18-Hour Bone Broth and Red Coin Phở Tái in Adelaide's Chinatown

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

If you've been searching for pho bone broth in Adelaide, this is the story behind ours. At Bà Năm on Grote Street in Chinatown, the beef bones simmer for a full 18 hours before service — long enough that when the broth hits the bowl at a rolling boil, it cooks our Phở Tái "red coin" beef right in front of you: paper-thin rounds of raw local beef laid over the noodles, turning rosy in seconds. It's the same method Bà Năm Lời used in her home kitchen in Trảng Bàng since the 1970s, now landed in the Adelaide CBD.

The broth is everything

In pho, the broth is not a background note — it is the dish. Everything else, the noodles, the herbs, the beef, is there to carry it. A weak broth makes a forgettable bowl. A proper one, clear and deep and fragrant, makes you slow down after the first sip.

Our broth starts the way it always has: beef bones, water, and patience. Charred ginger and onion go in for their smoky sweetness. Star anise, cloves, cinnamon, coriander seed and fennel lend their perfume. Fish sauce and rock sugar round the edges. There are no packets, no paste, no concentrate labelled “pho base.” The colour and clarity come from a long, gentle skim and the kind of time you simply cannot fake.

The 18-hour simmer

We simmer our bone broth for about 18 hours. Not six. Not “overnight.” Eighteen. It is the difference between a broth that tastes of water with a beef idea in it, and one that tastes of the bones themselves — mineral, silky, almost sweet.

Over those hours the bones give up their collagen and minerals. The marrow softens. The aromatics meld together so that no single spice shouts. A long, low simmer keeps the broth clear; a hard boil turns it cloudy and harsh, so we hold it just below a rolling bubble and skim again and again. Time is the only ingredient you cannot add more of later, so we put it in first.

Why not rush it? Because rushing broth is the same as rushing a story — you get the outline but none of the detail. Eighteen hours is what the recipe Bà Năm Lời wrote down in the 1970s calls for, and we have not found a reason to change it.

The red coin — Phở Tái

If the broth is the soul of pho, the red coin is its signature. Phở Tái is the dish Bà Năm is famous for, and the red coin is the part everyone remembers.

Here is how it works. We slice fresh local beef paper-thin, in round cuts, and lay it over the noodles raw. The bowl comes to you with the beef still red and glistening. Then we pour the boiling 18-hour broth on top, and the beef cooks in the bowl in seconds — turning pink and tender, curling at the edges, faintly grey on the outside and rare within. From above, that round slice looks exactly like a red coin resting in the broth.

It is a small bit of theatre, but it is honest theatre. The beef has to be fresh enough to be served rare, and the broth has to be hot enough to cook it in the bowl. Get either wrong and the coin does not work. Get both right and you have one of the most comforting things you can eat in Adelaide.

Local beef, and Huynh’s Sunday farm runs

You cannot serve beef raw in a bowl unless you trust where it came from. That is why we source our beef locally, from South Australian suppliers we know by name. Freshness is not a flourish here — it is the whole reason the red coin is safe to eat and tender enough to melt in the broth.

Every Sunday, our manager Huynh Nguyen drives out to the farms to pick up fresh vegetables for the week. It is not glamorous work. It is the kind of thing a family kitchen does because that is how it has always been done. The owner, Thi Gai Vo, keeps the recipes the way her grandmother wrote them — and those recipes assume you turn up with good produce, not that you rescue mediocre produce with salt.

Glam Adelaide put it simply when they visited: this is “very genuine” cooking. Not a luxury venue, just very genuine. We will take that over a polished dining room every time.

From Bà Năm Lời’s kitchen to Grote Street

The broth we pour today is the same one Bà Năm Lời — “Grandma Nam” — started selling from her home kitchen in Trảng Bàng, Tây Ninh, Vietnam, in the 1970s. She cooked for her neighbours first, then for the whole quarter, then for anyone who heard there was a bowl worth walking to.

The recipe began in the 1970s in Bà Năm Lời's home kitchen in Trảng Bàng, Tây Ninh, Vietnam, where phở was made the slow way — bones simmered until the broth carried everything the bowl needed. In 2023, founders Huynh Nguyen and Thi Gai Vo brought that same recipe to 65 Grote Street in Adelaide's Chinatown, unchanged: 18 hours on the bones, local beef sliced paper-thin for the “red coin” Phở Tái, and vegetables Huynh still collects on Sunday farm runs. Nothing added for shortcuts, nothing taken away.

That is the bit we are proudest of: the recipe is unchanged. We did not invent a new pho. We just refused to cut the old one down.

Come ready to be fuelled up

This is not fine dining. It is a bowl you eat when you have a big, enthusiastic day ahead of you — a market morning, a long walk along the Torrens, a shift at work, a reunion with friends who are hungry. The portions are generous, the broth is restorative, and the beef is meant to fill you up. Come ready to be fuelled up.

One honest note on what to expect: at peak hours there can be a 15 to 30 minute wait. We cook the broth ahead, but we build each bowl to order, and we will not send one out that we would not eat ourselves. If you are short on time, order ahead through the Bà Năm app and skip the queue. We are open 7 days, 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM (9:30 PM October to March), including public holidays — so the next bowl is never far away. See our other reads on Vietnamese food in the Adelaide CBD and our guide to the best pho in Adelaide.

First bowl?

Curious how the red coin actually works at the table? Our first-timer's guide to eating phở walks through ordering, the herb plate, and tasting the 18-hour broth before you customise anything.

One more thing for the broth

Southern tables often put a golden fried dough stick beside the bowl — giò quẩy, $4 on our menu, listed simply as "for the broth." Tear, dunk for a few seconds, and let those air pockets drink the 18-hour simmer.

Where that broth meets every cut

The 18-hour simmer underpins every phở on the menu — including Phở Đặc Biệt, the combination bowl that stacks rare beef, brisket, meatball, tendon and tripe over the same clear broth. Same Small $20 / Large $22 as a single cut.

Where to Find Our 18-Hour Broth: Grote Street, Chinatown

You'll find us at 65 Grote Street, right in Adelaide's Chinatown on the edge of the CBD — an easy walk from the Central Market. We're open 7 days, 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM (9:30 PM October–March), including public holidays. We're not a luxury venue, just very genuine: a room built around the broth pot and the people queuing for it.

An honest word on timing — at peak lunch and dinner the wait can run 15–30 minutes, because every bowl of Phở Tái depends on that broth arriving boiling. If you're short on time, you can order ahead at order.phobanam.com.au or call (08) 8151 0106. New to phở, or comparing bowls around town? Start with our guide to phở in Adelaide.

Frequently asked questions

How long is Bà Năm’s pho broth simmered?

We simmer our bone broth for about 18 hours — long enough for the bones to give up their collagen and minerals and for the aromatics to meld into a clear, deep broth. No shortcuts, no paste.

What is the “red coin” in Phở Tái?

The red coin is a paper-thin, round slice of fresh local rare beef laid over the noodles raw. When boiling 18-hour broth is poured on top, the beef cooks to rare in seconds, turning pink and tender — it looks like a red coin in the bowl.

Is Vietnamese bone broth healthy?

A long-simmered bone broth is rich in collagen, minerals and amino acids — a comforting, nourishing base. We make ours the traditional way for flavour first; the comfort is a bonus.

Why locally sourced beef?

Because freshness matters when the beef is served rare. We source beef locally and Huynh drives to farms every Sunday for fresh vegetables — part of what Glam Adelaide called “very genuine” cooking.

Is there a vegetarian broth?

Our vegetarian Vietnamese dishes include fresh rolls, spring rolls and vermicelli salads. Ask our team on the day about vegetarian soup options. Expect a 15 to 30 minute wait at peak hours, and remember we are open 7 days — you can also order ahead to skip the queue.

Where can I find 18-hour pho bone broth and red coin phở in Adelaide's CBD or Chinatown?

Bà Năm is at 65 Grote Street in Adelaide's Chinatown, in the CBD near the Central Market. Our beef bone broth simmers for 18 hours, and the Phở Tái “red coin” bowl uses that boiling broth to cook paper-thin rare beef right in the bowl. We're open 7 days, 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM (9:30 PM October–March), including public holidays. At peak times expect an honest 15–30 minute wait, or order ahead at order.phobanam.com.au or on (08) 8151 0106.