Vegetarian Vietnamese Food in Adelaide — Bà Năm’s Meat-Free Menu
★ As featured in Glam Adelaide — 2025 SA Restaurant & Catering Awards finalist
Vietnamese food is famous for its beef phở and grilled meats, but the cuisine has a long, generous vegetarian tradition too — built on herbs, vegetables, tofu and the kind of fresh rolls we’ve been making since Bà Năm Lời first sold phở from her home kitchen in Trảng Bàng, Tây Ninh in the 1970s. Here’s what’s meat-free on our menu at 65 Grote St, Adelaide — and, honestly, where our famous rare-beef Phở Tái sits in the picture.
A meat-free tradition that’s full of flavour
People sometimes assume Vietnamese cooking is all about beef and pork. In truth, Vietnamese kitchens have cooked vegetarian food for centuries — for Buddhist observance, for monthly vegetarian days, and simply because fresh vegetables, tofu and herbs taste extraordinary when treated with care. A good vegetarian Vietnamese plate isn’t a stripped-back version of something else. It stands on its own: crisp lettuce and herbs, soft rice paper, glass noodles, peanuts, grilled vegetables, a sweet-savoury-sour nuớc chấm that ties it all together. Meat-free, yes — but never flavour-free.
That tradition runs right through our family. Bà Năm Lời — “Grandma Nam” — started cooking from her home in Trảng Bàng, Tây Ninh in the 1970s, and the recipes she used then are the recipes we use now, unchanged. Her grandson, our manager Huynh Nguyen, and owner Thi Gai Vo brought them to Adelaide and opened Bà Năm Restaurant in 2023. The vegetarian rolls and salads on our menu today are made the way Grandma made them — same herbs, same order of ingredients, same restraint. No shortcuts, soul over polish.
What’s vegetarian at Bà Năm
Our vegetarian Vietnamese lineup is small on purpose — we’d rather make a few things properly than everything at once. Here’s what’s meat-free and made to order:
- Vegetarian fresh cold rolls — soft rice paper wrapped around vermicelli, crisp lettuce, carrot, herbs and tofu, served with a vegetarian dipping sauce. Light, bright, and the thing we eat ourselves on a hot Adelaide afternoon.
- Vegetarian spring rolls — golden, crisp-fried rolls filled with vegetables and glass noodles. The crunch is the point.
- Vegetarian vermicelli salads — a generous bowl of rice vermicelli topped with grilled vegetables, fresh herbs, crushed peanuts and nuớc chấm on the side, so you can dress it to your taste.
Prices run from $12 for cold rolls and spring rolls through to $19–$23 for the vermicelli salads. It’s honest, hearty comfort food — generous bowls designed to fuel you up for a big, enthusiastic day, not tiny plated portions that leave you hungry an hour later.
How to order — and what to drink with it
When you come in, just tell our team you’re vegetarian. We’ll walk you through what’s on and guide you to the dishes that suit. A good order looks like this: start with vegetarian fresh cold rolls, add a plate of vegetarian spring rolls to share, and finish with a vegetarian vermicelli salad with grilled vegetables and nuớc chấm on the side. That’s a full table, and it feeds a hungry group properly.
To drink, pair it with fresh sugarcane juice — pressed on the spot, gently sweet and refreshing — or a Vietnamese iced coffee if you want a lift. The coffee is strong, sweetened with condensed milk, and poured over ice; it’s the kind of thing that turns lunch into a small celebration. (We’ve written more about it in our Vietnamese iced coffee piece.)
This is a casual, come-as-you-are kind of place. Pull up a chair ready to be fuelled up for whatever the day holds — work, a long walk through the city, a catch-up with friends. We’re not a luxury venue, just very genuine.
On Phở Tái — our famous rare-beef “red coin”
We’d be less than honest if we didn’t mention the elephant in the room. Our signature dish is Phở Tái — the rare beef phở Bà Năm is famous for — and it is very much a beef dish. The centrepiece is the “red coin”: a paper-thin, round, red slice of rare beef laid over the noodles raw, then cooked in the bowl by our boiling 18-hour bone broth. It arrives pink and tender, barely cooked, with the broth doing the work at the table. It’s the dish that put us on the map, and you can read the full story in our bone broth & red coin article.
So no, the Phở Tái isn’t vegetarian, and there’s no vegan pho on our regular menu. But the vegetarian lineup above is genuinely generous — three proper dishes, made the same way Grandma made them, and portioned to satisfy. If you’re dining with a mixed group, the beef-eaters can have their Phở Tái and the vegetarians can have a feast of rolls and salad, and everyone leaves happy.
Locally sourced, genuinely made
What makes Bà Năm famous isn’t a slick fit-out. It’s locally sourced beef, authentic family recipes, and produce that’s actually fresh. Every Sunday, Huynh drives out to farms outside Adelaide to pick up fresh vegetables for the week. It’s a small ritual, but it’s the reason our herbs are crisp and our rolls taste the way they do — the produce hasn’t spent a week in a warehouse. Those same farm-run vegetables go into the vegetarian dishes as much as the meat ones.
That Sunday drive is part of the story we’re proud of. Bà Năm Lời cooked from her home in Trảng Bàng, Tây Ninh in the 1970s using what was fresh that morning. We can’t replicate Trảng Bàng exactly, but we can honour the principle: buy close, cook the same day, don’t cut corners. Not a luxury venue, just very genuine.
As featured in Glam Adelaide. Bà Năm was named a finalist in the 2025 Hostplus SA Restaurant & Catering Awards for Excellence (Vietnamese Restaurant category) and featured by Glam Adelaide — recognition for the family recipes, the locally sourced beef, and Huynh’s Sunday farm runs that keep the kitchen honest.
What to expect when you visit
A quick, honest note on logistics. We’re at 65 Grote St, Adelaide SA 5000, open 7 days a week, 11:00 AM – 9:00 PM (9:30 PM October through March), including public holidays. During peak hours — the lunch rush and the dinner wave — expect a 15–30 minute wait. Everything is made fresh to order, including the rolls, and that takes the time it takes. If you’re short on time, order ahead online at order.phobanam.com.au and skip the queue.
Whether you’re vegetarian for life, vegetarian for the day, or dining with someone who is, we’ll look after you. Come ready to be fuelled up, leave full, and tell a friend. If you want to read more about us first, our Vietnamese food in the Adelaide CBD guide covers the wider menu.
Frequently asked questions
Does Bà Năm have vegetarian Vietnamese food?
Yes — vegetarian fresh cold rolls, vegetarian spring rolls and vegetarian vermicelli salads, all made to order ($12–$23). Tell our team you’re vegetarian and we’ll guide you.
Is there vegan pho at Bà Năm?
Our famous Phở Tái is a beef dish, so it isn’t vegetarian. The signature red coin — a paper-thin, round, red slice of rare beef laid over the noodles raw and cooked in the bowl by our boiling 18-hour bone broth — is unmistakably beef. Our meat-free options are the fresh rolls, spring rolls and vermicelli salads; ask our team on the day about any vegetarian soup availability.
What vegetarian dishes do you recommend?
Start with vegetarian fresh cold rolls, add vegetarian spring rolls, and finish with a vegetarian vermicelli salad with grilled vegetables and nuớc chấm on the side.
How much is the vegetarian menu?
Vegetarian cold rolls and spring rolls start at $12; vegetarian vermicelli salads run $19–$23. Order at 65 Grote Street or online at order.phobanam.com.au.
Is there a wait at peak times?
Expect a 15–30 minute wait during peak hours — everything is made fresh. Order ahead online at order.phobanam.com.au to skip the queue. We’re open 7 days, 11:00 AM – 9:00 PM (9:30 PM Oct–Mar), including public holidays.