Bún Tàu Hủ Chay at Bà Năm: The Tofu Vermicelli Bowl on Grote Street

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

Not every Vietnamese bowl needs an 18-hour broth behind it. Bún Tàu Hủ Chay is the other side of the menu at Bà Năm — a dry vermicelli salad, cool noodles under warm fried tofu and shreds of golden crispy bean curd, with fresh herbs, crunchy vegetables, peanuts and fried shallot doing the rest. It's $20, it's vegetarian, and it's the bowl regulars order when Adelaide finally warms up and soup feels like too much commitment. Here's what's actually in it, how to eat it properly, and how it sits alongside its sibling bowls on the Grote Street menu.

What Is Bún Tàu Hủ Chay?

Break the name down and it tells you everything. Bún is rice vermicelli — thin, soft, served at room temperature. Tàu hủ is tofu. Chay means vegetarian. Put together, it's a dry noodle salad bowl built around two kinds of soy: cubes of fried tofu with a golden crust and a soft middle, and shredded crispy bean curd — the tàu hủ ky style, thin sheets fried until they shatter a little when you bite them.

The menu at Bà Năm keeps the description plain: vermicelli salad with tofu and crispy bean curd. That's honest. There's no trick to this dish — it's the Vietnamese answer to wanting something fresh, filling and textural without meat and without soup. It comes from the same family cooking tradition that runs through the whole menu, tracing back to Bà Năm Lời, who has been cooking since the 1970s in Trảng Bàng, Tây Ninh. Her grandson Huynh Nguyen and owner Thi Gai Vo brought that cooking to Adelaide in 2023, and in 2025 the restaurant was named a finalist in the Vietnamese Restaurant category at the Hostplus SA Restaurant & Catering Awards.

It's $20, and it's one of the standout bowls on the vegetarian side of the menu.

What's in the Bowl

Have a look at the photo and you can count the parts yourself. On the left, several cubes of fried tofu, browned properly on the outside. Lower down and toward the centre, a tangle of shredded crispy bean curd — golden, light, the crunchiest thing in the bowl. Across the top, mixed lettuce with a purple leaf through it. On the right, shredded carrot and bean sprouts. Front right, julienned cucumber. And in the middle, chopped green herbs and spring onion under a scatter of crushed peanut and fried shallot.

Underneath all of that sits the bed of vermicelli — the part you can't see in the photo but the part doing most of the work. As with all the bún bowls here, the dish is served with a vegetarian dipping sauce on the side. That sauce is not decoration; it's the dressing, and the bowl isn't finished until you've used it.

The contrast is the whole point. Soft noodles, soft tofu centres, crisp bean curd, cold raw vegetables, warm fried elements, peanut crunch. No single ingredient is showing off. Together they make sense. At Bà Năm, Bún Tàu Hủ Chay is $20.

How to Eat It

There's a right way, and it's not delicate. Pour the vegetarian sauce over the whole bowl — most of it, at least. Then take your chopsticks and turn everything over from the bottom, pulling the vermicelli up through the tofu, herbs and vegetables until the sauce has touched all of it. The bean curd will soften slightly where the sauce lands and stay crisp where it doesn't, and that's exactly how it should be.

Every bite should have three or four things in it: noodle, something fried, something raw, something herbal. If you're eating neat little separate sections, you're doing it politely and wrongly. Mix it like you mean it.

It pairs well with a cold drink — a Vietnamese iced coffee if you want sweet and strong, Trà Tắc or Trà Đào Cam Sả if you want something lighter and citrusy, or a fresh coconut for $8 if you want the simplest thing on the drinks list.

Tofu Bowl vs Spring-Roll Bowl (and the loaded special)

The vegetarian bún bowls at Bà Năm come in three forms, and choosing between them is a genuinely nice problem to have.

Bún Tàu Hủ Chay ($20) — this one. Fried tofu and crispy bean curd. The most texturally varied of the three, and the one where soy does all the heavy lifting.

Bún Chả Giò Chay ($20) — the same salad-bowl format, but topped with vegetarian spring rolls instead of tofu. If you're a spring-roll person, you already know.

Bún Chay Đặc Biệt ($24) — the loaded vegetarian combination. Đặc biệt means "special", and it's the bowl for people who refuse to choose. Full guide: Bún Chay Đặc Biệt at Bà Năm.

If you're eating with meat-eaters, the same format runs across the whole table: Bún Thịt Nướng with grilled pork ($20), Bún Gà Nướng with grilled chicken ($20), Bún Chả Giò with pork spring rolls ($20), and the full Bún Đặc Biệt ($24). Everyone gets the same fresh, dry-bowl experience — the topping is the only argument.

More Vegetarian Options at Bà Năm

The vegetarian menu goes beyond the bún bowls. The natural starters before a tofu bowl are Gỏi Cuốn Chay — vegetarian fresh cold rolls, three for $14 — or Chả Giò Chay, four vegetarian fried spring rolls, also $14. One fresh, one fried; order according to your mood, or across the table, both. The full pair is also covered in our rice paper rolls guide.

Worth being clear about two things. First, these dishes are vegetarian, not certified vegan — if that distinction matters to you, ask the team before ordering. Second, Bà Năm doesn't make allergen guarantees; the kitchen is a real, busy Vietnamese kitchen, so let the staff know about any allergies and they'll tell you honestly what's workable. The full rundown is on the vegetarian Vietnamese guide.

Bún Tàu Hủ Chay in Adelaide Chinatown

Bà Năm sits at 65 Grote Street, in the middle of Adelaide's Chinatown, a short walk from the Central Market. The restaurant is better known for its soups — the 18-hour broth, the Phở Tái with its "red coin" of paper-thin rare beef cooked in the bowl by boiling broth, the sizzling stone-bowl phở that has become a signature — and there's local beef behind those dishes, sourced through Sunday farm runs. If you want that story, it's in the best phở in Adelaide guide.

But the bún bowls are the quiet achievers, especially in the warmer months when a Grote Street lunch calls for something cold-fresh rather than steaming. In a strip full of good eating, a $20 vegetarian bowl made with the same care as an 18-hour broth is worth knowing about. For more of what's nearby, see the Vietnamese food in the Adelaide CBD guide.

Visiting Bà Năm

You'll find Bà Năm at 65 Grote Street, Adelaide Chinatown, open seven days from 11am to 9pm (stretching to 9:30pm over summer, October to March), public holidays included. Walk-ins are welcome, and you can book via OpenTable — though fair warning, peak times can mean an honest 15–30 minute wait. Groups of 8 or more should call (08) 8151 0106 ahead. Prefer to order ahead? Our app is at order.phobanam.com.au.

Come hungry, mix the bowl properly, and don't skip the sauce.

Frequently asked questions

What is Bún Tàu Hủ Chay?

Bún Tàu Hủ Chay is a Vietnamese vermicelli salad bowl — rice noodles topped with fried tofu cubes, shredded crispy bean curd, fresh lettuce, herbs, carrot, cucumber and bean sprouts, finished with crushed peanut and fried shallot. It's a dry bowl, not a soup, served with a vegetarian dipping sauce to pour over as dressing.

How much is Bún Tàu Hủ Chay at Bà Năm?

It's $20 at Bà Năm, 65 Grote Street in Adelaide Chinatown — the same price as the vegetarian spring roll bowl (Bún Chả Giò Chay), while the loaded Bún Chay Đặc Biệt is $24.

Is Bún Tàu Hủ Chay vegan?

It's listed as vegetarian, and Bà Năm doesn't claim it as certified vegan. If you eat strictly vegan or have allergies, ask the team when ordering — they'll give you a straight answer about how the dish is made. The kitchen doesn't make allergen guarantees.

How do you eat Bún Tàu Hủ Chay?

Pour the vegetarian sauce over the bowl, then mix everything thoroughly with your chopsticks, pulling the noodles up from the bottom through the tofu, herbs and vegetables. Every bite should combine noodle, something fried, something fresh and something herbal — it's a mixed salad, not a layered one.

Do I need to book at Bà Năm?

Walk-ins are welcome seven days, 11am–9pm (9:30pm in summer, October to March), public holidays included. You can book on OpenTable, and groups of eight or more should call (08) 8151 0106. At peak times expect an honest 15–30 minute wait.