First Look: Good Days’ Unrivalled Pho Arrives in Collingwood

Nine years after opening Brunswick’s Good Days, founder Nam Nguyen says the Hot Listed noodle bar is busier than ever: “We haven’t really changed anything, we just try to keep the menu as small as it’s been since the beginning.”

Which is not to say Nguyen hasn’t been busy. In 2023 he opened a banh mi shop, Good Days Hot Bread, a bit further up the road – which turns into Season Chargrilled Chicken Service at night. And just last week, he opened a second Good Days noodle bar on Smith Street, Collingwood, in the former Maha North space.

As in Brunswick, pho is the main draw and comes in beef, chicken and vegan mushroom varieties as good as any you’ll find in Melbourne. Nguyen was raised in Australia and didn’t cook the soup growing up. But after an overseas trip in the mid-2010s, he returned to Australia with a newfound drive to learn.

“The combination of travelling to Japan and Vietnam in the same period set in motion the idea of serving pho in a small, intimate space with an open kitchen, where the sole focus is trying to create a bowl of pho as well as we could,” he says. 

He spent a year trialling recipes, building on his childhood memories of eating the dish, plus Japanese ramen techniques and tips from Asian cookbooks. The recipe he landed on, and eventually shared in the Broadsheet cookbook Home Made, is something of a mongrel.

“I think people hold on to the idea of authenticity a lot more strongly in Melbourne,” Nguyen says. “The food [at Good Days], for me, is a reminder of my childhood. So, to me, it’s authentic as a second-generation Vietnamese person in Australia.”

Other Brunswick hits carried over to Collingwood include Vietnamese-style chicken rice (itself almost as popular as the pho); com tam (broken rice); noodle salads; rice paper rolls; spring rolls and chicken wings. Quality produce is a cornerstone of the menu, including Omugi grain-fed Victorian Angus beef for the beef pho, free-range Hazeldenes chook for the chicken rice and Birchley Victorian Pork in the spring rolls.

Nguyen’s excited about a tangy, refreshing beef salad called bo tai chanh, a Collingwood exclusive. The entree, similar to beef carpaccio, sees raw topside beef mixed with a lime dressing and served with Vietnamese mint, rice paddy herbs, pickled red onion and beef jerky. There are also betel leaf lamb skewers, served only on Wednesdays at Brunswick, but available every day at the Collingwood. 

The space itself is utilitarian but consistently vibey thanks to the short-order menu, ample bar seating and a strong by-the-glass wine list, plus cocktails and iced teas on tap.

“We’re always conscious about having a bit of personality in a down-to-earth way,” Nguyen says. “You can lose a little bit of that if the space is too shiny and curated, so we avoid our space looking too polished. I wouldn’t say we’re trying to do anything different. But the food, the music and the staff who work there just bring a great vibe to the place.”  

Good Days Noodle Shop
86 Smith Street, Collingwood

Hours:
Daily 11am–9pm

good-days.com.au
@gooddays_vietnamese