Thien An

Great Vietnamese restaurant conveniently located across from Footscray Station. I come here for the banh xeo or com tam dac biet, I like to order the orange soda with egg yolk drink (cam soda sua hot ga) which they now serve in a mason jar which is a nice hipster twist.

Straight forward food dished out with great quality.

I returned the other day with a group of us for an early dinner, after quite some time since dining here as the last experience since change of ownership wasn’t too great. On this occasion we ordered Japanese tofu with salt & pepper, pork ribs, fish in clay pot, stir fry broccoli, chicken with ginger all served with rice to share. There was 5 of us, all for little under $100. I found the serving to be quite small, in particular the clay fish which was $20 and there were 2 small pieces of fish in there. The chicken ginger wasn’t quite impressed, as there was hardly any chicken and a mix of vegetable in it when I initially thought it would be just stir fried with chicken. I had a newborn baby with me, unfortunately there was no place to even change him. Given how quiet the restaurant was, I asked if they had a place in which I could change my newborn, the owner said to just do it in the single small toilet. I just simply raised my eyebrows after hearing that, how it would even be ...read more

This place has changed hands over the years however I don't mind the food in here. The location is good, really close to the train station, and their ambience is decent. However, their staff probably aren't into friendly service. The prices are reasonable and tomato rice is one of their signature dishes. There are two types here and I usually try to get the chef's special. The broken rice is also worth trying.

I agree with the below reviews about change of ownership or management where the service isnt the same, however the food is still the same as i assume the chef is still the same. I come here for the Com Bo Luc Lac which is the diced beef in tomato rice. Its one of my favourite rice dishes. A lot of people come here for this rice dish. Its filling and you can taste the garlicky flavour of the beef which is tasty. It comes with a small side serve of pickled carrots or cabbages which gives a different element to the whole dish. Although the change, i still come here for this rice dish as it still taste the same which is good.

I agree with the other reviewer. I had been going here for years when the previous owner was running the place, it was very much personalized. The owner used to come up and sit down to have a chat with me and exchange stories, given how regular I used to eat there. They had changed management some time ago; the look and feel is the same, the food also appears to be the same, although I sense there may have been some slight changes to some of the dishes. Last night we had take way there, disappointing to know that its cash only. I ordered the traditional bamboo broth soup, it was actually quite disappointing, there was so much vermicelli noodles, about 5 thinly sliced duck full of fat strips, there was hardly any meat on them and the bamboo were very over cooked. While my other half opted for char grilled beef on vermicelli. The traditional sauce that is poured all over the food to create additional flavor was very sweet, in which its normally in ...read more