Richmond and Footscray: Old and New Vietnam in Melbourne

After the fall of Saigon in 1975, Australia was among the nations that opened its doors to Vietnamese refugees. There is a very large population of Vietnamese-Australians, numbering roughly 200,000, and 75% of the Vietnamese people in Australia live in New South Wales (Sydney) and Victoria (Melbourne). My trip to Australia began in Sydney where I explored the Vietnamese community of  Cabramatta with Luke Nguyen. On my own in Melbourne, I headed for Richmond and Footscray, as recommended to me by Stephanie Wood, a Sydney Morning Herald food journalist who also blogs at The Elegant Sufficiency.  Stephanie used to live in Melbourne and directed me to these two suburbs to explore the Vietnamese scene here. Some of you recommended Springvale as well but I did not have enough time to make the trek.

Richmond
After checking in to my hotel, I got on a tram and spent the afternoon in Richmond, located just a few kilometers from Melbourne CBD (central business district/downtown). Most of the Vietnamese shops line Victoria Place so I spent hours walking up and down the street. Great little markets, restaurants, and fantastic houseware and restaurant supply shops. At Unicorn, I scored Chinese egg tartlet pans that are hard to get in the U.S., and at Chefland I found moon cake molds to add to my collection.  What’s striking about Richmond is how much it looks like Vietnam. Narrow buildings with some colonial architecture, there’s even a mini version of the landmark Cho Ben Thanh market clock tower from Saigon. With the peeling paint and Melbourne’s dreary spring weather (think Seattle), I felt like I was in Hue or Hanoi in winter. Only most of the people here are southerners.

Vi ‘Em (“Because of You”) is an open storefront-type restaurant fashioned to look like you’re in Saigon. There were men loafing about café style in the mid afternoon. I had great pho at old-school  Thu The and banh khot coconut rice cakes/dumplings at Thanh Hai (the banh cuon was so-so).

However, at the end of Victoria, close to the train station, newer, more modern Vietnamese restaurants. Tran Tran, a smart looking restaurant, was opening that night and the inside smelled faintly like new paint. The all-English menu and minimalist décor was not Vietnamese-modern with vestiges of antiquity but just 21st century modern. This is multicultural Melbourne, and Victoria Place’s businesses are mostly Vietnamese or Chinese, with an Italian pizza joint, Turkish, Indian, and Thai thrown in. There are also Asian furniture importers and of course a bottle shop (liquor store). You can’t go far in Australia without seeing a liquor store.

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Footscray
Yesterday afternoon I took the train from Flinders Station to the working class suburb of Footscray, which I found to be like a cross between Cabramatta and Richmond. You’ve got the colonial architecture, but there’s also a large indoor market full of stalls. One aisle is mostly comprised of Vietnamese butchers.

In Footscray, like in Cabramatta, you can walk the neighborhood whereas in Richmond, “Little Saigon” is a jammed packed kilometer of Victoria. To get a sense of the bigger Vietnamese community, just wander outside of the market. There are several streets to explore and restaurant and shops to pop into. I enjoyed a nice bowl of vegetarian bun bo Hue (called bun Hue because there’s no bo beef) from Bo De Trai on Hopkins. Down the street was an outpost of Nhu Lan, named after the famed deli/banh mi shop in Saigon; there’s one in Richmond too. The sandwich was lightly filled, as it should be and made for a nice snack. There are several Frenchy-type of bakeries too.

In Richmond, I saw non-Viet families getting meals at Vietnamese markets. In Footscray, there was more of an immigrant community of Vietnamese, African and Indian coming together. There are many alleyways in Melbourne and its environs and down one, I met two female graffiti artists from persquaremetre gallery  who were spraying on a gorgeous wall of voluptuous artwork. There are a number of commissioned graffiti alleyways in Melbourne that reflect the city’s intellectual and artistic grit.

As a side note, at the Preston and Queen Victoria markets, there are Vietnamese vendors too, but they’re a minority there. You would not find this kind of commingling of race and ethnicity in the States. Here in Australia, it seems more natural, or just is. I’m sure there are tensions but people seem to get along.

Any thoughts on race and ethnicity in Australia? Do share!

Related links: How Little Saigon in California is like big Saigon but not

Comments

[Phil Lees]

Are you still about in Melbourne? If you're keen for a deeper look at Footscray, I live there and cover Vietnamese food at http://www.lastappetite.com/tag/vietnamese-food/

[La Islena]

I am Melburnian and a minority. I don't generally feel ethnic tension anywhere over here and haven't encountered a racist worthy of mention in more than two decades. I think our laid-back culture helps. Ditto the fact that the (largest) middle class is made up of people from hundreds of different ethnic/cultural backgrounds. There's also a general, unsung appreciation for the fact that save for our indigenous population (the tiny 2%, mind you), we're all (descendents of) immigrants in this country.

PS: The liquor store made me so sad. We're probably well on our way to becoming a nation of alcoholics.

[Andrea Nguyen]

Phil Lees -- Ah, I'm now home in California. Thank you for the link and it's now here for future reference!

La Islena -- Greatly appreciate your insights on race and ethnicity. I found Melburnians (thanks for the correct spelling) to be particularly articulate and upfront about race matters. That was quite refreshing.

As for the bottle shops, there are many of them. I didn't personally witness any poor behavior, but did notice that Australians were particularly careful to not drink and drive. There were plenty of taxis, trams, and trains to get to you and from.

[clekitty]

I spent most of my life in New Zealand. New Zealand isn't as multi cultural as Australia. So you find a lot of the old boat people (my father included) integrated fully with the host nation. Now, we're still not as multicultural but we do have clusters of suburbs around where it is mainly South Africans, Vietnamese, Chinese etc.

Australia is more segregated I think. But keep in mind, there are a lot more people here than in New Zealand.

[La Islena]

@Andrea - it's true, most people are very careful not to drink and drive. But it's also equally true that the culture here equates having fun with consuming copious amounts of alcohol! :-(

@clekitty - more segregated? I don't feel so, at least not in Melbourne. Not for a long time, in any case.

[3hungrytummies]

hey Andrea,
love you blog and glad you visited Melbourne. I do my food shopping every 2 to 3 days in Richmond so I might have walked pass you. The problem with Richmond is not the bottle shops but the numbers of drug dealers roaming the street.
It is a wonderful article about those parts of Melbourne and you are spot on!!!

p/s do you mind if I link my post to your blog when I do use your recipes?

thanks and regards

[Andrea Nguyen]

Hi 3hungrytummies -- Ooh...I didn't want to bring up the dodgy people on Victoria Street but since you have... yes, there were some odd folks hanging around. You're the second person to mention the drug deals going down on Victoria Street in Richmond. That's very sad. There are regular families (Viet and non-Viet) patronizing the businesses and I hope that the Melbourne police clean up the drug trafficking. I did notice a strong police presence as there was 1 arrest and 1 moderation while I was there.

One time when I was in San Francisco's "Little Saigon", located in a tough neighborhood called the Tenderloin, a couple of cops brought down a guy right on the sidewalk 10 feet behind me. My Los Angeles self told me to stop briefly to look and then quickly walk away.

[megan]

I'm Australian, and I admit I don't worry too much about liquor stores, because it's still not like the states where you can buy alcohol at any old convenience store.

While it's amazing to see the multicultural communities across the country, for the most part it's still white, former-european, and there are still incidences of violence... (read into the cronulla race riots tha happened in sydney a few years ago)...

[Andrea Nguyen]

Megan, I don't mind all the bottle shops as it makes life extra convenient. A Bottle 'O what shall we have?! In the States local governments issue licenses for liquor stores so they try to limit/control the number of shops but that doesn't always work out well.

You're not the first person to tell me of of race issues in Australia. It's not a perfect situation but people seem to be more aware and frank about multicultural issues. That says alot.

[nutrition sportive]

Hello
I think you had a great time there.Its very good to know about old and new Vietnam in Melbourne.It is also interesting to read all your experience of traveling in Australia.Thank you.

[AdamSmith]

It is a very good services.As for the bottle shops, there are many of them. I didn't personally witness any poor behavior, but did notice that Australians were particularly careful to not drink and drive. There were plenty of taxis, trams, and trains to get to you and from.
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AdamSmith

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