Eat
EbiFine Foods.
The Essex parcel. Closed Sunday. Leeds is the wrong street.
Location
What people get wrong
18A Essex Street, not Leeds, not 81 Essex in 3012. Closed Sunday. Dead 3pm to 5pm. Tiny room. Take the parcel. We last walked this on 2026-09-20. Hours move with the week. Checking the shopfront keeps the night easy.
What is Ebi Fine Foods known for?
Ebi Fine Foods is known for a Japanese-British fish-and-chip parcel on quiet Essex Street, not a minimum-flake counter on the station strip. You leave the market noise, turn off Irving, and the street drops its volume. 18A is a tight room: oil, paper, a few seats that fill because someone decided to wait. You did not come to linger. You came for the parcel. Time Out still writes the plate as a pudgy oblong of blue grenadier in bronze beer batter, dried nori, a bountiful serve of chips, sweet kewpie, and a green salad with Japanese pickles, lotus root and sesame. That is the hunger. MELBZ, April 2026, called Essex the least lazy fish-and-chips choice in central Footscray because the shop sits off the harshest station traffic. The walk is the point.
Thanh Nguyen took the door in October 2020. Love Your West says she arrived from Vietnam in 1997, found the shop dormant for six months, and relaunched it as DT Fusionz Ebi Fine Foods. Duc for goodwill. Thanh for success. Fusionz because the board moved off exclusively home-style Japanese toward Vietnamese dishes and Korean bibimbap without killing the sushi or the chips. She still walks Footscray Market at 7am on market days for fish. St John's Primary orders sushi, inari, onigiri and mini tonkatsu from the same kitchen. You are not a schoolkid. You still get the same oil.
Ebi is Japanese for prawn. The English name is a leftover from the years John ran a six-stool chippery here, green tea on the bench, veggie balls as the snack that started the whole thing. MissC counted those stools in 2010. Outdoor seats help when they are out. A rumoured move to larger premises has been overheard for years and has not shown up as a new address we can cite. Until the glass moves, 18A Essex is the door. The parcel in your hand is the listing.
What should you order at Ebi Fine Foods?
You should order the battered fish and chips if that is why you walked, then take the parcel. Ask what fish is in. Time Out named blue grenadier. DoorDash's 2026 card just says Fresh Fish of the Day. Boards move with the wholesaler. Then decide whether nori and kewpie go on the paper. Sit only if a stool is empty and you can eat before the next order lands in your lap. If the seats are gone, that is not a failure. That is the shop doing its job. Walk the paper down Essex while the batter still has a chance. Delivery is how chips die.
Veggie balls are the side people mention without being asked. Broadsheet, back when red lanterns and John were the copy, called them a vegetarian take on Osaka takoyaki: spongy, sweet mayo. Time Out still calls them legendary and springy. Order them if they are on. Crab croquettes still show up on the till. Togarashi calamari with chips is the other fry people keep naming. None of that is a white-tablecloth pause. This is still takeaway-first.
If you did not come for chips, the shop stops being a chip counter. Chicken katsu curry is DoorDash's most-liked plate. Chicken fillet and wagyu bento land as trays with salad, marinated vegetables, rice and pickles. Add miso if you want the soup. Bibimbap if you wanted a bowl. Thanh's signature on Love Your West is the bento of the day because regulars like small dishes that change. Tofu cheesecake if Time Out's sweet still exists; ask. Do not treat Consider the Sauce's 2014 degustation as a live tasting menu. John is not behind this pass. Sunday is closed. Do not build a market-plus-Ebi Sunday. The hall is locked anyway. Saturday lunch before the 3pm break is the window if you were already on Irving.
Hours, payment and queues at Ebi Fine Foods
Quoted hours from Australian Good Food Guide: Monday to Saturday 11am to 3pm and 5pm to 9pm, closed Sunday. That split means the dead zone between 3 and 5 is real. Do not arrive at 3:10pm with a speech prepared. The parcel does not exist in that gap. Broadsheet's old feast card still prints Sunday 9:30am to 3pm. Yelp still prints Monday closed. We are citing AGFG and the door. Call (03) 9689 3300. Last checked 2026-09-20.
Cards are normal. Visa, Mastercard and Eftpos sit on the AGFG card. Facebook prints mobile 0406 265 708. AGFG prints 0449 898 499. The landline is the number we keep. The queue is the room overflowing, not a theatre line like Nhu Lan. If the seats are full, take the parcel to Essex or walk it toward Footscray Park. Do not camp in someone else's cafe with a dripping bag. MELBZ is blunt: pickup is the format. A ten-minute sealed trip turns batter into steam.
How do you get to Ebi Fine Foods in Footscray?
You get to Ebi Fine Foods by walking to 18A Essex Street, Footscray VIC 3011, a longer walk from the station than Hopkins, which is why people who wanted a quick feed off the train bounce. Essex is the point: calmer than the concourse. Broadsheet's old map pin lands on 81 Essex Street, West Footscray 3012. That is a different suburb. Do not follow it. You are carrying paper. Give it a street that will not crush it.
Do not walk Leeds looking for a chip shop beside Rudimentary. Rudimentary and Pho Tam are Leeds rooms. The market is Irving. Street parking around Essex is easier than Irving on a market Saturday, which is not the same as free. If you drove for the hall, eat Irving first or commit to the extra block. Do not leave a hot parcel in the car. The river path and Footscray Park will eat the paper if you move fast. Around the station the eating environment is more functional than pleasant.
At night Essex is quieter than Hopkins. That is good for a dinner parcel and less good if you wanted a crowd as cover. Walk back on lit streets. This shop is not a bar. Tuesday to Saturday after five is the sitting that makes sense if lunch already died at three.
What do people mix up about Ebi Fine Foods?
They walk Leeds looking for a chip shop beside Rudimentary, then review the wrong street.
- 18A Essex Street, Footscray VIC 3011. Not Leeds. Not 81 Essex, West Footscray 3012.
- Closed Sunday. Lunch and dinner split Mon-Sat. Dead 3pm to 5pm.
- Tiny room. Takeaway is how most tables eat.
- Japanese-British fish and chips, plus bento and DT Fusionz plates.
- Phone (03) 9689 3300.
Questions people ask next
- Is Ebi Fine Foods the same as DT Fusionz?
- Yes. Thanh Nguyen relaunched the Essex shop in October 2020 as DT Fusionz Ebi Fine Foods. Instagram still prints @dtfusionz. Same 18A door. Same parcel.
- Does Ebi Fine Foods open on Sunday?
- No. Australian Good Food Guide lists Sunday closed, with Monday to Saturday split 11am-3pm and 5pm-9pm. Broadsheet still printing Sunday hours is leftover copy. Call (03) 9689 3300.
- Can you sit down at Ebi Fine Foods?
- A few seats, sometimes outdoor when they are out. MissC counted six stools in 2010 and the room is still tight. Takeaway is how most people actually eat. If the stools are gone, take the parcel.
- What fish does Ebi Fine Foods fry?
- Ask. Time Out named blue grenadier in beer batter. DoorDash's live card says Fresh Fish of the Day. Thanh still buys at Footscray Market on market mornings. Boards move with the wholesaler.
Where we checked
More in Eat
Rudimentary
Walk-ins only. The kitchen can die before the glass.
16-20 Leeds Street, Footscray VIC 3011
Pho Tam
Pho at 8 on Leeds. The wear is the love letter.
Shop 1, 7-9 Leeds Street, Footscray VIC 3011
Footscray Market
Irving produce hall. Closed Sunday Monday. Park Irving.
18 Irving Street, Footscray VIC 3011