Chè Thái in Adelaide: The Tropical Dessert Glass Worth Staying For

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

There's a moment after a bowl of phở — chopsticks down, broth finished, table warm — when most restaurants expect you to leave. At Bà Năm on Grote Street, that's exactly when the chè thái arrives: a tall glass of coconut milk and crushed ice, stacked with bright green jelly and pale gold tropical fruit, a mint sprig on top and a long spoon leaning against the rim. It's $10, it's cold, and it's the reason people in Adelaide's Chinatown linger a little longer than they planned to.

What is chè thái?

Chè is the great Vietnamese family of sweet things served in a glass or bowl — sweet soups, jellied drinks, layered desserts you eat with a spoon and drink with a straw. Chè thái is the tropical cocktail of the family: a Thai-influenced style that Vietnamese cooks made thoroughly their own, built around lush fruit, coconut milk and jelly rather than beans or grains. Where some chè lean earthy and warming, chè thái leans bright, creamy and unapologetically fruity — the dessert equivalent of a market stall in the wet season, poured over ice.

It's eaten everywhere in southern Việt Nam, where the fruit is loudest and the afternoons are hottest. Which makes it a natural fit for an Adelaide summer — or an Adelaide spring, when the first warm north wind rolls down Grote Street and suddenly everyone wants something cold.

What's in the glass at Bà Năm

Bà Năm's chè thái is honest to the style: a creamy white coconut-milk base over crushed ice, cubes of vivid green jelly that catch the light, pieces of pale yellow tropical fruit in the jackfruit and lychee register, and a generous scoop of soft yellow-green fruit mash crowning the glass. A mint sprig, a straw, a dark spoon. Ten dollars.

The pleasure is in the textures as much as the flavours. The jelly is springy against the teeth; the fruit is silky and perfumed; the coconut milk turns slushy where it meets the ice. You alternate — a spoonful of the creamy top, a pull on the straw for the cold coconut milk underneath — and the glass changes character as the ice melts and everything mingles. It's a dessert that rewards taking your time, which suits the room. Bà Năm isn't a luxury venue, just very genuine, and nobody's rushing you out.

Chè thái vs chè khúc bạch vs sâm bổ lượng

Bà Năm keeps three chè on the menu, all $10, and they're genuinely different moods:

• Chè thái is the tropical one — coconut milk, fruit, jelly, ice. Loud, lush, holiday-brained. This guide.
• Chè khúc bạch is the elegant one — soft panna-cotta-style cubes in a lighter, more delicate glass. Quieter, silkier. Full guide →
• Sâm bổ lượng is the traditional one — an old-school southern Vietnamese sweet soup with a gentler, more restrained sweetness. Full guide →

If you're new to chè, start with chè thái; it's the most immediately loveable of the three. Then work through the others on return visits — the full trio is covered on our Vietnamese desserts in Adelaide guide.

When to order it

After phở. This is the classic move. Follow a bowl of Phở Tái — paper-thin "red coin" beef cooked in the bowl by the boiling 18-hour broth — with something cold and sweet, and the meal lands the way it's meant to. Rich, savoury, deep; then bright, creamy, icy.

Spring and summer heat. When Adelaide warms up, a glass of fruit and ice makes more sense than almost anything else on the dessert spectrum. It slots neatly into a warm-weather visit — see our Vietnamese spring in Adelaide guide for the seasonal pairing logic.

The share table. Order a couple of glasses for the middle of the table and pass the spoons around. Chè thái photographs well and shares better, which makes it an easy call for groups working their way through Chinatown on a weekend.

What to drink alongside

If chè thái is your dessert, keep the drink simple: nước dừa (coconut water, $8) doubles down on the tropical theme without competing on sweetness. If you'd rather contrast than match, cà phê đá — Vietnamese iced coffee, đen đá or nâu đá, $8 — plays bitter and strong against the coconut cream, and it's the pairing plenty of Vietnamese diners default to. For something in between, the house teas — trà đào cam sả (peach, orange and lemongrass, $10) and trà tắc (kumquat iced tea, $10) — bring citrus lift to a rich glass.

From Trảng Bàng to Grote Street

Bà Năm Lời cooked phở from her home kitchen in Trảng Bàng, Tây Ninh — southern Việt Nam — from the 1970s. Her grandson Huynh Nguyen brought the family recipes to Adelaide in 2023, opening at 65 Grote Street with owner Thi Gai Vo. The beef is locally sourced (Huynh still does the Sunday farm runs himself), the bone broth still takes 18 hours, and the desserts carry the same southern sensibility: sweet things built for hot afternoons and long tables.

The practical bits

Bà Năm is open seven days, 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM (until 9:30 PM in summer, October to March), public holidays included. Walk-ins are welcome; at peak times, expect an honest 15–30 minute wait — chè thái is a fine consolation while the table turns. Groups of eight or more should call ahead on (08) 8151 0106, or book via OpenTable. If you'd rather order ahead, the app at order.phobanam.com.au has the full menu, chè thái included.

Sixty-five Grote Street, Chinatown. Bring a spoon-and-straw appetite.

Frequently asked questions

What is chè thái?

Chè thái is a Vietnamese tropical dessert cocktail — coconut milk and crushed ice served in a tall glass with green jelly and tropical fruit such as jackfruit and lychee-style pieces. It's part of the wider chè family of Vietnamese sweet desserts, and it's especially popular in southern Việt Nam.

How much is chè thái at Bà Năm, and what's in the glass?

Chè thái is $10 at Bà Năm. The glass holds a creamy coconut-milk base over crushed ice, green jelly cubes, pale yellow tropical fruit and a scoop of soft fruit cream on top, finished with a mint sprig. It comes with both a spoon and a straw.

How is chè thái different from chè khúc bạch and sâm bổ lượng?

Chè thái is the tropical, fruit-forward option with coconut milk and jelly. Chè khúc bạch is a more delicate dessert built around soft panna-cotta-style cubes, and sâm bổ lượng is a traditional southern Vietnamese sweet soup with a gentler sweetness. All three are $10 at Bà Năm.

Is chè thái vegan or gluten-free?

Bà Năm doesn't make vegan or gluten-free certifications for chè thái — it's prepared in a shared kitchen. If you have dietary requirements, call (08) 8151 0106 and the team will talk you through the current preparation honestly.

Do I need to book to try chè thái at Bà Năm?

Walk-ins are welcome seven days a week, 11:00 AM–9:00 PM (9:30 PM in summer, October to March), public holidays included. At peak times there's an honest 15–30 minute wait. Groups of 8 or more should call ahead on (08) 8151 0106, or book via OpenTable. You can also order via the app at order.phobanam.com.au.