Footscray’s vibrant nightlife is one of the many reasons why it was voted as one of the ‘coolest suburbs in the world‘ a couple of year’s ago by Time Out.
Listening to live music, experiencing a show and dancing to your favourite tunes can all be hungry work – which is why we’re spotlighting some of our favourite cheap-and-cheerful eats that can offer you a quick bite to fuel your night out.
This is your chance to discover culinary treats from all around the world and curate your own mini food festival, all within walking distance of Footscray’s world class bars, music stages and arts venues.
If you’re a fan of fun after dark, eating adventurously and good vibes all around, you’ll love experiencing Footscray at night.
Out and about? Use the mobile friendly interactive map.
Huddle up and hustle people! You’ve never seen hot dogs like the ones at Hot Dog Hustle.
At the neon-lit Hot Dog Hustle you’ll find a fusion of Los Angeles x Asian style street dogs of the type that require two hands to eat. We’re talking furikake, bulgogi and kewpie mayo – a melting pot of flavours that’s as exciting and unexpected as Melbourne’s west.
Hot Dog Hustle, 24 Irving Street, Footscray, 0499 277 888.
Spice up your life with the fun upstairs/downstairs combo of bar Back Alley Sally’s and pizza shop Slice Girls, both housed within one stunning warehouse conversion. Slice Girls also provides the essential eats for Likety Split, just out the back and around the corner from Back Alley Sally’s.
You can choose to polish off your hot pizza straight away while seated inside the cosy restaurant, while perched upstairs at the bar, or in the Lickety Split beer garden out the back. Or you can have it boxed to take away.
They can even cater for gluten-free, vegan and coeliac peeps – because everyone deserves delicious pizza.
Slice Girls, 4 Yewers Street, Footscray, 03 9041 6400.
Los Pollos is your friendly neighborhood Pollería serving up Mexican style pollo asado – flame-grilled chicken, authentic Mexican fare and delicious drinks.
You can either grab it to go, or find a cozie table inside and make yourself comfortable.
Los Pollos, 230 Nicholson St, Footscray, 03 9396 0368.
Chef-owner of Ms. Sue Jack Bradley pays homage to his Chinese-Australian roots by introducing Pan-Asian cuisine to Footscray and affectionately naming his restaurant after his mother, Sue.
Spanning Japanese tacos to a signature barramundi yellow curry, the on-trend menu brings together many traditional Asian flavours into a contemporary Australian kitchen.
If you’re after a sweet treat on the go then visit Ms. Sue to take away their signature dessert, the Golden Gaytime Boba Bao. That’s a fried bao sandwiching a scoop of Gaytime ice cream and drizzled with malt custard, banana crumb and fat boba pearls.
Ms. Sue, 100 Hopkins St, Footscray, 03 9912 4492.
Spot the tiny window hidden in the back streets of Seddon and discover Brotherhood Yiros & Grill‘s Greek yiros, cooked using traditional family recipes.
Top quality lamb and chicken are slow-cooked over coals, then paired with fresh salad, homemade secret-recipe tzatziki and nestled inside fluffy pita bread that’s rolled and grilled from scratch every day.
It’s authentic Greek street food that would gain Yiayia’s approval!
Brotherhood Yiros & Grill, 99 Buckley Street, Seddon, 03 9689 6198.
Domenico’s Pizza & Pastaria is a well loved family operated business that’s been operating in Footscray since the 1960s. Look out for their neon sign in Barkly Street that beckons you in for old-school style pizza and pasta.
Their Italian food is fresh and prepared with local ingredients and the service is friendly and fast. Don’t miss the ‘Domenico’s Special’ loaded with tomato, cheese, ham, mushroom, capsicum, olives and anchovies.
Domenico’s Pizza & Pastaria, 305 Barkly St, Footscray, 03 9689 1996.
Better known as ‘Laughing Cow, Laughing Chicken’ by locals in the know, Pho Hung Vuong Saigon is regularly touted as serving some of the best pho in Footscray.
The restaurant is always bustling and busy, but don’t worry – the clientele know better than to linger over their food as tables are in high demand.
Your steaming bowl of noodle soup – served with fresh herbs, bean shoots, chilli and lemon wedges – will be ready for you before you know it. All for under $15 and in under fifteen minutes!
Pho Hung Vuong Saigon, 128 Hopkins Street, Footscray, 03 9689 6002.
If you have a bit more time, don’t miss the ‘dinner and show’ that is the roti-making display at Roti Road.
This restaurant is the perfect location for when you are craving delicious home cooked Malaysian food. The menu features a variety of popular Malaysian fare, from curry laksa to beef rendang, satay to char kway teow.
Most importantly, don’t miss their famous flaky roti, spun like a magical circular carpet by their chefs. Roti canai can be ordered plain with sambal, curry sauce and dahl lentil, served with a side of curry chicken or rendang – or wow your friends with the ‘helicopter’ dessert roti tisu which is taller than your head!
Roti Road, 189-193 Barkly St, Footscray, 03 9078 8878.
Looking to explore Vietnamese cuisine beyond pho and rice paper rolls?
Make tracks towards Cô Thư Quán for regional Vietnamese dishes that are hard to find anywhere else in Melbourne.
Under a ceiling festooned with Nón Lá – the conical straw hats so prevalent in Vietnam – take your pick from a hefty menu containing dishes such as banh trang tron (rice paper salad), canh bun (water spinach crab noodles) and bun dau mam tom (a sample plate of rice noodles, deep-fried tofu, pork belly and fermented shrimp paste, served with herbs).
Service is quick and friendly and after your meal you can claim bragging rights on some of the more unusual dishes that you’ve tried that night!
Cô Thư Quán, Shop 11 & 12, 10 Droop St (Westville Central Entrance) Footscray, 03 9689 1451.
8bit is credited with bringing American-style fast food to Footscray, with the small corner shopfront slinging some of Melbourne’s finest hamburgers, milkshakes, fries and hotdogs.
While you’re waiting for your food (don’t miss the classic 8Bit with Cheese with signature fries), appreciate the decorative details of the burger shop’s arcade game theming – such as the pixelated tiling, a vintage arcade machine and dishes named after classic video games.
8bit, 8 Droop st Footscray, 03 9117 5203.
The sign on Footscray Kebab House simply tells it like it is – it serves Footscray’s best kebabs.
So you be the judge. What we can guarantee is juicy, slightly charred marinated lamb or chicken carved off the spit, fresh salad and house made sauces, all gift-wrapped in some fluffy Turkish-style pita bread.
Grab hold of a huge two-handed feed for under $10!
Footscray Best Kebab House, 93 Nicholson St Footscray, 03 9689 0777.
Footscray is justifiably famous for its Vietnamese and African food – and now you can add New York-style pizza to the list!
Slice Shop is positioned on a prominent corner store in Nicholson Street Mall, emblazoned with the Western Bulldogs colours so you can’t miss it.
At Slice Shop they serve just one thing – pizza. Not just any old pizza – this is thin-crust, #NYCStyle pie by the slice, just like they do in the Big Apple.
You can try pizza by the slice for just $5 or grab some mates and share an 18″ pizza which will amply fill you all up.
Slice Shop, 101 Nicholson Street Mall, 0417 112 604.
Hamada Ahmed, a refugee from North Sudan, escaped his war-torn country to settle in Australia and decided to share his homeland’s flavours with the people of Melbourne.
Lucky for us, you can now transport yourself to North Africa with Sudanese and Egyptian food from Khartoum Centre. If you’re daunted by the menu, start with the Ful (cooked fava beans), the Khartoum falafel or maybe the traditional Arabic dish Fatta Arbi and Molokhia, a dark leafy vegetable stew. Most dishes are under $20.
Khartoum Centre, 143 Nicholson st Footscray, 03 9687 1299.
The friendly husband and wife team of Kemal and Zubeyde are always ready to serve you homestyle Turkish cuisine at Amasya Kebab House.
Tuck into generously proportioned shish meals, manti (dumplings) or warm pides filled with cheese, spinach or sucuk that make the perfect takeaway snack on the go. All the dips, salads and that spectacularly pillowy bread are made in house.
Also recommended – a sneaky sweet treat in the form of their oven-baked baklava.
Amasya Kebab House, 134 Nicholson St, Footscray, (03) 9687 7032.
During the day Don Don has developed a cult following with students and office workers looking for a quick, cheap lunch – and at night they are just as busy.
The small menu features familiar Japanese standards centred around ‘donburi’ or rice bowl dishes topped with various proteins or vegetables. If a pretty sashimi salmon rosette doesn’t rock your boat then you try one of their warming Japanese curries, their udon or soba soups or a bento box.
Every dish is under $20 and will be ready for you before you can say ‘kore wa oishīdesu’ (this is delicious)!
Don Don, 59 Byron St, Footscray.
There’s a reason Issan Thai Street Food attracts Thai expats from all over Melbourne.
While you can still find familiar Thai dishes such as fish cakes, pad thai and green curry on its menu, the kitchen specialises in food from Thailand’s north-eastern Issan region. That area is known for dishes such as gai yang (charcoal-grilled chicken), spicy papaya/som tum salads and larb made with minced meat.
In fact, the pork larb at Issan Thai Street Food is one of their best-selling dishes and packs a fiery lemongrass-and-chilli punch. Pair it with a Thai beer and you’re ready to kick on the rest of your night!
Issan Thai Street Food, 16 Pasiley Street Footscray, 03 9396 1218.
Story content credits: Joyce Watts @TOT: HOT OR NOT and @Bright Smart
