What is the best pho in Footscray?

Locals split it. Start with Pho Hung Vuong Saigon at 128 Hopkins Street, closed Wednesday, or Pho Tam at 7-9 Leeds Street from about 8am. Use Huu Huu Thanh if you are already inside the market before lunch on a market day.

Is Footscray Vietnamese food only pho?

No. Banh xeo at Tay Do, banh cuon at Xuan Anh, bun mam at Pho Tam, broken rice at Tan Thanh Loi, and bakery snacks sit on the same few streets. Ask for the dish, not Vietnamese.

Where is com tam in Footscray?

Tan Thanh Loi at 73 Nicholson Street is the broken-rice room. Tra Vinh at 70 Nicholson is next door. Leave the Hopkins banh mi strip to find them.

Where is banh xeo in Footscray?

Banh Xeo Tay Do, Unit 4/62 Nicholson Street, in an arcade. Closed Tuesday. Cash is common. Confirm the door. It is not on Hopkins.

Is Nhu Lan open on Sunday?

Hopkins bakeries are not the market hall. Nhu Lan is a street counter at 116 Hopkins. Confirm hours on the glass. Nhu Ngoc inside the market is closed Sunday and Monday with the hall.

How do I do a Vietnamese food crawl in Footscray?

Market day, not Sunday. Banh mi on Hopkins, pho on Hopkins or Leeds, rice rolls in the hall, crepe in the Nicholson arcade, broken rice on Nicholson. Walk. Do not wear white.

The dish

Vietnamese food in Footscray

Pick the dish. The shop will follow. The street will do the rest.

Come hungry and name the roll, the bowl, the crepe. Vietnamese Footscray is dish-specific, not a tasting-menu strip. Nhu Lan Bakery at 116 Hopkins Street is the banh mi counter locals send visitors to. To's Bakery at 122 Hopkins is the other street roll. Nhu Ngoc inside Footscray Market is the tiger-bread stall, market days only. Pho Hung Vuong Saigon at 128 Hopkins and Pho Tam on Leeds split the pho argument. Tan Thanh Loi at 73 Nicholson is the com tam room. Banh Xeo Tay Do hides in a Nicholson arcade. Market stalls lock Sunday and Monday.

Updated 2026-09-20

Where is the best banh mi in Footscray?

The queue at 116 Hopkins Street starts as a polite shuffle and becomes a small negotiation with your hunger. Nhu Lan Bakery is not hiding. It is the counter this suburb names first, rolls baked on site and stuffed to order, Time Out and Good Food both treating it as a Melbourne shop rather than a local secret. The line is the freshness signal. They will cut a small roll if you are already halfway through a crawl, and they will do pate and mayo only if you remember to ask. That cheap extra is the thing forums mention and first-timers forget. Call (03) 9689 7785 if you need the glass to be certain. Hours are daily and early. Late morning is when the pavement starts to mean it.

Six doors along, To's Bakery at 122 Hopkins runs the other street argument. Same strip, different queue politics, a second house loaf if Nhu Lan is a wall of people and you still wanted pork and chilli in bread. People who treat Nhu Lan as the only banh mi in the west have not walked twelve metres. People who treat To's as a secret have not read a map.

Nhu Ngoc Bakery lives another life altogether: stall 223 inside Footscray Market at 18 Irving Street, tiger bread, market days only. You can smell the crust from the produce aisle if you arrived before the lunch crush. Arrive Sunday and you will stare at a locked hall. Hopkins bakeries still trade that day. Name the stall and the calendar, or you will write a one-star review of a building that was never open.

Where is the best pho in Footscray?

There is no single winner, which is the neighbourhood sport, and anyone who ranks it like a CBD list has not eaten here on a Tuesday. Pho Hung Vuong Saigon at 128 Hopkins Street is the busy OG bowl: big soup, fast floor, English and Vietnamese menus, a regular local lunch rush. Time Out still sends people here. Hours run Thursday to Tuesday 9am to 8:30pm. Closed Wednesday. Peak lunch has a line. Do not wear white. The broth will find you. Phone (03) 9689 6002 if you are dragging a group and want the door to be real.

Pho Tam sits off the postcard at Shop 1, 7-9 Leeds Street. It opens from about 8am because locals actually eat breakfast here. Pho is the headline. Regulars also order congee, bo la lot and bun mam. If you only wanted pho you might still leave with bun mam if you read the board. The room is worn in, which is a compliment. Rudimentary is a short hop if you needed a laptop pause after. This is not the Instagram counter. It is the Leeds bowl.

Huu Huu Thanh inside the market is the SMH pick that can sell out around lunch. Market days only. Closed Sunday and Monday with the hall. A visitor who Googles best pho and walks to Irving at 4pm on a Wednesday will miss the stall and, depending on the week, Hung Vuong's late afternoon as well. Check the door. That is the sport. The soup does not care about your itinerary.

Where do you get banh xeo and banh cuon?

Leave Hopkins. Banh Xeo Tay Do is Unit 4/62 Nicholson Street, inside an arcade, not under a high-street awning. Closed Tuesday. Listed Wednesday to Monday 12pm to 7pm. Cash is common. Time Out and Vietnamese regulars both send people here for the crepe: crisp, turmeric, a pile of herbs, the sound of the pan if you stand close enough. Arcade kitchens hide. Look for the unit number. If you only walked the banh mi strip you missed the dish people argue about after the roll.

Xuan Anh Banh Cuon faces Hopkins from the market hall at 18 Irving. Steamed rice rolls with pork and wood ear, plus Hai Phong red rice noodles. Good Food scored it as a critic's pick in 2025. You can enter from Hopkins or from inside the market. Closed when the market is closed. Pair it with a produce shop if you already came for herbs. That is how locals use the hall: a stall, a bag of sawtooth coriander, maybe Huu Huu Thanh if the pho has not sold out. Not a single photograph and a rideshare.

Where is com tam and broken rice?

Nicholson Street is the other Vietnamese street, and the people who only crawled Hopkins never find it. Tan Thanh Loi at 73 Nicholson is the broken-rice room: a plate, grilled pork, that sweet fish sauce, rice that is not a bowl of pho no matter how hard you try to make it one. If you asked for pho here you will still eat. You came to the wrong job.

Tra Vinh at 70 Nicholson sits next door, another Mekong plate if 73 is a shutter or a wait. Confirm hours. High-street turnover is real. A Maps pin is not a booking. If the glass is down, the next door is still on Nicholson, not a CBD chain and not a Richmond outpost. Walk. Do not invent a third suburb because two numbers on one street felt like a lot.

How do you crawl Vietnamese Footscray without wasting a trip?

Go on a market day if you want stalls plus Hopkins. Skip Sunday for the hall. Do not wear white. If you only have one stop, Nhu Lan plus a Hopkins pho room covers the search most visitors typed. For a Hopkins sit-down after the roll, Sapa Hills at 112 is the Urban List casual room: spring rolls, prawn toast, closed Tuesday, not a bakery counter. For broken rice, leave Hopkins and walk Nicholson to Tan Thanh Loi. For the crepe, peel off to the Nicholson arcade and look for Unit 4. For banh canh cua, leave Hopkins for Droop. Co Thu Quan at Shop 11-12, 10 Droop is the crab and tapioca noodle soup Good Food still scores 12/20. It is not the burned Little Saigon stall.

Order of operations that works: banh mi early, while the loaf is still a morning object. Pho or rice rolls late morning, when the broth has had time and the hall is still a crowd rather than a close. Crepe or com tam if you are still standing. Coffee is not the point of this crawl unless you need a pause. Rudimentary exists for laptops. This page is the dish map. The things to do guide is the Saturday itinerary that includes this crawl without pretending it is the whole suburb.

Walk. The distances are inner-west, not a road trip. Hopkins to Leeds is a corner. Hopkins to Nicholson is a decision. Irving is the market mouth. People who drive between Nhu Lan and Hung Vuong have misunderstood the neighbourhood and will then misunderstand the parking.

Should you wear white to pho in Footscray?

No. Hung Vuong will paint you. Bun mam will paint you. A crepe stuffed with herbs will find a sleeve. This is the forum fact that sounds like a joke until you own the shirt. Dark layers, a spare napkin, the willingness to lean in. If you dressed for a laneway cocktail, you dressed for a different night and a different suburb.

The same logic applies to a first date at a counter. Nhu Lan is fluorescent and honest. Tay Do is an arcade. Tan Thanh Loi is a plate room. None of them are a white-tablecloth tasting. If that is what you wanted, you are not lost. You are simply not in this guide.

Cash, cards and queues on the Vietnamese streets

Hopkins bakeries take the lunch rush as a civic event. Cards are normal at Nhu Lan. Cash is still common in the Nicholson arcade and at some market stalls. Arrive card-only at Tay Do and you may be performing a small comedy. Bring both. The queue is not a tourist gimmick. It is how you know the loaf came out of the oven this morning.

There is no booking widget for a banh mi. There is no concierge for Huu Huu Thanh. If a group of eight wanted a table at Hung Vuong at 12:30 on Saturday, they wanted a plan and a willingness to wait. Two people on a Thursday at 10am is a different city.

What about Vietnamese groceries, not restaurants?

Herbs, offal, sauces and rice paper live at Footscray Market and Green Valley at 9/63-67 Nicholson, phone (03) 9687 4009. Phuoc Thinh Butchers is listed at 75 Nicholson. The house site now names St Albans and Sunshine only. Confirm that Footscray glass. Little Saigon Market at 80 Hopkins burned on 13 December 2016. That is a weekly shop, not a dinner. The where-to-shop guide is the grocer map. Do not ask Nhu Lan for a kilo of sawtooth coriander. They will sell you a roll, and they will be right.

Sunday grocer fallback is the plaza Coles. The market hall is not. Little Saigon Market will not save you. First-timers mash those buildings, park at the wrong deck, and then write a review of the suburb. Name Irving for the hall, Nicholson for Green Valley and the butcher. Four names. Four doors.

Is Vietnamese food in Footscray only pho and banh mi?

No. Banh xeo, banh cuon, bun mam, broken rice, bakery snacks, market congee and the tiger roll all sit on the same few streets. Ask for the dish, not Vietnamese. A visitor who wants a tasting menu should go elsewhere. A visitor who wants a specific plate will eat better than any listicle, because this suburb rewards the person who can say com tam out loud.

Chinese yum cha at Golden Horse is the next strip over in job, still Hopkins, still not this cuisine. Do not mash trolleys into a Vietnamese crawl unless you meant roast duck after a roll. The Chinese food guide is that page. Ethiopian Irving is a different Saturday and a different starch. You can eat both. You should still name both.

What do people get wrong about Vietnamese food in Footscray?

They come on Sunday for market stalls. They think Nhu Lan is the only banh mi. They skip Nicholson. They wear white to Hung Vuong. They want a booking widget for a counter. They compare it to Richmond as if one suburb owns the cuisine, and they still send a live search to the Victoria Street Nhu Lan that closed in 2020. Footscray's version is dish-specific and early. Miss lunch and you missed the sport.

They also treat Time Out as a live hours feed. Hung Vuong closed Wednesday is the kind of fact you confirm on the door. Nhu Ngoc closed with the hall is the kind of fact you confirm on a calendar. This page names the argument. The glass names the soup.

Questions people ask next

What is the best pho in Footscray?: Locals split it. Start with Pho Hung Vuong Saigon at 128 Hopkins Street, closed Wednesday, or Pho Tam at 7-9 Leeds Street from about 8am. Use Huu Huu Thanh if you are already inside the market before lunch on a market day.
Where is the best banh mi in Footscray?: Nhu Lan Bakery at 116 Hopkins Street is the default local answer. To's Bakery at 122 is the other Hopkins counter. Nhu Ngoc in the market is the tiger-roll stall on market days only.
Is Footscray Vietnamese food only pho?: No. Banh xeo at Tay Do, banh cuon at Xuan Anh, bun mam at Pho Tam, broken rice at Tan Thanh Loi, and bakery snacks sit on the same few streets. Ask for the dish, not Vietnamese.
Where is com tam in Footscray?: Tan Thanh Loi at 73 Nicholson Street is the broken-rice room. Tra Vinh at 70 Nicholson is next door. Leave the Hopkins banh mi strip to find them.
Where is banh xeo in Footscray?: Banh Xeo Tay Do, Unit 4/62 Nicholson Street, in an arcade. Closed Tuesday. Cash is common. Confirm the door. It is not on Hopkins.
Is Nhu Lan open on Sunday?: Hopkins bakeries are not the market hall. Nhu Lan is a street counter at 116 Hopkins. Confirm hours on the glass. Nhu Ngoc inside the market is closed Sunday and Monday with the hall.
How do I do a Vietnamese food crawl in Footscray?: Market day, not Sunday. Banh mi on Hopkins, pho on Hopkins or Leeds, rice rolls in the hall, crepe in the Nicholson arcade, broken rice on Nicholson. Walk. Do not wear white.
Can I pay card at Vietnamese shops in Footscray?: Hopkins bakeries usually take cards. Cash is still common in the Nicholson arcade and at some market stalls. Bring both. There is no booking widget for a banh mi queue.