First Look: 76-Year-Old Hanoi Icon Pho Gia Truyen Opens in Melbourne as Pho Bat Dan
Words by Haymun Win · Updated on 17 Jul 2026 · Published on 17 Jul 2026
When husband and wife Nguyen Lam and Duyen Le Ky brought 40-year-old Hanoi eatery Pho Thin to Melbourne in 2018, the store would often get “crowded like in Hanoi [where] people are everywhere and tables spill out onto the streets,” Le Ky told Broadsheet. Today, the couple aim to re-create that success by importing a second Vietnamese institution to the CBD. This time, they’ve opened the first outpost of Pho Gia Truyen, a beloved 76-year-old pho shop in Hanoi that earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand award.
Rather than keep the same name, the Lonsdale Street location has adopted the moniker Pho Bat Dan. It’s the nickname Hanoi locals use for the original shop due to its address in the Hanoi Old Quarter: 49 Bat Dan Street.
The name might be different, but the pho recipe comes straight from the source. It’s so closely guarded that it took Le Ky and Lam three years to get owner Nguyen Xuan Thang (no relation to Lam) to agree to work with them. Thang’s son Nguyen Xuan Long eventually convinced his father to partner with the couple. In the end, it felt like “destiny”, Thang says.
Melbourne and Hanoi both have cooler climates, which is where northern-style pho broth shines, says Thang. Southern Vietnam’s warmer weather, in contrast, calls for brighter flavours, so pho purveyors there rely more on herbs and chillies. “Northern-style is all about balance and purity. The broth is naturally sweet from the beef bones. It’s not dependent on sugar or heavy seasoning,” Thang says.
Before opening, Thang visited Melbourne to train the team on how to make the signature broth.
“The recipe has been preserved for decades, and every bowl is prepared using traditional techniques that prioritise the broth above everything else,” Le Ky says.
The “minimalist” broth, as Le Ky describes it, is made by simmering beef bones, brisket and ginger overnight. The team is particular about ingredients. Only mature ginger knobs are used, and the team went to great lengths to get the brisket right. “We had to go to the butcher and show him how to cut correctly. Here, the cuts are different to cuts in Vietnam,” Lam says.
The same attention to detail goes into the rice noodles, which Le Ky, Lam and Thang developed together with a supplier. They’re cut thin, like at Pho Thin, but with a higher ratio of rice to water, producing silkier, more opaque strands unique to Pho Bat Dan.
The Hanoi original only has three pho options – rare beef, well-done beef or brisket – while the Melbourne menu expands the range to 16 to give diners “more chances to discover the soup,” Lam says. Alongside the classic trio, you’ll also find bowls topped with beef ribs, meatballs, and extra-fatty brisket.
There are also four earthy, coriander-root-forward chicken pho bowls and a vegetarian version made with carrots, white radishes, dried mushrooms and celery root. House-made condiments accompany each bowl: fermented chilli, pickled garlic or chilli oil.
The menu also branches out into the spicier bun bo hue, which sees the pho broth infused with lemongrass and chillies, and bowls topped with extras like shrimp paste, beef gravy, pork loaf, beef shank and beef tendon. Plus, there are sides including fried Hanoi-style seafood spring rolls, which see a sweet-potato-infused rice paper wrapper filled with a medley of minced crab, prawns and mushrooms.
For Le Ky and Lam, bringing brands from Vietnam to Melbourne isn’t just a marketing technique. It’s part of a greater mission. “Our role is not simply just to open a restaurant” says Le Ky. She says Thang wants the restaurant to showcase “something authentic, a part of [his] culinary heritage from Hanoi.”
Pho Bat Dan
No phone
Hours:
Daily 10am–9pm
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