Sâm Bổ Lượng in Adelaide: The Longan Herbal Drink We Grew Up On
★ As featured in Glam Adelaide — 2025 SA Restaurant & Catering Awards finalist
Some things on our menu are loud — the Phở Tái red coin, the hiss of a stone bowl arriving at the table. Sâm Bổ Lượng is the quiet one. A tall glass of clear amber liquid over crushed ice, studded with lotus seeds, barley and dark dried longan, it's the drink Vietnamese families reach for when the day is hot and dinner was big. At Bà Năm on Grote Street, we make it the way it's always been made in Southern Vietnam — unhurried, gently sweet, and $10 on the menu under its plain-spoken label: longan herbal drink.
What is sâm bổ lượng?
Sâm Bổ Lượng is a traditional Vietnamese sweet herbal drink — sometimes called a "cooling" drink in the everyday, family sense of the word, the thing you sip after a long lunch or on a stinking hot afternoon. It sits somewhere between a dessert and a drink: light herbal liquid, mild sweetness, and a glass full of soft, chewy things to fish out with a spoon. Dried longan gives it that deep, honeyed fruit note; lotus seeds and barley-style grains give it body and something to chew.
Its roots trace through southern Chinese and Vietnamese home cooking, and in Southern Vietnam — including Trảng Bàng, Tây Ninh, where Bà Năm Lời ran her home kitchen in the 1970s — it's the kind of thing sold from street stalls in tall glasses over ice. Nothing fancy about it. That's rather the point. If you're exploring Vietnamese desserts in Adelaide, this is the traditional end of the spectrum — the one grandparents order without looking at the menu.
What's actually in the glass
Ours arrives in a tall clear glass on the table — amber-gold liquid, completely clear, packed with crushed ice. Look closely and you'll see pale, round lotus seeds settled through the glass, small oval barley-style grains (Job's tears, if you know them), and pieces of dark reddish-brown dried longan that have plumped up in the simmer. On top, piled with the ice, sits a shredded bright-green dried seaweed-style garnish — a little chewy, a little unexpected, very traditional. A mint leaf keeps it company at the edge of the plate. You get a spoon, because you'll need it.
What you won't find: cream, coconut milk, jelly cubes or fruit cocktail. This is the clear, herbal one — clean and light where our chè desserts are rich and layered. The sweetness is gentle rather than lolly-sweet, and the herbal note is soft, not medicinal-tasting. It's refreshing in a way that's hard to explain until you've had one on a hot Adelaide afternoon.
Sâm bổ lượng vs chè thái vs chè khúc bạch
All three sit at $10 on our dessert list, but they're very different personalities:
- Sâm Bổ Lượng — clear, amber, gently herbal; longan, lotus seeds and barley over ice. The traditional, light option. (You're here.)
- Chè Thái — a tropical fruit cocktail: colourful, creamy, sweet and playful. The fun one.
- Chè Khúc Bạch — Vietnamese panna cotta: soft, milky cubes, delicate and spoonable. The gentle one.
Can't decide? The whole line-up lives on our Vietnamese desserts in Adelaide page.
When sâm bổ lượng makes sense
After a big bowl of phở. If you've just finished a bowl built on our 18-hour bone broth, something clear and cold is exactly what you want next. Rich then light — that's the rhythm. Our Phở Tái with the red-coin rare beef is the classic lead-in.
On a hot Adelaide day. Spring and summer in this city can be brutal, and Sâm Bổ Lượng is the traditional answer. It's a natural fit for a warm-weather wander through Chinatown — see our Vietnamese spring in Adelaide guide for more warm-weather picks.
When you want the traditional thing. Some diners come in chasing the drink they remember from Vietnam or from childhood. If that's you — yes, it's the real one, spoon and all.
Or something else cold?
Sâm Bổ Lượng is dessert and drink in one glass, but if you're after something different, the cold-drink list runs the traditional gamut: Vietnamese iced coffee — cà phê đen đá or nâu đá — at $8 for the caffeine-inclined; trà đào cam sả, our peach, orange and lemongrass iced tea at $10; trà tắc, house-style kumquat iced tea, also $10; and straight-up nước dừa — coconut water — at $8. On a hot day, honestly, you can't go far wrong with any of them.
From Trảng Bàng to Grote Street
Bà Năm Lời cooked from her home kitchen in Trảng Bàng, Tây Ninh, in Southern Vietnam through the 1970s — the kind of cooking where nothing is rushed and nothing is for show. In 2023, her grandson Huynh Nguyen and owner Thi Gai Vo opened Bà Năm at 65 Grote Street in Adelaide's Chinatown, carrying that same home-kitchen approach into everything from the 18-hour bone broth to a simple glass of Sâm Bổ Lượng.
That's really what this drink is at our place: a family memory over ice. In Southern Vietnam it was everyday refreshment, not a specialty item — and we serve it the same way here. No reinvention, no garnish theatre. Just the traditional glass, done properly. Huynh still does Sunday farm runs for the local beef that goes into our broths, and that same care carries through to the last sweet glass on the menu.
We were chuffed to be named a finalist in the 2025 Hostplus SA Restaurant & Catering Awards (Vietnamese Restaurant category) — finalist, not winner — and Glam Adelaide has featured us along the way. But we'll say what we always say: we're not a luxury venue, just very genuine. The Sâm Bổ Lượng costs $10 and tastes like someone's grandmother made it — because, in a roundabout way, someone's grandmother did.
The practical bits
You'll find us at 65 Grote Street, in the heart of Adelaide's Chinatown. We're open Monday to Sunday, 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM — until 9:30 PM over summer (October to March) — and we're open public holidays too. At peak times there's an honest 15–30 minute wait. You can book through OpenTable via our booking page, walk-ins are always welcome, and if you're bringing a group of 8 or more, please give us a ring on (08) 8151 0106. App orders go through order.phobanam.com.au.
A note on dietary stuff, because we'd rather be upfront: Sâm Bổ Lượng is a plant-based-style drink by tradition, but everything comes out of one shared kitchen — the same kitchen simmering beef bones for 18 hours — and we don't hold vegan or gluten-free certification. The barley-style grains mean it's not a gluten-free choice. If you have allergies or strict requirements, chat to our staff and we'll tell you honestly what we can and can't promise.
Frequently asked questions
What is Sâm Bổ Lượng?
Sâm Bổ Lượng is a traditional Vietnamese sweet herbal iced drink — clear, amber-gold liquid over crushed ice with dried longan, lotus seeds and barley-style grains. It sits somewhere between a drink and a dessert, gently sweet and refreshing rather than rich.
How much is Sâm Bổ Lượng at Bà Năm in Adelaide?
It's $10, listed on our menu as "longan herbal drink". Our other desserts — Chè Thái and Chè Khúc Bạch — are also $10 each.
How is Sâm Bổ Lượng different from chè?
Chè desserts like Chè Thái (tropical fruit cocktail) and Chè Khúc Bạch (Vietnamese panna cotta) are creamy and rich. Sâm Bổ Lượng is the opposite: a clear, light, gently herbal drink with no cream or coconut milk — the traditional, refreshing option.
Is Sâm Bổ Lượng vegan or gluten free?
It's plant-based by tradition, but it contains barley-style grains, so it's not gluten free, and it's prepared in our shared kitchen — we don't hold vegan or gluten-free certification. If you have allergies or strict requirements, please ask our staff.
Where can I try Sâm Bổ Lượng in Adelaide?
At Bà Năm, 65 Grote Street in Adelaide's Chinatown. We're open 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM daily (until 9:30 PM October to March), open public holidays. Walk-ins welcome, OpenTable bookings available, and groups of 8+ should call (08) 8151 0106.