypot of fluffy rice scattered with candied pork mince and served with small side dishes of crunchy baby crabs, sticky pork belly, omelette and whole pickled pea eggplants.Shop 6, 234 Victoria Street, Richmond, 03 8589 6339Shop 11-12, 10 Droop Street, Footscray, 03 9689 1451 facebook.com/CoThuQuan

2. GREECE » Koutouki Cafe, Richmond

Burger-slinging cafe by day and bona-fide home-cooked Greek restaurant by night, this tiny spot on unsuspecting Burnley Street is a gem hidden in plain sight. It looks like the kind of place tradies visit for takeaway dimmies and bacon-egg rolls, but this is honest Greek comfort food like yia yia makes it. That’s because owner George (“Big George” to regulars) Miltsos’ 80-something-year-old mum, Stella, is in the kitchen. Her signature oversized meatballs are swimming in sugary tomato sauce, scattered with half-melted feta and amped with a little chilli. Apparently she once convinced a vegetarian to eat them – they’re that good. There’s also golden calamari, yemista (stuffed vegetables), incredible homemade dips and more.402 Burnley Street, Richmond, 03 9425 9488, instagram.com/koutoukicafe

3. HONG KONG » Tuan Tuan, Carlton

This is the sole Melbourne outlet of a Manila chain specialising in Hong Kong comfort food. It’s mainly for homesick international students from nearby RMIT and Melbourne University, but they shouldn’t have all the fun. Normally I sit on the round aqua banquette beneath a fake tree bejeweled with glittering lights, breaking apart signature xue shan bao snow buns filled with sweet pork or salted egg custard – extremely soft, save for the brittle layer of sugar on top – and digging into a Macanese rice trio with cheese, pesto and tomato sauce bubbling over chicken, mushrooms and seafood respectively. At the moment, the entire menu is available to takeaway or for delivery, but there are also special packs during lockdown. The offal plate here is a goodie: intestine, tripe and gizzards in a puddle of soy and ginger139 Queensberry Street, Carlton, 03 9995 5407, tuantuancb.com.au/online-ordering

4. NIGERIA » Adonai Foods, Carlton

Unless you’ve lived in or visited someone in the Drummond Street flats, you won’t have come across family-run Adonai Foods, located beneath them. This is the most traditional Nigerian food you’ll find this close to Melbourne’s centre. The menu is an education in West African cuisine. There are bites like akara bean fritters, moin moin steamed bean pudding cakes, fried dough balls called puff puff and crouton-like wheat biscuit snacks known as chin chin. Nigeria’s national dish, jollof tomato rice, is on the menu, as are soups such as ewedu (made with jute leaves) and ogbono (made with the seeds of the African mango tree).For mains there’s amala, a brownish-purple paste-like dough made from cassava and plantain flours served with ewedu and beef or fish stew; orisirisi, an assortment of dishes from Adonai’s bain marie that includes ponmo (peppered cow skin), shaki (tripe), iru eran (ox tail) and ngwo ngwo (goat pepper soup); and poundo yam with efo egusi (poundo yam is yam mashed into a smooth, semi-solid paste that’s rolled into a ball and wrapped in plastic to keep it moist, efo refers to leafy green veg and egusi are dried, ground white melon seeds).478 Drummond Street, Carlton, 0439 449 402, facebook.com/AdonaiFood

5. LEBANON » Tiba’s, Brunswick (also East Brunswick and Roxburgh Park)

Tiba’s was set up by a father-son team in 1983 and is now managed by the three brothers in the family. This is my go-to for a quick, affordable and delicious Lebanese feast, and I'm still surprised when those who live nearby tell me they've never been. Booze-free and halal- and family-friendly, I’m yet to be disappointed by a mixed shish or shwarma plate that comes with tabouli, bright pink pickled turnips, hummus, kh'yar bi laban (it’s Lebanese for tzatziki), rice and salad ($17.50). If I don't feel carnivorous, the $20 vegetarian platter has all of the aforementioned without the meat, plus four falafels, chickpea salad, babaganoush, fried cauliflower, vine leaves, a cheese pie, spinach pie and zaatar pizza. Huge servings.504 Sydney Road, Brunswick, 03 9380 8425, tibas.com.au

6. SYRIA » Shamiat, Northcote

The Abou family opened this Syrian restaurant in 2019 after the civil war forced them to relocate (twice). They arrived in Melbourne in 2016, and although they face another hurdle with COVID, they’re still cooking traditional Syrian food for takeaway. That includes dips like muhammara (thick and spicy pepper paste with olive oil, pomegranate molasses and breadcrumbs originally from Aleppo), mujaddara (a generous serve of spiced lentils and rice sweet with heavily caramelised onions), makanek sausages served with chips, sakibbeh labanieh (football-shaped minced meat kibbeh, fried and drowning in garlicky yoghurt sauce), sambousek (filled pastries) and more.64 Victoria Road, Northcote, 03 9486 4458, shamiat.com.auShamiat images: Liam Neal

7. JAPAN » Aka Siro, Collingwood

If you live locally like me, you’re already a raving fan of this small corner restaurant, but whenever I walk through the noren curtains with someone who hasn’t been, they comment that they feel like they’ve been transported to Japan. I adore Aka Siro because it’s not a standard sushi offering. Here it’s more about country-style dishes, like nizakana teishoku (fish fillet and green veg simmered with soy, sake and ginger), Japanese curries including karaage fried chicken and katsu pork cutlet, and higawari teishoku, a rotating selection of three dishes scrawled on a pot lid. During Stage 4 lockdown they’re offering takeaway bento boxes from Thursday to Sunday between noon and 3pm.106 Cambridge Street, Collingwood, 03 9417 0886, Facebook

8. EGYPT » Leyalina, Carlton

Lygon Street isn’t just for Italian restaurants; Leyalina has been serving Egyptian food on the strip for the last five years. You'll want to start with meze – perhaps an appetizer tray for a little of everything, though kebda eskandarani (Alexandrian spiced beef liver with pita bread, tahini and pickled vegetables), hawashi (baked pita stuffed with seasoned minced lamb and onion) and arnabeet (cauliflower with tahini) are more traditional options. There's plenty of grilled meats, including chicken with molokheya, Egypt’s national dish of jute leaves (recognise the crossover from Adonai?) with white rice and grilled chicken thigh fillets. Tagines here include lamb shank on freekah; okra and lamb; vine leaves; or bechamel, penne and bolognese. Koshari is another Egyptian classic: lentils, rice, macaroni and chickpeas topped with fried shallots. Stick to tagines for dessert with om ali tagine, Egypt’s answer to bread pudding cooked in – you guessed it – a tagine.191 Lygon Street, Carlton, 03 9348 4926, leyalina.com.au

9. TURKEY » Anatolia Tantuni, Fitzroy

Burhan Kurucu spent more than 20 years in the Turkish military, where he cooked for the army. He moved to Melbourne to look after his sister-in-law and nephew after cancer tragically took his brother. Burhan opened this small Turkish restaurant and takeaway shop a couple of years ago, across the road from Mile End bagels and beside the 7-Eleven. He specialises in tantuni, a Turkish street food where beef or chicken is diced and cooked with spices like sumac and paprika in a pan and usually sold as durum (a wrap). There are kebabs, falafels, HSPs and borek made by Burhan’s wife (try the spiraled gul borek), but the Anadolu soup made with lamb, yoghurt and vinegar is a top choice if you want to try something new. One advantage of COVID is that Burhan usually only sells manti (Turkish ravioli in yoghurt sauce) once a week, but they’re currently available to order take away or delivered via Uber Eats whenever the restaurant is open.15 Johnston Street, Fitzroy, 03 7013 9090, facebook.com/AnatoliaTantuniRestaurant

10. NEPAL » Old Durbar, Brunswick

If you want offal delivered during lockdown, look to your local Nepalese restaurant. Old Durbar has goat and lamb bhutuwa (heavily spiced, boiled and pan-fried stomach and intestines) and pangra (chicken giblets) in garlic and ginger, both available in a set with baji (also known as “beaten rice” that’s flattened and dried into flakes), bhatamas sandekho (roasted soybeans with chopped onions, ginger, chilli, coriander and lemon), salad and achar. There's plenty for those who aren't offally inclined: choyla (a traditional Newari dish of marinated tandoori boneless lamb or goat); momo Himalayan dumplings served steamed, fried in soup (jhol momo) in chilli tomato sauce or fried with chutney (kothey momo); plus chowmein, biryani and thukpa noodle soups. Delivery is free for orders $60+ within 5km, or order online and pick up for 10 per cent off.671 Sydney Road, Brunswick, 03 7012 2367, old-durbar.com.au

 Know a Northsider? Help them support local & forward this dispatch ♥