Nhu Lan Bakery

It’s cheap and fast! It’s definitely not perfect. They serve pretty good Bahn Mi with pork or chicken BBQ. They recently increased the price to $ 5 (omg bankrupt price). If you add chill, it becomes incredibly spicy by the way!

The best Vietnamese bakery in footscray. The shop can get a little crowded at lunch time but well worth the wait. Banh mi rolls are fantastic and make for a great lunch whilst shopping at Footscray market.

Best bahn mi around! Super fresh ingredients and incredibly cheap (still remember the outrage when they went for $ 4 to $ 4.50 lol).
Definitely one of my staple weekend items :)
The tiny shop is consistently packed with roll lovers! The baguette is delightfully crunchy on the outside, super soft and pillowy middle. My go to has to be the bbq pork roll with Chilli — the little birds eye chillies pack a punch! Wash it down with a cold soy bean drink is a nice balance :)
Lots of other selections on offer: chicken, mixed ham, meatball, tofu.
The bakery itself is not bad, pork puffs are another highlight. They do sell the «butter» (some sort of mixture with mayo?) and the pâté to take home if you want some treats in the comfort of your own home.
Why not try some of the pre cooked foods on offer too?

*incomplete review
If you like Banh Mi, this is one of the best places to get it.
It’s a fairly small bakery on a busy street, but it’s very busy from open to close.
If you want décor or conversation, don’t bother coming here. You want tasty food and fast service that comes with it. This place is it.
Banh Mi is a food that’s quick and cheap and eaten at breakfast or lunch. One will generally cost between $ 4.5−5.5, depends on what’s in it and what you add. This is quite a bit more affordable than places which specalise in it that cost $ 7+.
There are many different types you can get it in: meatball, tofu, mixed ham, pork, shredded pork etc.
The BBQ pork roll is great. It’s well spiced, perfectly cooked chunks of pork with fresh salads that makes your mouth melt and you’ll savour every taste of it. The bread is crunchy on the outisde and soft on the inside. The bakery itself is not bad, pork puffs are another highlight. They do sell the pâté to take home if you want some treats in the comfort of your own home.
Also their bread is great and they also sell stuff such as shredded pork, which is extremely delicious (look inside where the cold drinks are), at time of writing it’s about $ 7 for 300g which is a pretty good price. Also their bread is really delicious and very reasonably priced. 5 dinner rolls are just $ 1.
Parking can be complicated. Most spaces are metered nearby, although there are 2 or 3 spaces outside with 15 min limits that are free. For free parking, park next to Dimmeys or park up about 3 blocks at the northern side of Donald St.
Definitely a repeat customer has been made of me.
Oh, this place is Cash only, like many in Footscray.

* Review incomplete
If you like Banh mi, this is the place to get it!
Smallish bakery along the bustling strip, but packed from open til close with people getting their banh mi fix! They serve all the traditional and them some.

Can’t believe I haven’t left a review for this place yet.
Believe the hype, believe the other reviews. This place is good. And cheap. Awesome feed. Service quick and efficient. Really fresh and satisfying.
For the first timers go for the bbq pork roll. If you wanna do traditional then go for the mixed ham!
Forever a loyal customer!

In my opinion, Nhu Lan is the best place for Banh Mi in Victoria particularly for their mixed ham (thit nguoi) because their pâté is amazing. Let’s not forget they are well known for their baguettes which are crunchy on the outside and fluffy soft yet slightly sweet on the inside. If you’ve been to Hoi An or Da Nang in Vietnam, then you’ll enjoy the baguettes here.
Besides the mixed ham banh mi, I also love their bbq kebab and tofu banh mi. Once in a while, I’ll get their french sticks with pâté and mayonnaise. I love their pâté and mayonnaise so much that sometimes I buy it to takeaway in a separate container so I can spread on my bread on the next day. Other note worthy items include their Banh Pâté Chaud, Banh Tieu (Vietnamese Hollow Doughnuts) and Vietnamese crème caramel Flan.
You’ll easily get your banh mi between $ 4 – 5 depending on what you include/​add in banh mi. I think it’s ridiculously that there are places that specialise in banh mi and charge $ 7 plus. Banh Mi was designed as a quick and cheap food for breakfast or lunch.
The best time to get banh mi or bread at this place is between morning till 12:30pm. During this time, their baguette tends to be the fresher and crunchiest. If you decide to buy their bread on itself own (including the Hollow Doughnut), I suggest you eat it on the day unless you plan to toast it the next day.
There are few other favourite places I like to eat banh mi, but this place always delivers consistently yummy banh mi.

There are so many places where I have spent my money in. A lot of times when the food was good, the price was hiked. The food was bad and the price was hiked. The decoration was good and the price was hiked. A staff in the restaurant had a beard and the price was hiked. The food was good, the decoration was good, the customer service was good still too pricey. No matter where I went, I reserved some kind of criticism for that particular place.
However, today Nhu Lan changed all that when at lunch time I went there expecting a decent (because i had heard praises) roll. I went here to a crowd of people where about six staff are working like machines, they are very quick, very fast and responsive. I was surprised when I got my turn because seeing the crowd of In front of me I was expecting a long wait time that I did not have. So anyways I decided to wait and when my turn came in the staff asked «which one» to which I replied BBQ pork roll and «did you want chilli» to which my answer was yes. Almost instantly it was made and the lady said «$ 4». I had a smile and went.
The real surprise though came when I actually had the BBQ pork roll. This amazingly well spiced, perfectly cooked chunks of pork with fresh salads that makes your mouth melt. I was seriously considering making a u turn for another one.
So this place does not have seats, doesn’t have the most trendiest décor, nor are there anyone to offer you a nice conversation. It DOES not matter.

Dee-​licious Vietnamese sandwiches for a cheap cheap price.

When I first started grabbing banh mi from here, I was stupidly settling, as a vegetarian, for the salad roll. Sure, it’s damn good, but then I spotted the alternative tacked up, almost hidden, on the other side of the menu — the tofu roll. I don’t know what that tofu is marinating in, nor do I know what it is about that mystery margarine that makes everything taste so good (warning to picky vegos — you will often see some of the meaty pâté stuff floating around in that marg, so if you are really strict about these things, this is perhaps not the place for you) and it is probably terrible for me but, in the words of Icona Pop, I DON’T CARE — I LOVE IT.

This could be the best value, maybe even best ever, lunch in Melbourne — $ 2.80 for a salad bánh mì that will change you for the better. Pickled carrots, chilli, coriander, spring onion, peanuts, shallots, some mysterious delicious sauce on a crusty French mini-​baguette. The tofu option ($ 4) is also incroyable. The chilli can border on overly intense but if you don’t order it you’re missing something special. Bánh mì afficionados will no doubt be aware that Nhu Lan’s handicraft has triumphed in some all-​Melbourne blind eatings: eg
The queue can sometimes be insane but don’t be deterred — the staff are swift of food-​tongs. I’ve recently been bulk ordering for colleagues in value-​starved Carlton.
Pro Footscray tip: get at least two.

Nhu Lan has some great little vietnamese sandwiches at an amazing 3.80 each. Flavours range from cold cuts, bbq pork, bbq kebab, bbq chicken, chicken and onion, tofu, and veggie.
My partner and I went for two in the morning, and got the BBQ Pork and Chicken and Onion. Lots and lots of flavour in them. The chili is certainly not for the weak, and my partner couldn’t handle the degree of spice.
Look forward to making this a fairly regular spot.

This place makes me kiss the dirty Footscray sidewalk and thank the good lord I’m a west sider. The sandwiches here are serious people: We’re talking flaky, crusty baguette topped with heavenly roasted pork and chicken, fresh herbs, chili, and hoisin sauce for less than FOUR DOLLARS. That’s literally the price of a tomato at Coles. I mean, you can’t even get an itty bitty bowl of a olives at a bar for that price, and here Nhulan are serving, delicious, (somewhat) nutritious meals for the same coinage.
I even dig standing in the inevitable queue. All of Footscrazy is represented here: Your old Vietnamese grannies, chattering school girls, pale faced hipsters, tradies, crusty street folk, the whole gang, and it makes me feel all warm and toasty. Like I belong to a community. A neighbourhood. A neighbourhood with awesome, cheap things to eat. Happy days.

Footscray isn’t short on Vietnamese bakeries; there is almost one on every street. I’m a fan of a Vietnamese roll for a quick and easy lunchtime fix, so I’ve tried a few of them now and Nhu Lan seems to be the best.
I was first attracted to Nhu Lan by the hoards of people flowing out of the place one sunny afternoon last summer. That old expression, ‘If the locals are eating there, then it must be good’ is a good one to remember. When you step through the door on a busy day, it’s like you are instantly transported to Vietnam. There are people pushing to get to the counter to be served next. There is yelling and over the top ordering and a lot of pointing.
What makes it good? It has to be a combination of the quality of the fresh and crunchy roll, along with the taste of the BBQ pork that they put in it. I tend to stay away from the strangely coloured sliced meats and go for the grilled pork; it’s by far the tastier of the two.