Bánh Xèo: The Crispy Vietnamese Pancake at Bà Năm, Adelaide

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

There’s a sound that comes with every good bánh xèo — a sharp, sizzling hiss the moment turmeric-yellow batter meets a screaming-hot pan. It’s the sound that gave the dish its name, and it’s the sound we grew up on. At Bà Năm, that crispy Vietnamese pancake lands on your table golden, lacquered and shattering at the edges, stuffed with pork and prawn and a tangle of bean sprouts — the perfect thing to tear, wrap in lettuce, and share before a big bowl of our Phở Tái.

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: $20, made to order

Our bánh xèo is $20, 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

The recipes we cook at Bà Năm came out of a home kitchen in Trảng Bàng, Tây Ninh, Vietnam, where Bà Năm Lời — “Grandma Nam” — first sold phở to her neighbours in the 1970s. She cooked from her own stove, ladled broth into bowls, and built a reputation one family at a time. Nothing in those recipes has changed. Her grandson, our manager Huynh Nguyen, and owner Thi Gai Vo brought them across the world and opened Bà Năm Restaurant in Adelaide in 2023, and we still make the broth the way she did — bones simmered for eighteen hours, spices toasted, no powder, no shortcut.

Locally sourced beef and those authentic, unchanged recipes are what make Bà Năm famous. Every Sunday, Huynh drives out to the farms around Adelaide to pick up fresh vegetables himself — not because it’s a marketing line, but because that’s how Grandma Nam shopped, and it’s how we still shop. The pancake batter is mixed in-house, the herbs are cut fresh each morning, and the nước chấm is balanced by hand. As we like to say around here: we’re not a luxury venue, just very genuine.

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.

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?

$20, 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.