Soi 10

While many restaurants may be closing their doors, one of the biggest names in Melbourne’s food scene, Michael Lambie, is opening a new one, Soi 10.

This new collaboration between the Grosvenor team is his latest venture. Soi 10 is everything we need right now – amazing food, perfectly catering to the new no-contact world. Food can be pre-ordered, picked up without leaving the car and devoured without plates or cutlery.

Located beside the Grosvenor Hotel at the end of its drive-through bottleshop, Grosvenor Cellars, Soi 10 fills the space recently vacated by the St Kilda Burger Bar. The hotel has greatly expanded this area in recent weeks, transforming the bottleshop into a grocer that now offers top tier export quality meat, pantry staples, fresh bread and, of course, alcohol.

Soi 10 opened on Thursday 21 May 2020. The eatery is the joint effort of Lambie, together with Grosvenor Hotel’s executive chef, Simon Moss and managing director, Frank Chilelli and their team.

Taking its name from the Thai word for laneway, Soi 10 brings a selection of Asian street eats to East St Kilda. The menu celebrates South East Asian cuisine, combining the sweet and spicy punch of Thai, the freshness of Vietnamese and the comforting richness of Malaysian.

We loved tasting our way through the menu, To start the dumplings were an absolute crowd pleaser. Think sui mai pork dumplings laced with umami laden chilli black vinegar sauce and drunken prawn dumplings served with ginger, chilli and spring onion.

For mains the Soi 10 rendang beef with toasted coconut and steamed rice was beautiful. The full-bodied, pungent rendang gravy paired beautifully with melt-in-your-mouth morsels of beef. We enjoyed the richness of the curry and the generous use of spices which showcased the customary punchy flavours exhibited by Malaysian curries generally.  Together with fluffy roti, it was an addictive and comforting dish.

The tiger battered market fish with fries and Japanese tartare was similarly delicious. We loved the ethereally light batter which encased wonderfully fresh fish and went perfectly with the luxurious tartare.

We enjoyed the mains with the green papaya salad which was a delightfully authentic rendition - a beautiful amalgamation of green papaya with peanuts and dried shrimps. It was a dish which balanced sweetness and salinity particularly well. 

Soi 10 is the embodiment of Lambie’s  love of Asian food. Under his guidance, the eatery runs like a well-oiled machine, a testament to his experiences at the helm of some of Melbourne’s top restaurants, including Stokehouse, Circa, Lamaro’s, Taxi, The Smith and Lucy Liu. 

Location: 10 Brighton Rd, St Kilda East VIC 3183

Phone: 03 9531 1542

Link: grosvenorhotel.com.au