Subscribe 
Subscribe 
Subscribe From Vietnamese to Ethiopian: The Best Restaurants in Footscray
From pho to injera, eat like a local at Footscray’s tastiest restaurants.
Footscray is one of Melbourne’s most flavour-rich neighbourhoods, a multicultural hub where you can eat your way across continents in a single stroll. From Vietnamese icons and Ethiopian institutions to Japanese omakase counters, Filipino favourites and modern bistros, the best restaurants in Footscray deliver big flavour and even bigger personality. And when you’re ready to wrap up the night, a wave of excellent Footscray bars is waiting.
Begin your food adventure with our top picks for when you’re craving…
Best Restaurants in Footscray: Vietnamese
Xuan Anh Banh Cuon
At Footscray Market’s unassuming Vietnamese stall, Xuan Anh Banh Cuon turns delicate steamed rice rolls into an art form. The silky banh cuon — filled with seasoned pork, mushroom and herbs — arrives with a bowl of tangy dipping sauce and fresh greens, making every bite light yet deeply satisfying. Pair it with a tot of broth, crab noodles or rich fish cakes and you’ve got corner-stall brilliance.
Footscray Market, 194/81 Hopkins Street, Footscray
Hủ Tiếu Gõ Ông Mập
This Footscray staple hums with real-deal Vietnamese street-food energy, known for bowls of hủ tiếu with handmade noodles, fresh herbs and a broth that lands with clean, savoury depth. The locals come for the noodles but stay for the ốc: snails tossed through buttery garlic sauces or chilli-lifted variations that hit the table steaming. It’s fast-paced and adored for flavours that feel straight from the roadside kitchens of Saigon.
2/203 Ballarat Road, Footscray
Sapa Hills
Settle into Sapa Hills, an airy, mural-lined favourite serving some of Footscray’s brightest Vietnamese dishes. The menu is stacked with classics and northern–southern specialities: bao with braised pork belly, crispy chicken ribs, prawn toast, beef in betel leaves and abundant bowls of vermicelli. Everything arrives fresh, colourful and generously portioned. With crowds most nights, it’s clear this spot remains one of the area’s true standouts.
112 Hopkins Street, Footscray
Banh Xeo Tay Do
As their name suggests, Banh Xeo Tay Do’s house specialty is the sizzling savoury crêpe known as banh xeo. Fabulously crisp and lacy, they’re dotted with chunks of bouncy prawn meat and served with tangy dipping sauce and a generous heaping of fresh herbs. Here they make them “mien trung” style, arriving three hand-sized crêpes to a plate (rather than the big tear-and-share kind you see elsewhere) making them dangerously easy to eat. The friendly husband-and-wife team at this spick-and-span little eatery will make you feel right at home.
4/62 Nicholson Street, Footscray
Huong Viet Vegan
Vietnamese food, with its love of fish sauce, pork and seafood, doesn’t normally come to mind as a vegan-friendly cuisine. However, you’ll find that the folks at Huong Viet are doing magical things with plants, recreating all of your favourite dishes in vegan form. They use soy and spices to recreate everything from sizzling beef and sweet’n’sour flounder to smoky pork sausage, and it’s all so moreish that even the omnivores will be happy. With silky sauces and fabulous tofu and veggie dishes to boot, eating sustainably has never tasted so good.
36A Leeds Street, Footscray
Bun Cha Co Dao
Footscray’s Bun Cha Co Dao brings a slice of Hanoi to Nicholson Street with its take on bún chả and other Vietnamese staples in a relaxed, unfussy space. Grilled pork and patties arrive with rice noodles, herbs, and a dipping sauce that lean smoky, sweet, and deeply satisfying. Add a clear broth on the side, and you’ve got a comforting, everyday kind of meal that feels right for lunch or dinner.
83 Nicholson Street, Footscray
Best Restaurants in Footscray: Ethiopian
Ras Dashen
Acquaint yourself with the rich, spicy and colourful cuisine of Ethiopia at Ras Dashen, a beloved Footscray restaurant that’s been delighting locals for over a decade. Cover your table in earthenware bearing slow-cooked beef stews, saucy lamb tibs (addictively seasoned diced lamb) and a range of vegetarian and vegan stews that will renew your belief in the tasty potential of lentils and fava beans. It’s all scooped up with paddles of injera, the staple flatbread of Ethiopia, which is pillowy, chewy, nutty, and gently sour from fermentation.
247 Barkly Street, Footscray
Abol Africa
Abol Africa is Barkly Street’s plant-forward Ethiopian star, with a menu that makes group ordering feel wildly easy and genuinely exciting. Start with sambusa, then build around vegan combo platters, Veggie Paradise, or the make-your-own meat-and-veggie spreads if your table wants range. The menu also includes fish, so mixed-diet groups are well covered. Bright flavours, generous portions and excellent sharing energy = made for long weekend lunches.
221 Barkly Street, Footscray
Queen of Sheba
Queen of Sheba is the Nicholson Street all-rounder with serious menu depth, spanning Ethiopian and Sudanese flavours, share-friendly house selections and a proper coffee-ceremony finish. Order sambusa, tibs or kitfo, then branch into bamiya, molokhia or the weekend tihlo special if you plan ahead. Ethiopian beers seal the deal.
224 Nicholson Street, Footscray
Abesha
Abesha is the Barkly Street favourite you bookmark for big groups, first-timers and anyone chasing maximum variety on one table. The Abesha Special Combo is a standout, with meat and vegetable dishes together, while Doro Wat, Awaze Tibs and kitfo keep regulars returning. There is range for vegetarians too, plus Ethiopian coffee, and the combo-heavy menu makes ordering blissfully straightforward on busy Footscray dinner nights.
327 Barkly Street, Footscray
Konjo Ethiopian Restaurant
Footscray’s Konjo Ethiopian Restaurant serves traditional Ethiopian dishes from breakfast through dinner in a warm, modern space. Start with scrambled eggs cooked with onion, tomato and berbere, or settle in for an injera spread featuring vegetarian stews or a richly spiced lamb option. The $25 shared platter is ideal for tasting everything. Do not leave without their Ethiopian coffee brewed in a clay pot with myrrh and frankincense.
89 Irving Street, Footscray
Yetenbi
Yetenbi’s décor may be on the spare side, but their cooking is anything but. This deliciously authentic spot for Ethiopian will surprise you with rarer specialties like dulet – spicy lamb tripe and liver mixed with onion, garlic and butter – or kitfo, a beef tartare served with fresh cheese, collard greens and flatbread. Depending on how adventurous you’re feeling, you can even choose to have your meat well done, medium or raw.
Can’t choose? Their generous platters land with a beautiful spread of dishes arranged over a wide round of soft, tangy injera, giving you the chance to taste your way through the menu.
249 Barkly Street, Footscray
Best Restaurants in Footscray: Japanese
Takezo
Takezo is where you book when dinner needs occasion energy in Melbourne. This intimate Barkly Street omakase serves a seasonal set menu that rolls out with precision, from delicate starters to sashimi and nigiri that arrive course by course in beautifully judged rhythm. The room is compact, the mood is focused, and the whole experience reads impeccably elegant rather than showy. Add sake or French wine and let the night stretch.
157A Barkly Street, Footscray
Matsu
Matsu is the West’s high-stakes Japanese booking, a kaiseki-led omakase where chef-owner Hansol Lee, Kenzan trained, treats Victorian produce and Japanese imports with surgical precision. The new Barkly Street room seats just 12, so reservations vanish fast. Courses glide from sashimi to immaculate nigiri, with hibachi char and tempura from Japanese iron pots. Come for birthdays, promotions, or any night worth dressing up for. If you see a cancellation, grab it and cancel everything else.
275 Barkly Street, Footscray
Elka Sushi
From the family behind D&K Live Seafood, Elká Sushi brings serious seafood credibility to Leeds Street, with pristine cuts, dry-aged fish and clean, confident technique setting the tone. Order nigiri brushed with house-made nikiri, then add sashimi or a chirashi bowl for the full effect. It feels polished but never precious, which is exactly why Elká has become one of Footscray’s smartest Japanese addresses.
2/7-9 Leeds Street, Footscray
Best Restaurants in Footscray: European & Modern Australian
Bar Thyme
Footscray’s Bar Thyme blends bistro heart with wine bar confidence, making it a brilliant choice for date nights or a relaxed evening with friends. Start with a gin martini, then explore a sustainable wine list that jumps from crisp Peninsula whites to expressive Scintilla blends.
Snacks show real personality — think nduja scotch eggs, saffron-touched mussels and smoked beetroot with almond cream. For something more substantial, the steak with Café de Paris butter is a favourite, though the seasonal pies and Sunday set menus make a strong case too. A clever, character-filled spot that rewards curiosity.
227 Barkly Street, Footscray
Harley & Rose
West Footscray’s Harley & Rose is the neighbourhood favourite that always feels right for an easy, generous meal with friends. The woodfire oven works its magic on puffy, blistered pizzas — pippies with parsley and lemon is the one to bookmark — while the rest of the menu moves between clever snacks, comforting pastas, schnitzels with caper butter and slow-cooked lamb built for sharing. Warm, relaxed and reliably delicious.
572 Barkly Street, West Footscray
The Vic Hotel
Footscray’s stalwart pub, The Vic Hotel, has been welcoming locals since 1870 and still carries that relaxed, familiar charm. The kitchen goes far beyond standard pub fare, dishing up succulent grilled steaks, clever twists on classics, and modern share plates like a pork and black pudding scotch egg with curry mayo, plus heirloom tomatoes with stracciatella, black olive and garlic breadcrumbs. Add dessert and a neat wine list and you’ve got a spot that encourages you to stay well past one pint.
43 Victoria Street, Footscray
Slice Shop Pizza + Mr West
In case you weren’t aware, Footscray’s most effortless power move is this two-stop ritual: a hot, foldable slice from Slice Shop Pizza (the mushroom is a non-negotiable, sorry), followed by a drink upstairs at neighbouring Mr West Bar & Bottle Shop. You can even have a whole pizza delivered straight to the bar, which only adds to the appeal. The pizza lands crisp and generous (with a ranch sauce to boot), the cocktails are seasonally refreshed and consistently good, and the dirty martini and beer list always hit the mark. Together, they shape a night that feels proudly local, casual and reliably fun — the pairing you return to without a second thought.
101 Nicholson Street Mall, Footscray (Slice Shop)
106 Nicholson Street Mall, Footscray (Mr West)
Best Restaurants in Footscray: Malaysian & Asian Fusion
Roti Road
A 7-course banquet menu for less than $45?! Unheard of! There’s a reason why Roti Road is such a staple for many a Footscray local. Not just for the stellar value, but for how ridiculously delicious the food is too. Of course, you’ll need to try their true to name, signature dish; the smooth and crispy roti. Made fresh to order, it’s served with a side of sambal, curry and dhal lentil, for less than $10 a pop.
Sitchu Tip: Enjoy the roti experience even more by accompanying it with a side of beef rendang.
189/193 Barkly Street, Footscray
MS. SUE
For Asian fusion with real flair, MS. SUE is the spot the Sitchu team keeps returning to. Jack Bradley, a proud Chinese-Australian raised in the west, draws on his travels and heritage to shape a menu that feels fresh, personal and full of character.
Expect nori tacos, chilli prawn wontons, cloud-soft bao, mi goreng and curries from crisp barramundi in yellow spice to a rich braised beef massaman.
100 Hopkins Street, Footscray
Best Restaurants in Footscray: Latin American
La Esquina Latina
Part street party, part flavour playground, La Esquina Latina has lifted Ballarat Road with bold Latin energy. This is where you get to wander between stalls for golden empanadas, crisp patacones and arepas filled to bursting, then settle in with something cold while the music warms up. Weekends feel like a neighbourhood fiesta, with colour, charm and a loyal crowd who arrive hungry and leave happy.
201 Ballarat Road, Footscray
Papelon
For arepas that stop you in your tracks and empanadas that demand a return visit, Papelon is the spot. It’s relaxed, generous and brilliant for comfort eating done right. Order the black bean, shredded beef, salty cheese and sweet plantain arepa, follow it with a fish empanada inspired by Margarita Island, then add a quail-egg arepa if you’re wise.
The twice-fried green plantain — patacón layered with salad, cheese, sauces and your pick of protein — is essential. With warm hospitality and flavours rarely found in Melbourne, Papelon earns its place high on any Footscray hit list.
Footscray Market, 190/81 Hopkins Street, Footscray
Now that you’ve had your fill of the best restaurants in Footscray, treat yourself to one of Melbourne’s best desserts, or head to the city for a fancy cocktail or two.
Subscribe 
Subscribe 
