James Nguyen

I grew up in Footscray, which is Melbourne's Vietnamese neighbourhood and also home to some of the best African and Ethiopian food in the southern hemisphere. Melbourne has the most interesting food culture in Australia — the laneway café scene, the Vietnamese pho at 7am, the Ethiopian injera at lunch — and the city is small enough to walk most of it. I know which laneway café roasts their own beans, which pho house in Footscray uses the 12-hour broth, and why Melbourne's coffee is specifically different from every other city's and worth the trip to understand.