102 Hopkins Street, Footscray, Victoria, Australia (03) 9689 4392
Open Monday to Wednesday and Friday to Saturday 10am - 10pm, Sunday 11am - 10pm
Open Monday to Wednesday and Friday to Saturday 10am - 10pm, Sunday 11am - 10pm
We’re on a mission to try a new place, in Footscray, each week. Dong Que fit those criteria. It wasn't a place we had given much thought to before, just one of the many restaurants all snuggled up together on this section of Hopkins St.
For the more visual minded there are pictures of most of the chef's recommendations. I’ll say that the pictures informed our dining choices as they were things that I hadn’t seen on other menus around Footscray and they looked interesting.
The first dish was mixed flour cake with egg - if you found someone with a hangover who had never eaten Vietnamese food before, serve them this along with broken rice and they would be converted forever. This is ultimate hangover food. It’s pretty tasty without the hangover as well. Served with a tangy, spicy dipping sauce it was simple food but something I would order again if I went back here.
The second dish was odd. Texturally really odd. The comment at the time was ‘like eating a spiderweb and the brick you found it on’. I know that sounds terrible but it had such a hard, crunchy exterior and then soft, sticky rice noodle and pork inside. It came with some kind of tamarind dipping sauce. It was nice – but a really unique combination of textures that neither of us were expecting.
There were other dishes on their menu I would try and I liked the place for not placing pho at the forefront of their menu. The food was kind of unadorned and definitely different from the normal selection on Hopkins/Barkly Street. They still have all the Vietnamese favourites but try this place if you’re looking for something a little different.
Banh Bot Chien - Fried mixed flour cake with egg |
Banh Dap Thit Nuong - Steamed rice paper with grilled pork and rice crackers |
Avocado smoothie |
- words by pisso | images by überjoi.
Meal style: Lunch (2 shared dishes)
Cost: $20.50 total (not including drinks)
Time and date of visit: 11:00am Sunday 27 January 2013