If you’re in LA, it’s not worth eating at a white person restaurant,” said David Chang last year in a debate about the West Coast city’s best eats. “By that I mean a fancy sit-down restaurant – most of them run by some of my best friends in the business,” continued the Momofuku chef. “They’re all fantastic, and if they were in any other city they’d be the best, but in LA we have Korean, Chinese, Mexican and Japanese in spades, all more interesting than my best friends’ places that I lovingly call ‘white person’ restaurants.” Chang says LA might not have the Milky Way of Michelin stars that shines over New York, but it makes up for it with killer low-end food and a diversity of cuisines.

Los Angeles is certainly a city of extremes – the Kardashians at one end of the spectrum, Compton at the other. There’s glitzy West Hollywood (WeHo to the locals), with its designer rooftop hotel bars and botoxed clientele; buzzing Koreatown (aka K-Town, and Chang’s favourite neighbourhood), where food trucks outnumber the city’s fleet of yellow buses; then there’s the clean-living tribe who sip on green juice before SoulCycle classes or surfing at Santa Monica. LA is a diamond-cut city with a facet for every subset – you just have to know where to find your tribe, a task that isn’t easy given the intense heat and the lack of a foot-culture in the sprawling grid layout.

Here, three Aussies who know the City of Angels inside out share their must-eats to create a 360° view: Rockpool Group chef Neil Perry, who has created the menu at the new Qantas International First Lounge at LAX, covers iconic restaurants and coffee hotspots; ex-Longrain executive chef Louis Tikaram, the Chinese-Fijian-Aussie wunderkind who recently opened E.P. & L.P. in WeHo, has the lowdown on the best street food; and Ray Kelly, a former Sydney personal trainer who now lives in LA and works as a physical therapist to music-industry bigwigs, steers us towards his top healthy eats, plus an epic brunch for ‘treat day’.

When you cross time zones as frequently as the renowned chef, finding good coffee is as essential as planning where to eat. Perry heads to Australian-run Paramount Coffee Project (456 N Fairfax Ave), Commissary in a leafy greenhouse setting at the Line Hotel (3515 Wilshire Blvd) in Koreatown, or G&B Coffee at Grand Central Market (317 S Broadway).

Start your day off on the right foot with a walk or jog under the palm tress along Venice Beach followed by a cult egg and bacon roll from Egg Slut (1611 Pacific Ave), which also has locations in Grand Central Market and Beverly Hills.

Tucked away in Century City is Hinoki & the Bird (10 Century Drive), a mod-American restaurant with a serene Japanese bent. The clean lines and smooth wooden surfaces, together with the delicate plating and Pan-Asian menu, create a zen environment to graze on shared plates, such as wild boar ribs with Szechuan pepper and kaffir lime, green curry lobster rolls, Brussels sprouts with furikake, and a signature duck fat fried rice.

While all-day pizza joint Jon & Vinny’s (412 N Fairfax Ave) may be on the map for its delicious hand-thrown pizza, Perry’s tip is all about the tennis-ball-sized meatballs. “They are even better than the pizza,” he says. There are only 45 seats, so book to avoid joining the masses pining for a slice of ‘Ham & Yeezy’ – charred pizza base topped with ham, vodka sauce, smoked mozzarella and pickled Fresno chillies. Down and dirty is the order of the day at The Boiling Crab (3377 Wilshire Blvd), where boiled-in-the-bag Cajun-spiced shrimp and crawfish (that’s prawns and crab) make for a feast. “No bookings, lots of fun,” says Perry of the small restaurant chain, which was started by a Vietnamese family from southeast Texas. But don’t let the all-in, casual vibe fool you – expect to wait for up to an hour. No foodie round-up of LA is complete without tacos. Perry’s holy trinity of street food includes Leo’s Taco Truck (1515 S La Brea Ave) for authentic Mexican tacos, burritos and quesadillas with meat hot off the spit; Komodo (8809 West Pico Blvd) for Japanese-inspired tacos; and Kogi from the Korean taco’s founding father, Roy Choi.

“It’s hard to move from a city like Sydney with a world-class food scene at your fingertips,” says the 31-year-old chef, who notes LA has come a long way in the short time he has lived there. “Cool restaurants are popping up in unusual locations and local chefs are working together to host pop-ups and collaborations.”

One such nocturnal pop-up is Tire Shop Taqueria (4069 Avalon Blvd) in the parking lot of El Jarocho Tires, serving Tijuana-style carne asada (beef) tacos. “They are made to order – you can smell the blazing grill from down the street.” For an Americana meat fix, Tikaram heads to Texas-style Bludso’s BBQ (811 S Long Beach Blvd, Compton), where the famous Angus beef rib is only available on weekends. “The chicken links are my favourite, and with some potato salad and mac & cheese, I’m in heaven.” Dino’s Chicken and Burgers (2575 W Pico Blvd) is a guilty pleasure on his way home from a Clippers game: “Even after my nutritionist wife’s advice, I can’t resist their marinated and grilled half chicken on a bed of soggy fries with a side of coleslaw and tortillas.”

Aussie chef Louis Tikaram, who cut his teeth at Tetsuya’s in Sydney, is the man behind uber-cool Weho restaurant and rooftop bar E.P. & L.P. (603 N La Cienega Blvd, West Hollywood). “LA is hot and dry, which is perfect for zesty, spicy food. It surprised me that Southeast Asian cuisine, with its fresh herbs, chillies and tropical fruits, was not more common, but people are responding to my food really well,” says Tikaram, whose fun menu mashes up North American and Asian food traditions – who knew mezcal was the perfect partner for a zingy plate of yuba (tofu skins) with Chinese pickles and five-spice peanuts?

When he clocks off, Tikaram rides his 1977 single-speed bike (a novelty in car-loving LA) to Aburiya Raku (521 N La Cienega Blvd, West Hollywood) for the traditional Japanese robata grill menu and cracking tofu. “When I first moved to LA, I drove to Vegas to eat at this famous izakaya (tavern), so you can imagine how excited I was when they announced they were opening just up the street from E.P.” There’s authentic Korean everywhere in K-Town, but Sun Ha Jang (4032 W Olympic Blvd) has a cult following for its ros gui, sliced duck cooked on the grill and eaten with salad and condiments, while the rendered fat is used to fry rice and vegetables for your second course. Thai and Vietnamese are not as easy to come by, but Tikaram has discovered two gems: Quan Hy Restaurant (9727 Bolsa Ave, Westminster), a busy traditional Vietnamese eatery in Little Saigon that he says serves the best banh beo (fresh steamed rice cakes with shredded shrimp); and tiny Spicy BBQ (5101 Santa Monica Blvd), tucked in an East Hollywood mall, has a legitimate northern Thai menu.

Terroni (7605 Beverly Blvd, West Hollywood) is neither street food nor Asian, but everyone needs a good local Italian, says Tikaram, who can be seen there on Sunday afternoons (when he’s not surfing or skating) drinking a Terroni spritz and snacking on fried calamari.

“When it comes to recommending places to eat, I usually look for anti-inflammatory, digestive health and immune-boosting ingredients,” says the former Sydney trainer who moved to LA four years ago. Don’t let appearances deceive at Baroo (5706 Santa Monica Blvd), a hole-in-thewall with a Korean bent in a rundown strip mall. “The food is incredible,” says Kelly, who loves the kombucha and tepache (a Mexican fermented pineapple drink). Ranked no. 5 on Bon Appetit America’s Best New Restaurants list, Baroo’s menu is an ode to fermentation from a former Noma chef, spanning kimchi fried rice (the Bon Appetit 2016 Dish of the Year); a bibim salad with quinoa, raw veg, seeds and gochujang (a Korean hot chilli paste); and noorook, Korea’s version of Japan’s koji mould, tinted pink by beets and topped with macadamias, finger lime and rose onion pickle.

Welcome to LA, the home of clean eating, organic and plant-based. Get with the program and feed your green juice habit at Kreation Organic where goodness comes via oral syringe shots of high-octane superfood combinations, cold-pressed juices, smoothies and the most virtuous of breakfast bowls and salads.

A positive affirmation a day keeps the doctor away, at least that’s the idea at Café Gratitude: “Yes that’s right, today ‘I Am Superb’” (that’s a cacao superfood smoothie with coconut milk, dates, avocado, bee pollen and vanilla), thank you very much. Continuing the organic, plant-based theme is SunCafe (10820 Ventura Blvd, Studio City), which Kelly recommends for its vegan wines and craft beers as well as kombucha on tap, depending on whether you’re feeling naughty or nice. But man cannot live on turmeric shots and superfood smoothies alone… Enter Belcampo Meat Co. (8053 W 3rd St), an organic farm-to-table restaurant and butcher. “They do a great bone broth – the collagen in bone broth heals your gut lining and reduces intestinal inflammation, which is perfect with a big steak!”