Footscray is one of the most multicultural eats in Melbourne, and this guide tours that spread rather than ranking one kind of food. Vietnamese pho and Ethiopian lead the suburb, with a Japanese hidden gem, a brewery kitchen and the food-led pubs around them. We ranked the rooms Footscray diners actually name by their Curateria Score and what reviewers keep saying on their most recent visits, with chains and far suburbs left out. Here is the order this month.
Top of the list is Pho Hung Vuong Saigon in Footscray, the Vietnamese pho house reviewers call their favourite pho in Victoria, the combination beef pho the headline with tender beef and good egg noodles beside a grilled chicken pho, pork on broken rice, spring rolls and a three-colour dessert, the service ultra fast and the room buzzingly busy. Ras Dashen Ethiopian Restaurant in Footscray follows, the Ethiopian room reviewers take all their visitors to, the doro wot and the gored gored beside shiro wot, a misir misto and the buna coffee ceremony, the welcome as warm as the food.
Plough Hotel in Footscray is a food-led pub reviewers call delicious, the steak and the chicken parmigiana beside a seafood platter, a seafood linguine and fish and chips, the bistro modern and open. Sapa Hills in Footscray is the Vietnamese room reviewers come back to many times, the ten-hour beef ribs and the Hanoi spring rolls beside a special fried rice, salt-and-pepper eggplant and a bun cha Hanoi, the food quick and the beer cold. Queen of Sheba in Footscray is the Ethiopian room reviewers call amazing, the doro wot and the tibs beside a beyaynetu vegetarian combo and a shiro chickpea stew, the staff walking first-timers through the menu.
Abol Africa in Footscray is the Ethiopian room reviewers name a favourite, the vegan feast platter of ten dishes on injera and the doro watt beside tibs, tofu zigni, a fish curry and tej honey wine, the value remembered as much as the flavours. Littlefoot Bar + Kitchen in Footscray is the bar and kitchen reviewers call a great spot, the croquettes and the gnocchi beside tacos and seasoned chips, the moody indoor room and the roomy alfresco both a draw, the food good whether it is snacks or mains. Ebi Fine Foods in Footscray is the Japanese hidden gem reviewers wish they had tried sooner, the chicken katsu bento and the wagyu beef bento beside a katsu curry, beer-battered fish and chips and a tofu cheesecake, well-priced and welcoming.
The list closes across the suburb. Tan Thanh Loi in Footscray is the Vietnamese broken-rice room reviewers call fast, generous and consistently great, the charcoal-grilled pork broken rice and the banh canh cua crab noodle soup beside bun rieu, grilled chicken broken rice and a bo kho, the family-style cooking authentic and comforting. Hop Nation Brewing Co. in Footscray is the brewery kitchen reviewers find at the end of an alley, the deep-dish pizza and a tasting paddle of house beers the order beside a coconut pastry stout, the out-of-the-way location part of the vibe. Station Hotel in Footscray is a food-led pub reviewers come to for the steaks, the scotch fillet and the porterhouse with bone marrow beside a sticky date pudding, a mushroom pie and a Sunday roast, the sauces singled out, and Hu Tieu Go Ong Map in Footscray rounds it out, the Vietnamese knock-noodle room reviewers rate for a clear, naturally sweet broth, the hu tieu go and the escargot in garlic butter beside snails in coconut cream, a pork chop on rice and beef balls.
If one thread here pulls you in, follow it across the city. There is a guide to the best pho in Melbourne for Pho Hung Vuong, the best Vietnamese in Melbourne for the broken-rice rooms, the best African in Melbourne for Ras Dashen and Queen of Sheba, and the best gastropubs in Melbourne for the Plough and the Station. Or read the suburb guides nearby: the best restaurants in Brunswick, the best restaurants in Preston and the best restaurants in the Melbourne CBD.
Every room here carries a Curateria Score built from its full review history, then weighted toward its most recent hundred reviews so the order reflects the room as it runs today, not as it ran two years ago. We hold the cohort to the suburb itself and a tight inner-Melbourne radius, roughly 15km of the city, and we drop the multi-location chains and national franchises that trade on a logo more than a local following, so what is left reads as the genuine local order. Because a long-running room collects more reviews than a newcomer, we shrink the raw average toward the cohort mean for places with thin review counts, so a handful of glowing reviews cannot leapfrog a room a thousand diners have judged. Footscray is multicultural on the evidence, the Vietnamese and Ethiopian rooms leading the suburb because their own diners keep naming them, not slotted in for variety. A pub or a bar only earns a place when its reviewers are clearly there to eat, the parma and the roast and the steak night doing the talking, so the drinking dens with no real kitchen evidence are filtered out and the food-led pubs are described by what comes out of that kitchen. That is why the Plough and the Station sit here as kitchens. The corpus is Victorian and scored; no AI writer ever reads it. The ranking is arithmetic; the words are ours.
Explore more Footscray across Melbourne on Discover ->
Every venue here is ranked by its Curateria Score, a recent-review-weighted quality signal that leans on what diners are saying now, not years ago. Keep browsing Melbourne, sorted by Curateria Score, on Discover.
More from the Lowdown
Support our work
Reader-supported, ad-light. Three ways to back the work.
Footscray is one of the most multicultural eats in Melbourne, and this guide tours that spread rather than ranking one kind of food. Vietnamese pho and Ethiopian lead the suburb, with a Japanese hidden gem, a brewery kitchen and the food-led pubs around them. We ranked the rooms Footscray diners actually name by their Curateria Score and what reviewers keep saying on their most recent visits, with chains and far suburbs left out. Here is the order this month.
Top of the list is Pho Hung Vuong Saigon in Footscray, the Vietnamese pho house reviewers call their favourite pho in Victoria, the combination beef pho the headline with tender beef and good egg noodles beside a grilled chicken pho, pork on broken rice, spring rolls and a three-colour dessert, the service ultra fast and the room buzzingly busy. Ras Dashen Ethiopian Restaurant in Footscray follows, the Ethiopian room reviewers take all their visitors to, the doro wot and the gored gored beside shiro wot, a misir misto and the buna coffee ceremony, the welcome as warm as the food.
Plough Hotel in Footscray is a food-led pub reviewers call delicious, the steak and the chicken parmigiana beside a seafood platter, a seafood linguine and fish and chips, the bistro modern and open. Sapa Hills in Footscray is the Vietnamese room reviewers come back to many times, the ten-hour beef ribs and the Hanoi spring rolls beside a special fried rice, salt-and-pepper eggplant and a bun cha Hanoi, the food quick and the beer cold. Queen of Sheba in Footscray is the Ethiopian room reviewers call amazing, the doro wot and the tibs beside a beyaynetu vegetarian combo and a shiro chickpea stew, the staff walking first-timers through the menu.
Abol Africa in Footscray is the Ethiopian room reviewers name a favourite, the vegan feast platter of ten dishes on injera and the doro watt beside tibs, tofu zigni, a fish curry and tej honey wine, the value remembered as much as the flavours. Littlefoot Bar + Kitchen in Footscray is the bar and kitchen reviewers call a great spot, the croquettes and the gnocchi beside tacos and seasoned chips, the moody indoor room and the roomy alfresco both a draw, the food good whether it is snacks or mains. Ebi Fine Foods in Footscray is the Japanese hidden gem reviewers wish they had tried sooner, the chicken katsu bento and the wagyu beef bento beside a katsu curry, beer-battered fish and chips and a tofu cheesecake, well-priced and welcoming.
The list closes across the suburb. Tan Thanh Loi in Footscray is the Vietnamese broken-rice room reviewers call fast, generous and consistently great, the charcoal-grilled pork broken rice and the banh canh cua crab noodle soup beside bun rieu, grilled chicken broken rice and a bo kho, the family-style cooking authentic and comforting. Hop Nation Brewing Co. in Footscray is the brewery kitchen reviewers find at the end of an alley, the deep-dish pizza and a tasting paddle of house beers the order beside a coconut pastry stout, the out-of-the-way location part of the vibe. Station Hotel in Footscray is a food-led pub reviewers come to for the steaks, the scotch fillet and the porterhouse with bone marrow beside a sticky date pudding, a mushroom pie and a Sunday roast, the sauces singled out, and Hu Tieu Go Ong Map in Footscray rounds it out, the Vietnamese knock-noodle room reviewers rate for a clear, naturally sweet broth, the hu tieu go and the escargot in garlic butter beside snails in coconut cream, a pork chop on rice and beef balls.
If one thread here pulls you in, follow it across the city. There is a guide to the best pho in Melbourne for Pho Hung Vuong, the best Vietnamese in Melbourne for the broken-rice rooms, the best African in Melbourne for Ras Dashen and Queen of Sheba, and the best gastropubs in Melbourne for the Plough and the Station. Or read the suburb guides nearby: the best restaurants in Brunswick, the best restaurants in Preston and the best restaurants in the Melbourne CBD.
Every room here carries a Curateria Score built from its full review history, then weighted toward its most recent hundred reviews so the order reflects the room as it runs today, not as it ran two years ago. We hold the cohort to the suburb itself and a tight inner-Melbourne radius, roughly 15km of the city, and we drop the multi-location chains and national franchises that trade on a logo more than a local following, so what is left reads as the genuine local order. Because a long-running room collects more reviews than a newcomer, we shrink the raw average toward the cohort mean for places with thin review counts, so a handful of glowing reviews cannot leapfrog a room a thousand diners have judged. Footscray is multicultural on the evidence, the Vietnamese and Ethiopian rooms leading the suburb because their own diners keep naming them, not slotted in for variety. A pub or a bar only earns a place when its reviewers are clearly there to eat, the parma and the roast and the steak night doing the talking, so the drinking dens with no real kitchen evidence are filtered out and the food-led pubs are described by what comes out of that kitchen. That is why the Plough and the Station sit here as kitchens. The corpus is Victorian and scored; no AI writer ever reads it. The ranking is arithmetic; the words are ours.
Explore more Footscray across Melbourne on Discover ->
Every venue here is ranked by its Curateria Score, a recent-review-weighted quality signal that leans on what diners are saying now, not years ago. Keep browsing Melbourne, sorted by Curateria Score, on Discover.
More from the Lowdown
Our read on where Melbourne is eating, drawn from every review we track. Free, no algorithm, unsubscribe in two clicks.