Food Court, Footscray Market, Irving St, Footscray
After hauling my new washing machine 250 metres up Barkly St with my parents – they had parked the car in front of the wrong building, and unloaded the thing before letting me know they’d arrived – I wandered down to Footscray Market with them for some lunch and to do some grocery shopping.
Mum had a ‘hot tip’ from one of my aunts about a good place in the market to eat, so we sat down at one of the eateries in the food court. Interestingly T&T offers both Vietnamese and Filipino food. I’m not sure how that works with respect to the ‘authenticity’ stakes, but I imagine they might actually just be two proprietors sharing a kitchen space? Most of the Filipino stuff appeared to be pre-made, whereas a lot of the Vietnamese dishes on the board were made to order in the kitchen out the back.



I ordered the bun mam, which is a rice vermicelli noodle soup made with fermented fish paste as the stock base. T&T’s bun mam broth was well balanced; strong without being overly fishy or salty. A squeeze of lemon helps to lift the flavour, which is otherwise quite intense. I thought i a little odd to be given chunks of roasted belly pork and large prawns, yet there was a lack of cha lua or any other processed pork. Still, when it arrived, the crackling on the pork was still crunchy, so I can’t complain too much!


OMG they have dinaguan! Do you know what that means Billy?
BLOOD.
It's a blood stew.
I've never heard of anywhere in Melb serving Pinoy food. Wonder if it was any good?
Mmmm, blood… There are actually two or three Pinoy joints around the foodcourt. You should come and explain it all to me. 😉
Could be fun! I warn you though, I'm not a good Pinoy. Well, not compared to Ryan, say. Damn halfies, we can't get anything right!
Oh, bummer! I think I know the place you mean. Never tried it but always been curious to. The congee people next door are good but their hu tieu mi-style soups are pretty gross IMHO.
There is apparently a good Filipino takeaway place in a shopping centre in Cairnlea – Adrian (@foodrehab) rates it.
I'm envious – I got busted trying to take pics in Footscray Market! What's your secret? Or are you just sneaky? 🙂
Busted? By whom? They prohibit photography in the market?
I guess my 'secret' is that all my photos are taken on my iPhone, which is considerably less conspicuous than a real camera!
Yes! Taking pics is banned. iPhone is a good trick, though!
LOL not a trick, it's my schtick! 😛