Updated 16 March 2026 | 12 places tested | Yuki Tanaka reporting
There is a stretch of Barkly Street where you can smell injera steaming on a clay plate before you even see the restaurant. Two blocks over, the sizzle of banh xeo batter hitting a hot pan cuts through the air like a dinner bell. This is Footscray — not the Footscray of real estate brochures, but the one that feeds you.
Over the past month, I walked Hopkins, Barkly and Nicholson Streets with a critical eye and an expanding waistband. Twelve venues. Vietnamese joints that have been ladling pho since before Footscray was “discovered.” Ethiopian restaurants where the coffee ceremony alone is worth the trip. A Japanese canteen that charges less than your morning flat white for a full katsu plate. Here is what I ate, what I loved, and — importantly — what I skipped.
The Vietnamese Heavy Hitters
Sapa Hills — 112 Hopkins Street
If Footscray’s Vietnamese scene had a front door, Sapa Hills would be it. The wall murals depicting Sapa’s terraced hills set the tone: this is Vietnamese food presented with pride and a bit of theatre. The menu pulls from both northern and southern traditions, which means you can order a Hanoi-style bun cha alongside southern-style broken rice with grilled pork.
What to order: Braised pork belly bao ($6 each), crispy chicken ribs ($16), and the betel leaf-wrapped beef ($18). The prawn toast ($12) is an unexpected standout — crunchy, well-seasoned, and nothing like the frozen version you get at lesser places.
Budget tip: Weekday lunch combos run $14–18 and include a drink. You will not find better value for a sit-down meal on Hopkins Street.
🍽️ THE MOVE Order the bao and chicken ribs as shared starters, then split a vermicelli bowl for mains between two. You eat well for under $25 per person, with change left for the Footscray Market across the road.
Banh Xeo Tay Do — 4/62 Nicholson Street
The name gives it away: these people do banh xeo and nothing else comes close. The husband-and-wife team plate them “mien trung” style — three hand-sized crêpes per serve, crisp and lacy at the edges, stuffed with bouncy prawn and bean sprouts. You wrap them in lettuce, dunk them in nuoc cham, and try not to order a second round. (You will order a second round.)
What to order: Banh xeo ($16 for three), bun bo Hue ($15), fresh rice paper rolls ($10).
Good to know: Cash preferred. The space seats maybe 20. Arrive by 6pm Friday or expect a wait.
Huong Viet Vegan — 36A Leeds Street
Vietnamese cuisine leans on fish sauce and pork fat the way Italian cooking leans on Parmigiano. So the fact that Huong Viet Vegan recreates the entire Vietnamese experience using only plants is genuinely impressive. Their sizzling “beef” ($17) uses soy-based protein with enough five-spice and lemongrass to fool your palate. The sweet-and-sour “flounder” ($19) is the dish that converts skeptics.
What to order: The sizzling “beef,” the smoked “pork sausage” ($14), and a coconut coffee ($6) to finish.
Who it’s for: Vegans, obviously. But also curious omnivores who want to see how far plant-based Vietnamese cooking has come in Melbourne.
Co Thu Quan — Hopkins Street
Co Thu Quan specialises in northern Vietnamese fare — the kind of food you find in Hanoi backstreets, not in tourist-facing restaurants. Think bún riêu (crab noodle soup), banh cuon (steamed rice rolls), and rich, peppery versions of pho that lean heavier on spice than sugar. This is where Vietnamese locals eat when they want food that tastes like home cooking, not restaurant cooking.
What to order: Banh cuon ($12), bun rieu ($15), and the Northern-style pho ($16). Pair with their Vietnamese iced coffee ($5).
The Ethiopian Strip
Barkly Street between Nicholson and Hopkins is Melbourne’s most concentrated stretch of Ethiopian dining. You could eat at a different place every night for a week and still not cover them all. These three earned a permanent spot on my rotation.
Ras Dashen — 247 Barkly Street
Named after Ethiopia’s highest mountain, Ras Dashen has been a Footscray institution for over a decade. The couple who run it — Alemitu Alemeo and Wondi Aberra — treat every table like guests in their home. The vegetarian combination platter ($22) is the move for first-timers: mounds of misir wat (spiced red lentils), shiro (chickpea stew), gomen (collard greens), and atakilt (cabbage and carrot), all served on a vast sheet of injera.
For meat eaters, the lamb tibs ($24) arrive sizzling in a clay dish, the cubes of lamb still pink in the centre and coated in a blistering berbere sauce. The injera here is made in-house, slightly tangy and spongy enough to mop up every last drop.
Budget tip: The lunch combo ($16) is the same food, lower stakes. A great entry point.
🗳️ VOTE: What’s your go-to Ethiopian dish? 🔘 Doro Wat (spiced chicken stew) 🔘 Tibs (sautéed meat) 🔘 Kitfo (minced raw beef) 🔘 Vegetarian combo platter 🔘 I’m a sambusa loyalist
Konjo Ethiopian Restaurant — 89 Irving Street
Konjo means “love” in Amharic, and the warmth here is genuine. What sets Konjo apart is breakfast. Yes, breakfast. Scrambled eggs cooked with onion, tomato and berbere, served with injera and spiced tea ($12). It is the antithesis of avocado toast, and honestly, more satisfying.
For dinner, the shared platter ($25) covers most of the menu in one hit. The Ethiopian coffee ceremony — served in a clay pot with myrrh and frankincense — is a sensory experience that no food writer can adequately describe in words. You simply need to sit in that room, breathe it in, and let the smoke curl around you.
What to order: Breakfast egg scramble ($12), vegetarian combo ($20), lamb tibs ($24), Ethiopian coffee ($5).
Abesha Restaurant and Bar — 327 Barkly Street
Abesha is the rowdy one. On Friday and Saturday nights, this place fills up with Ethiopian-Australians, curious locals, and the occasional group of university students who came for the $14 vegetarian platter and stayed for the Ethiopian St George beer on tap.
The Abesha Special Combo ($28) is the play for groups: meat dishes (doro wat, kitfo, awaze tibs) alongside vegetable sides, all on one massive injera. The kitfo — finely minced raw beef seasoned with mitmita chilli and niter kibbeh (spiced butter) — is not for the cautious. But if you are even slightly curious, this is the place to try it.
What to order: Abesha Special Combo ($28), kitfo ($20), veggie combo ($16), St George beer ($7).
💬 CONFESSION BOX I ordered the kitfo raw the first time. It was like Ethiopian steak tartare — rich, buttery, and gently warmed by the chilli. I ate the entire plate. I then spent 10 minutes pretending to my dining companion that I was “fine” while my mouth burned from the mitmita. Worth it. Every time. — Yuki
Beyond Vietnamese and Ethiopian
Don Don — Hopkins Street
Don Don is a Japanese canteen that operates at the speed of a vending machine and charges roughly the same prices. Chicken katsu ($12), teriyaki chicken ($11), curry rice ($13) — all plated in under five minutes, all generously portioned, all solid. This is not fine dining. This is the kind of place you hit on a Tuesday when you need a hot meal and cannot be bothered waiting.
What to order: Chicken katsu don ($13) with a side of miso soup ($3). Under $20 for a full meal.
Ebi Fine Foods — Hopkins Street
Ebi takes a more considered approach to Japanese comfort food. Their bento boxes ($18–22) are carefully arranged, the house-made sauces show real attention, and their Japanese curry (chicken or pork katsu, $16–18) has a depth of flavour that puts chain Japanese restaurants to shame. The tempura-battered fish — essentially a Japanese twist on fish and chips ($17) — is a cult favourite among west-side locals.
What to order: Katsu curry ($17), bento box ($20), tempura fish ($17).
Queen of Sheba — 224 Nicholson Street
The name comes from the legendary Ethiopian queen Makeda, and the menu pulls from both Ethiopian and Sudanese traditions. This gives Queen of Sheba a broader range than most Ethiopian restaurants in the area. The siga wat (spiced beef stew, $18) and molokhia (jute leaf soup, $16) sit comfortably alongside tibs, kitfo, and the usual combos. On weekends, they run a tihlo special — a regional Ethiopian dish of barley dough balls with spicy stew — that is genuinely rare to find in Melbourne.
What to order: Sigia wat ($18), veggie combo ($16), weekend tihlo special ($22), Ethiopian honey wine ($9).
What We Skipped and Why
Hien Vuong — Solid pho, but nothing that differentiates it from half a dozen other Hopkins Street options. If it were your only Vietnamese option, you would be happy. With Sapa Hills and Co Thu Quan in the same suburb, it does not earn a spot here.
Yetenbi — Legitimate food, fair prices, but the space is bare-bones and the menu lacks a signature dish that makes you want to return. Good for a quick lunch. Not a destination.
Abol Africa — The plant-forward Ethiopian concept is promising, but on two visits the injera was noticeably thinner than competitors and the stews lacked the spice depth at Ras Dashen or Abesha. Worth revisiting in six months.
Viet Kitchen — A dependable neighbourhood pho joint. We review these in our Footscray pho deep-dive, where it gets a proper breakdown.
The Footscray Formula
After twelve meals across twelve venues, a pattern emerges. Footscray’s best Asian and African restaurants share three traits:
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They specialise. Sapa Hills does not try to be an Ethiopian restaurant. Ras Dashen does not add sushi to the menu. The places that do one thing well consistently outperform the ones that spread themselves thin.
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They price for the community. Most mains sit between $14 and $25. A couple can eat at any venue on this list for under $70 including drinks. This is not an accident — it reflects the suburb’s working-class roots and the expectation that good food should not require a second mortgage.
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They respect the ingredients. The injera at Ras Dashen is made daily. The banh xeo batter at Tay Do is mixed in-house. The berbere at Konjo is ground from whole spices. You taste the difference.
📊 REACTION BAR How often do you eat in Footscray? 🔥 Weekly — it’s my go-to 📍 Monthly — always find something new 🗓️ Few times a year — this list is my next trip 👀 Never — but I’m adding it to the list now
If You Only Have One Night
Hit Sapa Hills for dinner. Walk the five minutes to Abesha for Ethiopian coffee and maybe a kitfo. End the night at one of the best bars in Footscray with a cold pint. Total damage: around $60 per person. Total cultural exposure: immeasurable.
If you want to plan more around the area, our complete Footscray weekend guide covers markets, bars and things to do between meals. For the full western suburbs food picture, check our westside food map which puts Footscray in context with Seddon, Yarraville and Williamstown.
Yuki Tanaka is the Asian Food Editor at MELBZ. She has been eating through Melbourne’s suburbs since 2019 and has never once regretted the calories. Follow her Field Notes on Instagram @yukieatsmelb.