Vietnamese.
Australian.
A little bit in between.
A Vietnamese restaurant that challenged our perceptions of what Vietnamese cuisine in Australia needs to be. A restaurant that existed to showcase the ethos and essence of Vietnamese cuisine.
We opened our doors in May 2015 and took a break in the June of 2022. Still on a break.
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Missing Anchovy?
⬇ Missing Anchovy?
Anchovy’s Legacy
Lives On
We have been dabbling in a couple of alternate projects while we try to find our perfect home for Anchovy.
Ca Com banh mi bar, our 2020 spin-off: now riffing quality sandwiches with the Anchovy spin - Lao sausage, Turmeric chicken, Manchurian pumpkin when the season is right.
Jeow, the food we eat on our weekends and the food we crave for their bright, herbaceous and pungent favours. A venue inspired by the suburban Laotian eateries of Sydney and Melbourne.
Best described as Vietnamese Australian
Driven by our South East Asian roots and influenced by Australia’s contemporary dining landscape.
The little Vietnamese restaurant that could
When we opened the restaurant in 2015, we had a simple goal in mind - to show Melbourne, and perhaps Australia, that there is a lot more to Vietnamese cuisine than rice paper rolls, beef noodle soup and banh mi!
We wanted to showcase the ethos and essence of Vietnamese cuisine. To feed like our matriachs, drink like our patriachs, and delve into the locality as well as seasonality of produce as our ancestors did.
We made friends, gained recognition for our efforts, and learnt to run a small business by the seat of our pants.
And then we had to stop
There was a global pandemic, there were the compounded stresses of working a lot of hours, we fell in love with hiking and decided to take care of ourselves. We also had a different plan for Anchovy, for it to grow into its next phase.
The universe had other ideas. What was meant to be a 3 to 6 month transition has extended into a transition with no clear end in sight. First, we could not get a liquor license in the site we wanted to reopen Anchovy in. A neighbour just would not have a bar of it. When we finally got the liquor license, there was a fire at the site we wanted to reopen Anchovy in. Seven months in (Feb 2024) and we are still waiting…