Eat
NhuLan Bakery.
The banh mi this suburb names first. The queue is the oven timer.
Location
What people get wrong
The queue is the freshness clock. The Richmond Victoria Street shop closed in April 2020. This door is 116 Hopkins only. Some maps still dump 115. We last walked this on 2026-09-20. Hours move with the week. Checking the shopfront keeps the night easy.
What is Nhu Lan Bakery known for?
Nhu Lan is known for the Hopkins banh mi queue: baguettes baked in the same shop, stuffed to order at a fluorescent counter that stayed when the Richmond outpost died.
You walk out of Footscray station onto Hopkins and the pavement is already doing the work. The line looks like a civic event from the kerb. Inside it is a handful of people behind glass assembling pork, pickle and chilli faster than you can decide whether you wanted crackling. On the Grid called the assembly a cult sitting: a sardine-can line, a roll built while you watch. Jump in. The queue is the oven timer, not a branding exercise.
Jess Ho in Time Out, 3 September 2019, already called this one of Melbourne's finest rolls and told you to get in line because there is always a line. Time Out's city list, 27 August 2025, still has 116 at number four and still says the wait is worth it. Lauren Dinse, writing the Footscray eat list on 17 May 2024, said ask a local what they eat for lunch and they will send you here for a banh mi. That is not a secret. That is a street number you can read from the tram.
Khanh Ziccardi, whose parents own the bakery, told Tomas Telegramma at Broadsheet on 5 October 2020 that the Victoria Street shop in Richmond had closed in April after twelve years, pandemic plus a dying lease. Broadsheet already dated the Footscray door at twenty-five years then. The VU student guide still says more than twenty-five. You are standing in the shop that stayed. The fridge is part of the room: house pate, fermented pork, vac-sealed pork loaf, the same stuff Time Out watched people buy to build rolls at home. Vietnamese and English both work at the glass. Phone (03) 9689 7785.
What should you order at Nhu Lan Bakery?
You should order a full roll with roast pork and crackling if you came hungry, or barbecue pork if Time Out's August 2025 list is why you walked, then decide whether a second loaf is still the plan.
The default build is house pate, butter, pork loaf, pickled carrot, cucumber, coriander and chilli, stuffed while you watch. Ask for all the pickle and chilli. Maggi if they are still shaking it. Without the condiments you bought a meat sandwich and you will blame Footscray for a filling you refused. Time Out also stuffed tomato-braised meatballs, lemongrass pork, fromage de tete and deep-fried tofu. Dinse pictured shredded pork skin. On the Grid sides with this tofu: lemongrass, sauce, crispy roll, fried onion, a can of 100 Plus as the unofficial meal deal. That argument is allowed. You came for this oven.
If you are stacking kitchens, the small roll exists so you do not blow the walk on one loaf. Valent priced a pate-and-mayo snack under $5 in August 2025. Time Out's 2025 list is honest about the size: smaller than some city rolls, sometimes sparing with meat, get two if your appetite is the point. VU still prices a full roll under $10 and tells students to take the crackling with every condiment. Ask what it costs today. Eat it on Hopkins. A bag sitting while you hunt a stool is how the crust dies, and then you will tell someone the loaf was soft.
Mooncakes and sesame balls show up as bakery extras, not the reason to queue. The fridge is the second shop if you wanted to cook at home. Take the tub and keep walking. This is not a sit-down tasting. This is a roll you hold.
Hours, payment and queues at Nhu Lan Bakery
Quoted hours: daily 5am to 6pm. Time Out, 3 September 2019, Broadsheet, 5 October 2020, and the VU student guide all print that window. Late morning is when the pavement starts to mean it. Call (03) 9689 7785. Last checked 2026-09-20. Glance at the glass on a public holiday.
Walk-in. There is no booking widget for a banh mi. Cards are normal. Cash still speeds a Hopkins bakery. The line looks intimidating and then moves. Reviews keep saying you are in and out in minutes even when it snakes out the door. Believe the speed more than the length. Sunday is a street bakery day. This counter trades when the Irving hall is locked.
Sluurpy and Waze still fight that clock. We are citing Time Out. The phone wins.
How do you get to Nhu Lan Bakery in Footscray?
You get to Nhu Lan by walking Hopkins from Footscray station to 116, a street bakery on the lit spine, not a stall inside the Irving hall and not a pin that dumps you at 115 because a maps widget rounded the number.
Read the glass. The queue is the fascia. 112 is Sapa Hills, sit-down, closed Tuesday. 122 is the other bakery. 128 is pho. You are on the pavement. If you are still hunting an aisle you have not arrived.
Tram 82 and the station buses hit the same block. Irving deck if you drove for the market. Hopkins meters if you only came for a roll. Do not leave the loaf in a hot car. Eat standing up like the rest of the strip. At night, stay on Hopkins back to the station. This counter closes at 6pm on the clocks we trust. A midnight banh mi does not exist here. Plan daylight.
What do people mix up about Nhu Lan Bakery?
They still hunt the Richmond Victoria Street shop that Broadsheet closed in April 2020, and they miss the Hopkins door that never left.
- 116 Hopkins Street, Footscray VIC 3011 only. Some maps still dump 115.
- Daily 5am-6pm on Time Out, Broadsheet and the VU guide.
- Richmond at 152 Victoria Street closed April 2020.
- Small pate-mayo rolls exist. Ask.
- Phone (03) 9689 7785. Not a sit-down tasting.
Questions people ask next
- Where is Nhu Lan Bakery?
- Nhu Lan Bakery is at 116 Hopkins Street, Footscray VIC 3011. Footscray station is the nearest train. It is a street counter, not a stall inside Footscray Market, and not the closed Richmond shop.
- What are Nhu Lan Bakery hours?
- Daily 5am-6pm is the published window from Time Out, Broadsheet and Victoria University. Queues build from late morning. Call (03) 9689 7785. Last checked 2026-09-20.
- Does Nhu Lan still have a Richmond shop?
- No. Broadsheet, 5 October 2020, reported the Victoria Street outpost closed in April 2020 after twelve years. Khanh Ziccardi said pandemic pressure and an ending lease. 116 Hopkins is the door that stayed.
- Do they sell small rolls at Nhu Lan?
- Yes. Dani Valent at Good Food, August 2025, priced a small pate-and-mayo roll under $5 as a crawl snack. A full crackling or barbecue pork roll is still the plate if you came hungry. Time Out, August 2025, says get two if the first one is small.
Where we checked
- Time Out: Nhu Lan, 3 September 2019
- Good Food: Nhu Lan mini rolls, 14 August 2025
- Time Out: best banh mi in Melbourne, 27 August 2025
- Time Out: best restaurants in Footscray, 17 May 2024
- Broadsheet: Richmond outpost closed, 5 October 2020
- Victoria University: cheap eats in Footscray
- On the Grid: Nhu Lan Bakery
