Gỏi Ngó Sen Tôm Thịt — The Lotus Root Salad Worth Sharing on Grote Street

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

Before the phở arrives, there's a moment worth slowing down for. Gỏi Ngó Sen Tôm Thịt — lotus root salad with prawn and pork — lands at the table in a woven bamboo basket, ringed with prawn crackers, and suddenly everyone's reaching in at once. It's $25, it's built for sharing, and it's one of the quiet favourites at Bà Năm on Grote Street in Adelaide's Chinatown.

What is Gỏi Ngó Sen Tôm Thịt?

Gỏi is the Vietnamese word for a fresh, tossed salad — but forget leafy bowls. The star here is ngó sen: young lotus root, shredded into pale ribbons with a snap you can hear across the table. Tôm thịt means prawn and pork, the classic pairing that gives the salad its savoury backbone.

This is the kind of dish Bà Năm Lời would have made from her home kitchen in Trảng Bàng, Tây Ninh, where she'd been cooking since the 1970s — bright, crunchy, generous, meant to be picked at while the main event simmers. When her grandson Huynh Nguyen and owner Thi Gai Vo opened the Adelaide restaurant in 2023, dishes like this came with them. Not a luxury venue, just very genuine — and the gỏi says it as clearly as anything on the menu.

What's actually on the plate

Honestly? It arrives looking exactly like the photo. A round bamboo basket, a ring of white bánh phồng tôm (prawn crackers) resting on green lettuce leaves around the rim, and in the centre a tangle of shredded lotus root and carrot, threaded with fresh coriander- and mint-style herbs. Cooked pink prawns curl over the top; the pork is worked through the salad rather than sitting in big pieces, so every mouthful carries a little of everything.

The whole thing is dressed the way a proper gỏi should be — a bright nước chấm-style dressing that keeps the lotus root crisp rather than soggy. At $25 it comfortably feeds two or three as a starter.

How to eat it (the fun part)

Here's the move: take a prawn cracker, pile a little of the salad on top, and eat it like a crunchy, edible spoon. Cracker snap, lotus crunch, sweet prawn, herbs — all in one bite. That's the whole game. There's no wrong way, but the cracker-scoop is the way regulars do it, and it's why the basket empties fast.

If your table wants a spread of starters, the gỏi sits beautifully alongside Gỏi Bò Tái Chanh ($25) if you want a second salad with lime-cured beef, a sizzling Bánh Xèo ($22), or a plate of Gỏi Cuốn Tôm Thịt rice paper rolls — three for $14. Chả Giò Thịt (four for $14) and Hoành Thánh Chiên (six for $14) round out the fried side of the table.

How it pairs with the phở

The lotus root salad exists in perfect opposition to the broth. The phở here is an 18-hour job — real bones, no shortcuts — and the signature Phở Tái ($20/$22) comes with paper-thin rounds of rare beef, the "red coin", which cook in the bowl the moment the boiling broth hits them. The beef is locally sourced, thanks to Huynh's Sunday farm runs.

So the rhythm of a good order goes: cold, crunchy, sharp gỏi first — then deep, hot, slow-cooked soup second. If you're new to all this, the first-timer's guide to phở walks you through it, and if you're chasing something with more fire, Bún Bò Huế ($20/$22, or $25 in the stone bowl) brings the heat.

One honest note for the collectors: TÁI Club tickets come only with the stone-bowl tái dishes like the Phở Thố Đá ($25) — the salad doesn't earn you one. You can read how the club works before you order.

Finding us on Grote Street

Bà Năm is at 65 Grote Street, Adelaide SA 5000, in the heart of Chinatown — a short wander from the Central Market and easy to fold into any Vietnamese food crawl through the CBD. Glam Adelaide has featured the restaurant, and in 2025 it was named a finalist in the Vietnamese Restaurant category at the Hostplus SA Restaurant & Catering Awards — a finalist, not a winner, and we're happy to say it straight.

Walk-ins are welcome, and you can book online via OpenTable. Open 11am–9pm daily (until 9:30pm through summer, October to March). At peak times there's an honest 15–30 minute wait — the gỏi is a very good reason it's worth it. You can also order ahead through the app at order.phobanam.com.au, or call (08) 8151 0106. And if you're still deciding what to pair it with, our guide to the best phở in Adelaide makes the case for the bowl that started it all.

Frequently asked questions

What is gỏi ngó sen tôm thịt?

It's a Vietnamese lotus root salad with prawn and pork. Young lotus root is shredded into crunchy ribbons and tossed with carrot, fresh herbs and a bright nước chấm-style dressing, topped with cooked prawns and served with prawn crackers on lettuce. At Bà Năm in Adelaide's Chinatown it's $25 and made for sharing.

How do you eat lotus root salad?

The classic way is to use the prawn crackers as edible scoops — pile a little of the salad onto a cracker and eat it in one bite. You get the cracker snap, the lotus root crunch, the prawn and the herbs all at once. There's no wrong way, but that's how most regulars do it.

What does lotus root taste like?

Lotus root is mild and lightly sweet, and the real appeal is texture — it's remarkably crisp, a bit like a cross between fresh celery and jicama. In a gỏi it stays crunchy under the dressing, which is exactly the point.

Is it big enough to share?

Yes — it's listed as an entrée and comfortably serves two or three people as a starter. Most tables order it alongside other entrées like bánh xèo or rice paper rolls, then follow with bowls of phở or bún bò Huế.

Do I need a booking to try it?

Walk-ins are welcome, and you can book online via OpenTable. Open 11am to 9pm daily (until 9:30pm in summer, October to March). At peak times there can be an honest 15 to 30 minute wait. You can also order through the app at order.phobanam.com.au or phone (08) 8151 0106.