Gà Nướng & Cơm Gà Nướng: Vietnamese Grilled Chicken in Adelaide Chinatown
★ As featured in Glam Adelaide — 2025 SA Restaurant & Catering Awards finalist
Some dishes announce themselves before they reach the table. Gà Nướng is one of them — chicken marinated the Southern Vietnamese way, then char-grilled until the edges catch and the marinade turns smoky and slightly sweet. At Bà Năm on Grote Street, you can have it two ways: as a $16 share plate, or as Cơm Gà Nướng, the full $20 rice plate with all the trimmings. This guide covers what the dish actually is, how it differs from the other chicken plates on the menu, and why it tastes the way it does.
What Is Gà Nướng?
Gà Nướng simply means grilled chicken, but in Southern Vietnamese cooking that undersells it. The chicken sits in a lemongrass-forward marinade before it goes anywhere near the heat, so the flavour is in the meat, not just on it. Then it’s grilled hard enough to pick up real char — those dark grill marks aren’t decoration, they’re where the marinade caramelises and turns smoky.
The result is chicken that’s juicy inside with edges that have a little bite and a little sweetness. It’s not battered, not deep-fried, not sauced after the fact. What you taste is marinade, smoke and chicken, in that order. A ramekin of chilli nước chấm on the side does the rest — a spoonful over the top sharpens everything up.
Gà Nướng vs Gà Da Giòn vs Fish-Sauce Wings
Bà Năm runs three distinct chicken plates, and they’re genuinely different dishes rather than variations on a theme. Gà Da Giòn is all about crispy skin — no glaze, no char, just crackling-crisp skin over tender meat. Cánh Gà Chiên Nước Mắm goes the other direction entirely: fried wings tossed in a sticky, savoury fish-sauce glaze that ends up on your fingers.
Gà Nướng sits between them and belongs to neither camp. It’s the smoky one — marinade-driven, char-kissed, grilled rather than fried. If you like your chicken with the flavour of an actual grill, this is your plate. If you want crunch, go crispy skin; if you want sticky, go the wings. All three rice plates are $20, so the choice is purely about what kind of chicken mood you’re in.
The $20 Cơm Gà Nướng Rice Plate
Cơm Gà Nướng is the grilled chicken built out into a complete meal, in the same family as broken rice plates across Southern Vietnam. The chicken arrives sliced, grill marks showing, alongside a mound of white rice topped with spring onion. Around it: tomato slices, cucumber and shredded carrot for freshness, a small clear soup scattered with coriander and spring onion to sip between bites, and that ramekin of chilli nước chấm to spoon over the rice. Add a fried egg (Trứng Chiên) for $3 if you want the full treatment.
Its siblings on the menu are worth knowing too. Cơm Sườn Bì Chả at $20 is the classic pork-chop version with shredded pork skin and steamed egg loaf, and plain Cơm Sườn on its own is also $20. Prefer noodles to rice? Bún Gà Nướng at $20 puts the same grilled chicken over vermicelli with herbs — same chicken, lighter frame. Want just the grilled chicken as a starter to share? That’s the dedicated Gà Nướng entrée guide ($16 on lettuce).
A Recipe from Trảng Bàng, Tây Ninh
The cooking at Bà Năm traces back to Bà Năm Lời’s home kitchen in Trảng Bàng, Tây Ninh, where she’d been feeding family and neighbours since the 1970s. Her grandson Huynh Nguyen brought those recipes to Adelaide, opening the Grote Street restaurant with owner Thi Gai Vo in 2023. Nothing about the place pretends otherwise — it’s not a luxury venue, just very genuine, and the food is cooked the way it was at home.
That home-kitchen seriousness shows up across the menu. The phở runs on an 18-hour bone broth, the beef is locally sourced through Huynh’s Sunday farm runs, and the grilled chicken gets the same unhurried treatment: marinated properly, grilled to order, plated the way a Southern Vietnamese rice plate should be.
A little recognition: Bà Năm was a finalist in the Vietnamese Restaurant category at the 2025 Hostplus SA Restaurant & Catering Awards, and Glam Adelaide featured the story behind grandma’s recipes — later covering us in their 2025 Adelaide restaurants roundup as a finalist, not a winner, and we’re happy to say it straight. We’re not a luxury venue, just very genuine — but it’s nice when people notice.
What to Order Alongside
Grilled chicken plays well with cold, fresh starters. Gỏi Cuốn Tôm Thịt rice paper rolls at $14 are the natural opener, or go crunchy with Hoành Thánh Chiên fried wontons, also $14 — as is Chả Giò Thịt if spring rolls are more your speed. To drink, a Cà Phê Nâu Đá at $8 is the classic finish, or the Trà Đào Cam Sả ($10) and Trà Tắc ($10) if you’d rather something cold and citrusy against the char.
If someone at the table is in a soup mood instead, the phở is the reason many people found this place — the Phở Tái with its paper-thin "red coin" rare beef, cooked in the bowl by the boiling 18-hour broth, runs $20 small or $22 large, with the stone-pot Phở Thố Đá at $25. The Bún Bò Huế ($20 small, $22 large) covers the spicy end of the menu.
Visiting Bà Năm
You’ll find Bà Năm at 65 Grote Street in Adelaide Chinatown, open seven days from 11am to 9pm — stretching to 9:30pm from October through March — public holidays included. Walk-ins are welcome, and honestly, expect a 15–30 minute wait at peak times; the kitchen doesn’t rush plates out to clear the queue. Bookings run through OpenTable, groups of eight or more should call (08) 8151 0106, and takeaway orders go through the app at order.phobanam.com.au.
Come hungry, order the Cơm Gà Nướng, and let the grill do the talking.
Prefer sticky-glazed to grilled?
If you want sweet-savoury fish-sauce lacquer instead of charcoal grill, the $20 Cơm Cánh Gà Chiên Nước Mắm plate is the wings rice sibling.
Frequently asked questions
What is Gà Nướng?
Gà Nướng is Vietnamese char-grilled chicken — marinated lemongrass-style, then grilled until the edges char and the marinade caramelises. At Bà Năm it’s smoky, marinade-forward and served with chilli nước chấm.
How much is Cơm Gà Nướng at Bà Năm?
The full Cơm Gà Nướng rice plate is $20, with sliced grilled chicken, rice, fresh vegetables, a small clear soup and chilli nước chấm. Gà Nướng on its own as an entrée or share plate is $16, and you can add a fried egg for $3.
What’s the difference between Gà Nướng and Gà Da Giòn?
Gà Nướng is char-grilled and marinade-driven — smoky, with grill marks and no crispy coating. Gà Da Giòn is the crispy-skin chicken, with no glaze and no char. Both rice plates are $20; it comes down to smoke versus crunch. See also our Gà Da Giòn guide.
Can I get the grilled chicken with noodles instead of rice?
Yes — Bún Gà Nướng ($20) serves the same grilled chicken over vermicelli noodles with fresh herbs, a lighter alternative to the rice plate.
Do I need to book at Bà Năm?
Walk-ins are welcome, though there’s an honest 15–30 minute wait at peak times. Bookings are available through OpenTable, and groups of eight or more should call (08) 8151 0106.