The brightest jewel of the west is arguably Footscray: a melting pot (or wok pan) of cultures spanning from Vietnam to Ethiopia. The migrant communities that have come to call Footscray home have in turn given back to the suburb with touches of their home countries, which means you can scoop up goat curry with fresh injera, slurp on pho and hunt down the best cannoli in town all in the same street. Hot on the heels of the suburb’s foodie reputation is its growing arts scene.
Footscray’s main market is the Footscray Market, where you’ll find exotic fruits, tons of fresh produce, cheap butchers, fish stalls and speciality grocers selling anything from Chinese sauces to Mexican condiments. Don’t leave before you pull up a stool at the mini eateries selling Vietnamese street food: most sell banh mi, traditional snacks, Vietnamese coffee, and sugarcane juice.
Footscray’s east African community is the reason why Ethiopian cuisine has flourished alongside Vietnamese businesses on the main strip. Cafe Lalibela’s homestyle fare of curries served on the pancake-like injera is perfect for communal dining.
Tomasso and Sarina Cavallaro opened their family run Italian patisserie in 1956. Now, their children and grandchildren continue the tradition of making ricotta, vanilla custard and chocolate-filled cannoli by hand. Pictured here is Tomasso’s son, Tony, who was only a few months old when his father opened the shop.
“Footscray has always been a place that migrants come to when they’re looking for a new life and a better future," says Tony. "In my father’s generation it was the Europeans coming in after the war, in 1970s it was the Vietnamese, then in the 1990s it was the East Africans after conflict in the region.”
Along with the arts, Footscray's known for its thriving food scene, with few better places to get authentic Vietnamese and African cuisine in Melbourne. It's also home to one of the best burger joints around.
Discover Time Out original video
