Hem 27 was listed in The Age Good Food Guide 2017 as the Best Cheap Eat in Melbourne. The menu is full of must-try meals, including thick soft-shell noodle soup and aromatic Vietnamese style beef stew, as well as recipes passed down by owner Michael Nguyen’s mother.
They’ve whittled out the Chinese dishes usually found on lengthy Vietnamese restaurant menus and expanded on the Vietnamese offerings, which means you’ll find not-everywhere dishes here
Fitted out like a swish Saigon street stall, Hem 27 is a classic cheap eats all-rounder.
I am willing to suspend reality and go with the Saigon alleyway vibe they’re going for here, but the service is too good, the drinks and desserts too polished, and the place too spotless to make me think I’m hearing the buzz of Honda scooters
This place is likely to make most pho-goers rethink their definition of a Vietnamese restaurant.
I recently returned from Vietnam where I learnt that pho is the country’s blandest noodle soup. Sacrilegious, I know, but it led me to Hem 27, which specialises in regional noodle soups.
Sleek Vietnamese cafe with top shelf noodle soups, hefty hawker snacks and a chilled approach to bringing you own? Lock it in. They do a mean iced coffee, too.