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Ramen in Melbourne CBD, Ranked: 8 Spots Open Right Now — And 3 Other Lists Get Wrong

Search "best ramen Melbourne" and the results don't just disagree on the order — some of them recommend restaurants that plain aren't there anymore, or aren't in Melbourne at all. While researching this list we hit all three, in the same afternoon: a CBD tonkotsu bar that's been closed long enough for Yelp to mark it, a "Melbourne" recommendation for a restaurant in Geelong, and another for one in Perth, 3,400km away.

So the seven below are checked against each restaurant's own site and its own Google Business Profile — where the star ratings and review counts also come from — rather than copied out of a single roundup. Two of the addresses moved once we did that (how the checking worked is in the FAQ).

Pick by what you're after

• Never had tonkotsu before — Hakata Gensuke. Order by tick-sheet: noodle firmness, broth richness, garlic, all adjustable.
• You want the name you already know — Ippudo. The global Fukuoka chain, Shiromaru Motoaji tonkotsu.
• You're chasing the queue — Mensho Tokyo. 28 seats, chicken-broth tori paitan — bring a card, they don't take cash.
• Solo, cheap, and fast — Mr Ramen San. Bowls under $15, 24-hour tonkotsu broth.
• You want to choose your own heat — Kikanbo. Spicy miso, dialled from zero to "oni."
• Vegan or gluten-free at the table — Little Ramen Bar. Both catered for, alongside the regular menu.
• Fukuoka style, decade-tested — Ikkoryu Fukuoka Ramen. Chikuho noodles, running since 2015.

The List

1. Hakata Gensuke ★ 4.4 · 3,592 reviews (168 Russell St, Melbourne VIC 3000) — Australia's flagship store for the Hakata Gensuke chain, and the reason Russell Street between Lonsdale and La Trobe has turned into Melbourne's ramen row — three of the seven places on this list sit within about 100m of each other here. Ordering is by tick-sheet: noodle firmness, broth richness, garlic and spring onion are all yours to set before the bowl arrives. Open Monday to Friday, 11:30am–10pm.
2. Ippudo ★ 4.2 · 1,455 reviews (18 Artemis Ln, Melbourne VIC 3000) — The Fukuoka-founded chain's Melbourne outpost, inside the QV precinct. The Shiromaru Motoaji — tonkotsu broth, thin straight noodles, pork loin chashu — is the order, at $15 a bowl; pork buns are $5 each or three for $13. Reviewers and delivery listings put a sit-down meal at $40–60pp once sides and drinks are added.
3. Mensho Tokyo ★ 4.2 · 1,660 reviews (166 Russell St, Melbourne VIC 3000) — The first Australian location of a Tokyo-founded chain built around tori paitan, a creamy chicken broth rather than the pork tonkotsu everywhere else on this street. Only 28 seats, so the queue is real. One detail worth knowing before you're at the counter: it's card only, with a 1.5% surcharge — no cash accepted, a point enough reviewers flag that it's clearly still catching people out.
4. Mr Ramen San ★ 4.6 · 2,249 reviews (Shop 12A, 200 Bourke St, Melbourne VIC 3000) — Tucked inside Mid City Arcade in Chinatown, this is the cheap-and-fast option: bowls run $13.90–$14.90, gyoza $6, built on a tonkotsu broth simmered for 24 hours with house-made noodles. Worth knowing if you're going from memory of an older list: the brand's second location, on Little Bourke Street, has permanently closed — the Bourke Street shop is the one still open.
5. Kikanbo ★ 4.2 · 382 reviews (5/260 La Trobe St, Melbourne VIC 3000) — A Tokyo import built around one dish: karashibi miso ramen at $28.80, where you dial in your own heat ("kara") and numbing Sichuan pepper ("shibi") from zero up to "oni." If you remember reading that this strip of La Trobe Street closed — several venues there, this one included, were forced shut with under 12 hours' notice on 10 October 2025 by a landlord dispute — it's current: Kikanbo reopened on 4 December 2025, with free bowls for the first 200 diners back through the door.
6. Ikkoryu Fukuoka Ramen ★ 4.2 · 1,478 reviews (Basement, 27 Russell St, Melbourne VIC 3000) — Sibling-run since 2015, specialising in the silky tonkotsu and chikuho noodles of Fukuoka's Kyushu region, with staff originally trained by Yamagoya Ramen before opening. It closed for around three months for water-damage repairs and has since reopened at the same Russell Street basement address — worth flagging since some indexed write-ups still describe it as newly shut.
7. Little Ramen Bar ★ 4.2 · 1,483 reviews (369 Little Collins St, Melbourne VIC 3000) — Started by Christal Cheng after she left a full-time job to learn ramen-making in Japan; the chashu tamago tonkotsu is the signature, and it's one of the few on this list with both vegan and gluten-free options on the regular menu. Worth knowing if you're working from a roundup: several directories still list it at 346 Little Bourke St, but its own Google Business Profile says 369 Little Collins St — a different street, a five-minute walk apart. Go with Little Collins.

Keep the list on your board

Save all seven to your own board and pull it up before you book — so you're checking against a list that's actually current, not the cached one a search engine served you.

FAQ

What is the ranking based on?

How consistently each name turned up across current, dated-2026 Melbourne ramen roundups (Time Out, Urban List, What's On Melbourne and others) that we could independently confirm are still trading at the address given — not a taste ranking, and not a ranking by stars.

The star rating and review count next to each name are shown so you can weigh the entry yourself, and they don't always agree with the order: Mr Ramen San scores highest at 4.6 while sitting fourth, and Kikanbo's 4.2 rests on 382 reviews against Hakata Gensuke's 3,592 — the same number carrying very different weight. Read them alongside the order, not as the order.

What did you actually find wrong on other lists?

Three separate things, all found while researching this piece on 5 August 2026: Fukuryu Ramen, a Corrs Lane tonkotsu bar, is permanently closed — Yelp and Foursquare both mark it closed, but its old review pages are still indexed and still surface for "best ramen Melbourne" searches. Sober Ramen, a real and currently-open restaurant, kept appearing in Melbourne-tagged search results — it's in Geelong, about 70km away. Nao Japanese Ramen did the same — it's in Perth, over 3,000km from Melbourne. None of the three made this list.

How were the addresses checked?

Against each restaurant's own website where it publishes one, then against its own Google Business Profile — which is also where the star ratings and review counts come from, read on 5 August 2026. Two addresses moved as a result: Little Ramen Bar is at 369 Little Collins St, not the 346 Little Bourke St that several directories still carry, and Ippudo files itself under 18 Artemis Ln rather than the QV precinct's street address on Lonsdale.

Why seven?

Because seven cleared checking as currently open, in the CBD, at an address we could stand behind.

One good restaurant came off late: Shop Ramen on Smith Street rates 4.5 from 1,076 reviews and is well worth the trip — but it's in Fitzroy, and a list headed "Melbourne CBD" that quietly includes a Fitzroy restaurant is doing a smaller version of the thing this post is about. Two more were dropped earlier for the reasons above.

How current is this?

Checked 5 August 2026. Ramen venues in Melbourne's CBD turn over often — see Fukuryu Ramen, above — so treat "closed" or "reopened" facts here as a snapshot, not permanent.

What is the board?

This list also exists as a real, public SaveBoard board, so reading it and saving it are the same action. Open it as-is, or copy it into your own account and add your own finds.