Eat
Pandus.
Barkly dosa and Manchurian. BYO. The Hut is 3012.
Location
What people get wrong
351 Barkly, Footscray 3011, toward Victoria Street. Not Dosa Hut at 604 Barkly, West Footscray 3012. House hours 9:30am-10:30pm. We last walked this on 2026-09-20. Hours move with the week. Checking the shopfront keeps the night easy.
What is Pandus known for?
Pandus is known for holding dosa and Indo-Chinese on one Barkly floor, a warehouse sitting that left Buckley Street when the rail works killed the first shop.
You walk Barkly west from Footscray station toward Victoria Street. The numbers climb. Ras Dashen at 247 is injera if you wanted a group platter and a flag on the wall. Bar Josephine is a maze with pool tables and no kitchen. Then 351: a long room that used to be empty garage, fitted in 2012 with booths built on the floor and seats that felt too plush for the price. Consider the Sauce walked the fit-out with Pandu before opening, then ate there in July 2012 when the menu was almost nothing but Indo-Chinese. Ginger, garlic, soy, Sichuan. He told them cumin and coriander were not the point. Cauliflower Manchurian was the hit that night, battered chunks in a dark sticky sauce that still let the vegetable through. That is the hunger this suburb still uses 351 for.
The about page now names head chef Prashant, Hyderabad, hotel-management trained, Indian and Oriental on the same pass. House copy calls it no-fuss South Indian and Indo-Chinese, dishes in clay pots, biryani cooked to the house recipe, dine-in and takeaway. BYO is printed on the home page. A $1.99 dosa banner still sits there too. Treat a homepage special as a question at the till, not a locked 2014 price.
You do not come because a magazine found the shop. Time Out and Good Food never ranked it. You come because 3011 wanted a dosa without a second station, and because Manchurian here is the point of the room, not a typing error on an Indian menu. Saturday brunch, when the buffet is on, is still how families use this floor. The rest of the week you walk in, you sit in a booth that was built in the room, and you decide which argument you are having: crepe and sambar, or the sticky sauce. Consider the Sauce watched that second argument become a wider board in 2015, then watched the breakfast line fill toward 1pm on a Saturday in 2018.
What should you order at Pandus?
You should order a dosa if you walked 3011 for a crepe, then something sticky from the Indo-Chinese half, and you should bring the bottle because this room is BYO.
Sit. Ask how hot. Vegetarian is normal here, not a special request. A plain dosa with four chutneys and sambar is the house pitch, the crepe they still advertise on the home page. Idli and vada if you wanted the breakfast set instead of a dinner pancake. If the weekend buffet is on, that is the spread rather than a la carte: pooris, papads, upma, poori with chana, sambar rice, vadas, and dosas carried to the table so they stay crisp instead of dying in a tray. Confirm it is running and confirm the price. Do not recite a 2018 number at the till.
Then the other argument, the one this door was built on. Cauliflower or vegetable Manchurian if you wanted the sticky ball. Chicken 65 if that is the plate Uber still calls popular. Chilli chicken, schezwan noodles, hakka noodles, Singapore fried rice if you wanted the wok half. Clay-pot or dum biryani if rice was the event. Pepper fish was the table winner when Consider the Sauce came back in 2015, white fish in a coating that was not as peppery as the name, tender enough that the table wanted another round. Say spice. If you wanted wine, the bottle lives in your bag. Station Hotel at 59 Napier is the steak pub if you wanted a pour instead of a cork.
A reservation form lives on the site if you were eight on a Saturday. Walk-in for two is how Barkly usually works. Takeaway is a house offer. Delivery is a second clock. Eat in the room if you wanted the dosa hot enough that the sambar still matters.
Hours, payment and queues at Pandus
Pandus lists daily hours 9:30am to 10:30pm on the house footer, phone (03) 8307 0789.
That is the shop. Uber Eats prints 10am to 10pm on a delivery card. Wanderlog still prints 10am to 10:30pm. Believe the footer until the phone tells you otherwise. Walk-in for two. The reservations page is a form that asks you to wait for a callback, useful if you were a large Saturday table. Cards. Email panduuspty@gmail.com for catering and large parties. The contact page also wants you to write if you needed a special menu.
Weekend breakfast buffet is the queue risk. Consider the Sauce already watched it fill toward 1pm on a Saturday in 2018. Later mentions still name that brunch. Match days at Whitten Oval pull harder on 3012 than on 351, but Barkly is still Barkly. If you wanted dosa on a Monday morning, this house lists 9:30am. Dosa Hut lists 11am. Do not promise a friend the buffet without asking if it is on.
How do you get to Pandus in Footscray?
You get to Pandus by walking Barkly west from Footscray station to 351, toward Victoria Street, not by getting off at West Footscray.
The house contact page is unusually useful: buses 219 and 472 to Barkly Street and Victoria Street, then about 210 metres, left onto Barkly, three minutes. It is not West Footscray station. Street parking lives on residential side streets throughout the day. Barkly bays are short. Do not hunt the Irving market deck and then complain 351 was a hike. It is a walk. Budget it.
Dosa Hut at 604 is further west into 3012. People who say they will just walk it from the market should still look at a map. The postcode changes under your feet. After dark peel back toward Hopkins or the station rather than inventing a shortcut through the mall. If a friend said meet at the dosa place on Barkly, ask which number.
What do people mix up about Pandus?
They send a 3012 Dosa Hut hunger to 351, or they send a 3011 dosa walk to 604 Barkly and miss the postcode change.
- 351 Barkly Street, Footscray VIC 3011. Phone (03) 8307 0789.
- House hours 9:30am-10:30pm daily. Uber prints 10am-10pm.
- BYO. Dosa and Indo-Chinese. Chef Prashant, Hyderabad.
- Not Dosa Hut at 604 Barkly, West Footscray 3012, from 11am on that house page.
- Pandu's Clayton at 389 Clayton Road is a different suburb. This listing is 351 only.
- Weekend breakfast buffet: confirm it is running and confirm the price.
Questions people ask next
- Does Pandus do BYO?
- Yes. The house home page lists BYO. Bring the bottle. 351 Barkly is Footscray 3011, not Dosa Hut in 3012.
- Does Pandus still run a weekend breakfast buffet?
- Consider the Sauce documented the vegetarian breakfast buffet in October 2018, and later mentions still name the weekend spread. Confirm it is on and confirm the price. Do not use the 2018 figure.
- Do I need to book Pandus?
- Walk-in for two. Use the reservations form at pandus.com.au/reservations if you were a large Saturday table. They ask you to wait for a callback. Phone (03) 8307 0789.
- Is Pandus the same as Dosa Hut West Footscray?
- No. Pandus is 351 Barkly Street, Footscray VIC 3011. Dosa Hut's origin shop is 604 Barkly Street, West Footscray VIC 3012, daily from 11am on that house page.
