Bánh Xèo Adelaide — Southern Vietnamese Crispy Pancake in Chinatown

★ As featured in Glam Adelaide — 2025 SA Restaurant & Catering Awards finalist

If you're searching for banh xeo in Adelaide, this is the dish we'd put in front of you first. Ours is Southern-style — a thin turmeric rice-flour batter cooked until it shatters at the edges, folded over pork, prawn and bean sprouts, then eaten the proper way: torn, wrapped in lettuce with fresh herbs and dunked in nước chấm. It sits alongside our Phở Tái and the rest of the menu at our family kitchen in Adelaide Chinatown — nothing fancy, just made the way it's been made in our family since the 1970s.

What is bánh xèo?

Bánh xèo is a Vietnamese turmeric rice-flour crepe, cooked thin in a hot pan until the edges curl and crisp and the centre turns a deep, sunflower yellow. Inside goes a generous handful of pork, prawns and bean sprouts, plus spring onion for bite. The batter is gluten-free by nature — just rice flour, coconut milk, turmeric and water — and the trick is all in the heat: the pan has to be hot enough that the batter sets instantly and fries, never steams. Done right, a bánh xèo shatters like a prawn cracker when you break it apart. Done wrong, it’s a sad, soft omelette. We don’t do sad, soft omelettes.

How to eat it — hands first

This is not a knife-and-fork dish. Bánh xèo is eaten with your hands, and that’s half the joy. Tear off a piece of the crisp pancake, lay it on a fresh lettuce leaf, add a sprig of mint or perilla and a few pickles, fold the whole thing into a neat parcel, and dunk it into a small bowl of nước chấm — our sweet-sour fish sauce cut with lime, sugar, chilli and garlic. The crunch of the crepe, the cool leaf, the bright pop of herbs and the salty-sweet dip all hit at once. It’s casual, shared, hands-on eating, the kind of food that gets people leaning across the table and laughing. Order one for the table, break it together, and let the conversation do the rest.

The name — “xèo” is the sizzle

In southern Vietnam, where our family is from, “xèo” is onomatopoeia — it’s the hiss of batter hitting a smoking pan, the same way “sizzle” works in English. You’ll hear it the moment we pour the batter at Bà Năm: a sharp xèooo that fills the kitchen. Bánh xèo is street food at heart, sold from market stalls and roadside pans across the Mekong Delta, each region with its own ratio of crisp to filling. The southern style — ours — leans thin and shatteringly crisp, more crepe than pancake, loaded with pork and prawn and served with a mountain of lettuce and herbs for wrapping. It’s the version our grandmother made, and the one we still make the same way.

At Bà Năm: $22, made to order

Our bánh xèo is $22, made to order the moment you ask for it — never sitting under a lamp, never pre-cooked. We pour the batter, lay in the pork and prawn, let the edges crisp, fold it over the bean sprouts, and bring it straight out. That makes it the natural opening act for a bowl of Phở Tái, the dish Bà Năm is famous for: a paper-thin, round, red slice of rare beef laid over the noodles raw, then cooked in the bowl by our boiling 18-hour bone broth until it arrives pink and tender — what we call the “red coin.” Start with the crunch and the lettuce wraps, finish with the broth and the red coin, and you’ve got the full Bà Năm table. Come ready to be fueled up for a big, enthusiastic day — these are generous, hearty bowls and plates, comfort food the way a grandmother means it.

Our 1970s Tây Ninh roots, no shortcuts

Our bánh xèo comes from the home kitchen of Bà Năm Lời in Trảng Bàng, Tây Ninh, where she cooked for family and neighbours through the 1970s. Founders Huynh Nguyen and Thi Gai Vo brought those recipes to Adelaide when they opened Bà Năm in 2023, and they’ve kept the habits that made the food good in the first place — Huynh still does Sunday farm runs for fresh vegetables, and the kitchen uses local beef and real ingredients, no shortcuts. We’re not a luxury venue, just very genuine, and we’d rather the food do the talking.

The pancake batter is mixed in-house, the herbs are cut fresh each morning, and the nước chấm is balanced by hand. Nothing in those recipes has been “modernised” into a paste or a powder — the sizzle you hear in the kitchen is still the same sizzle Bà Năm Lời trusted in Trảng Bàng.

What to expect when you visit

We want to set expectations honestly, the way a family should: at peak hours there’s a 15–30 minute wait, because we cook each bánh xèo fresh to keep it crisp and we won’t rush a broth that took eighteen hours. We’re open 7 days, 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM (9:30 PM October through March), including public holidays. You’ll find us at 65 Grote St, Adelaide SA 5000, right in the city, a short walk from the Central Market — and you can order ahead online to skip the queue. If you’re planning a feed, order the bánh xèo for the table, a Phở Tái each, and maybe something from our full menu to share.

Where to Find Bánh Xèo in Adelaide Chinatown & the CBD

We’re at 65 Grote Street, right in the heart of Adelaide Chinatown and an easy walk from anywhere in the CBD. The bánh xèo is $22 — one size, one price, no upsell — and we’re open 7 days, 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM (9:30 PM October to March), public holidays included. Fair warning: at peak lunch and dinner there’s an honest 15–30 minute wait, because each pancake is made to order so it arrives crisp, not soggy.

Plenty of people pair it with a bowl of phở to share, or start with rice paper rolls while the pancake hits the pan. If you’re short on time, order ahead at order.phobanam.com.au and it’ll be ready when you are.

As featured in Glam Adelaide

We’re proud, and a little bashful, to have been named a finalist in the 2025 Hostplus SA Restaurant & Catering Awards for Excellence in the Vietnamese Restaurant category, and to have been featured by Glam Adelaide, who wrote about a Chinatown family phở spot serving up grandma’s authentic recipe. You can also find us in the Glam Adelaide directory and under the Bà Năm tag on their site. It means the world to a family kitchen that opened its doors in 2023 — and it’s a reminder that the things Grandma Nam cooked in Trảng Bàng fifty years ago still belong on a table in Adelaide today.

Frequently asked questions

What is bánh xèo?

A thin, crispy Vietnamese turmeric rice-flour pancake filled with pork, prawn and bean sprouts. The name “xèo” imitates the sizzle of batter hitting the hot pan.

How do you eat bánh xèo?

Tear a piece off, wrap it in a lettuce leaf with fresh herbs, dip it in nước chấm (sweet-sour fish sauce) and eat with your hands. It’s casual, shared, hands-on eating.

Is bánh xèo vegetarian?

The classic version has pork and prawn, but ask our team — we can talk you through our vegetarian Vietnamese options, including fresh rolls and vermicelli salads.

How much is bánh xèo at Bà Năm?

$22, made to order. Pair it with a bowl of Phở Tái — our signature rare beef pho, with a paper-thin round red slice of beef cooked in the bowl by boiling 18-hour bone broth — for the full Bà Năm experience. Order at 65 Grote Street or online at order.phobanam.com.au.

Is there a wait at peak times?

Expect 15–30 minutes during peak hours — we cook each pancake fresh to keep it crisp. We’re open 7 days, 11:00 AM – 9:00 PM (9:30 PM Oct–Mar), including public holidays. Order ahead online at order.phobanam.com.au to skip the queue.

Where can I get bánh xèo in the Adelaide CBD or Chinatown?

Bà Năm is at 65 Grote Street in Adelaide Chinatown, in the middle of the CBD. We serve Southern-style bánh xèo ($22) 7 days a week, 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM (9:30 PM October to March), including public holidays. Expect a 15–30 minute wait at peak times since each pancake is cooked to order. You can order ahead at order.phobanam.com.au or call us on (08) 8151 0106.