Footscray's banh mi is Melbourne's other Vietnamese sandwich: a baguette stuffed with pate, sliced cold roast pork, pickled daikon and carrot, cucumber, coriander and chilli, eaten on the kerb outside Phuoc Thanh.

Banh mi arrived in Melbourne with the post-1975 Vietnamese refugee wave and rooted in the western suburbs around Footscray and Richmond. Phuoc Thanh on Hopkins Street in Footscray is the city's longest-running banh mi specialist, operating from the late 1980s as a counter-service bakery turning out the sandwich at A$7 a piece. The Melbourne format is distinctly Southern Vietnamese: a soft-rice-flour Vietnamese-style baguette, slightly shorter and crispier than a French loaf, packed with cold cuts (gio cha pork roll, sliced char siu, pate), pickled carrot-daikon do chua, cucumber spears, coriander and chilli sauce. Lines run down Hopkins Street at peak Saturday lunch.

2 editor picks for Pork Banh Mi at Phuoc Thanh in Melbourne, ranked by editorial score. All Melbourne signature dishes · Pork Banh Mi at Phuoc Thanh across every city.

Footscray Market ★ 4.6

Market

yarraville · Hopkins Street, Footscray VIC 3011

Footscray Market on Hopkins Street is Melbourne's best multicultural food market: Vietnamese grocers, African spice traders and Phuoc Thanh banh mi inside.

Phuoc Thanh ★ 4.5

Street food

yarraville · Footscray Market, 18 Irving Street, Footscray VIC 3011

Phuoc Thanh inside Footscray Market is the banh mi benchmark for Melbourne's west: house-made pate, house-picked vegetables and a queue that never shortens.

Learn to cook it, or eat it with a guide

Pork Banh Mi at Phuoc Thanh makes more sense with someone from Melbourne explaining it. These are the classes and tours we have checked, with booking links.

Book food experiences in Melbourne

See all 447 bookable experiences in Melbourne