Rice Paper Scissors - restaurant in Melbourne
restaurants LGBTQ+ Friendly

Rice Paper Scissors

Google (3576) 4.5
Tripadvisor (3054) 4.6
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GayOut Score
G4.5 🦉4.6
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Address
15 Hardware Ln, Melbourne VIC 3000
💰
Price Range
$$$

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About this place Rice Paper Scissors

Rice Paper Scissors is a Southeast Asian share-plates restaurant and bar at 15 Hardware Lane in Melbourne's CBD, drawing on Thai, Vietnamese and Malaysian cooking. It is a mainstream restaurant with no specific LGBTQ+ angle, listed because it is central and well reviewed: Google gives it 4.5 from about 3,600 reviews. Prices sit in the upper-middle range, and the plates are meant for sharing, so it works best in a group of two to four. Hardware Lane is a busy laneway of restaurants, and Melbourne is an easy city for same-sex couples to eat out in.

Features

Food served Mixed ethnicities Evening venue Year-round Gay-friendly (straight venue)

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Community Reviews

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Google Reviews

Verified by Google
4.5
★★★★★
3,576 reviews

Based on 3,576 Google reviews.

Adam Adameck
Adam Adameck Sep 2026
★★★★★

Rice Paper Scissors is honestly the best Southeast Asian restaurant I’ve been to anywhere in Australia. Every dish we ordered had so much flavour without anything feeling too heavy, and the mix of sweet, spicy, sour and savoury was spot on. I love that the menu is made for sharing because it’s hard to pick just one thing. The food feels genuinely exciting rather than just being another modern Asian restaurant. I’ve been back a few times now and it’s never disappointed. Definitely one of my favourite places in Melbourne.

Big D
Big D Aug 2026
★★★★★

Nice place to eat. Food is yummy but serving is a little small.

Alecia Walford
Alecia Walford Aug 2026
★★★★★

Out of all my times in Melbourne, this I think is my favourite restaurant and I only discovered it this trip! It was so good I went back a second time on my last night. The Coconut cups are a must have from the menu they are one of the best bites I’ve had. Some items can have some building heat to it so be mindful if you can’t handle spice. I loved the sticky pork belly, the beef bao and Thai chive cakes the best. If you have room for dessert the Caramelised cassava cake is absolutely delicious and a great last bite! The coconut rice is a must add to your meal, it is tender and so full of coconut flavour! I highly recommend the raspberry Thai tea! They have an incredible range of gluten free options, however I am not celiac so didn’t ask about cross contamination risks. This is an amazing venue with incredible lovely staff and customer service.

Micle Lombre
Micle Lombre Aug 2026
★★★★★

Delicious! Pork Belly was the stand out. We ordered alacarte for a table of 3 and felt that the portions were fine (and did not need the banquet option). However, if you do the calculations, it might be better to do the banquet! Unfortunately Tap Beers were off today but not the end of the world. Recommended!

Chris Z
Chris Z Aug 2026
★★★★★

1st meal 10 years ago when I first arrived Mel

Lina Meier
Lina Meier Aug 2026
★★★★★

What a fantastic experience. The meal was absolutely delicious, and every single dish was presented beautifully on the table. I particularly loved the dessert with the bright purple ice cream and coconut shavings. It was a perfect, refreshing end to our visit in the city. Everything tasted as good as it looked. We will definitely be back.

Pookie Wookoe
Pookie Wookoe Aug 2026
★★★★★

Amazing food and service. I think our server name was Jen. Absolute legend, loved him. The dishes had a unique flavour and the portion sizes were plenty, even without the banquet deals. Would deifnitnely reccomened a stop.

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Last updated on 23 October 2026

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