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T&T Takeaway

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.

Mum had the bun mang goi vit (apologies for the upside down photo) which came with the goi vit on the side.
Goi vit basically means duck salad.
I tried a little, and the bamboo wasn’t really up to scratch for me. It was neither pungently bamboo-ey nor was it braised in a tasty enough master stock. The duck was alright, but as it’s just braised/boiled, duck in this dish is never as stellar as a roast duck.

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!

Dad ordered the bun bo Hue. I sipped a little of his broth, and I have to say it was, well, weird. It was somehow sweet, and lacked the lemongrass,and even chilli characteristics that I associate with good bun bo Hue.
All in all, I think perhaps my aunt either chose better dishes, or just has different tastes to me. I wasn’t that impressed with T&T. There are better places in Footscray, also serving $8 bowls of noodle soup.

8 Replies to “T&T Takeaway”

  1. 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?

  2. Mmmm, blood… There are actually two or three Pinoy joints around the foodcourt. You should come and explain it all to me. 😉

  3. 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!

  4. 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.

  5. I'm envious – I got busted trying to take pics in Footscray Market! What's your secret? Or are you just sneaky? 🙂

  6. 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!

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