Look out, Fitzroy: Footscray has been named as the 13th coolest neighbourhood in the world right now. The list, which was compiled with the help of local Time Out editors and experts, ranks 50 of the planet’s cultural and culinary hotspots. Footscray was the only Melbourne suburb to make the list.
If you've vowed to not cross the Westgate, you're missing out. Footscray is one of Melbourne's most inviting and exciting suburbs thanks in most part to the thriving migrant communities that call it home. A melting pot (or wok pan) of cultures spanning from Vietnam to Ethiopia have given back to the suburb with touches of their home countries, which means you can scoop up a goat curry with fresh injera, slurp up pho and hunt down the best cannoli in town, all in the same street.
As one Footscray resident put it: "It’s multicultural, has great bars and food, and it’s cheap(er) and has fewer annoying wanker bros than other parts of the city." Read about some of our favourite things to do in Footscray right now.
Time Out conducts a global survey every year asking more than 34,000 city dwellers around the world about life in their city today. As part of that survey, we also quizzed people about the best, most overrated and most undervalued neighbourhoods in their hometown. The stats revealed that St Kilda is still Melbourne’s most overrated suburb (sigh) but also, that we’re all crushing on one particular west side suburb right now.
Footscray was revealed to be Melbourne's most underrated suburb, with 11 per cent of respondents saying the suburb didn’t get enough love. Good news is it’s finally getting the recognition it deserves.
If you’re curious about the remainder of the list, Arroios in Lisbon took out the top spot, followed by Shimokitazawa in Tokyo and Onikan in Lagos. The only other Australian suburb that featured in the list was the Waterfront in Hobart (sorry about it, Sydney).