Bà Năm: A Family Vietnamese Kitchen in Chinatown Adelaide
★ As featured in Glam Adelaide — 2025 SA Restaurant & Catering Awards finalist
Walk under the paifang gates on Moonta Street, past the barbecue windows and grocer trolleys, and Chinatown Adelaide starts talking to you — steam, charcoal, chatter in three languages. A short stroll onto Grote Street sits Bà Năm, a family-run Southern Vietnamese kitchen serving phở built on an 18-hour bone broth and a recipe that began in a home kitchen in Trảng Bàng, Tây Ninh, in the 1970s. This is our corner of the precinct, and this page is about why it feels like home here.
Chinatown Adelaide, on Grote Street
Chinatown Adelaide isn't one street — it's a pocket. The Moonta Street gates anchor it, the Grote Street dining strip carries it, and on weekend evenings the whole precinct hums with lantern light and dinner queues. Bà Năm sits at 65 Grote Street, right on that strip, open seven days from 11am. If you're exploring Vietnamese food across the wider city, our Vietnamese food in Adelaide CBD guide covers the CBD, and Vietnamese lunch near Adelaide Central Market maps a market-day lunch walk — but this page is simply about being here, in Chinatown itself. Coming from Rundle Mall? Start with Vietnamese near Rundle Mall. Coming from the West End / Hindley Street side? See Vietnamese near Hindley Street. Coming from the Convention Centre or Riverbank? See Vietnamese near Adelaide Convention Centre, our Vietnamese near Adelaide Oval guide. Already on the Gouger Street strip? Peel off one block north with Vietnamese near Gouger Street.
What to Order in Chinatown (Bowls, Plates, Share)
Chinatown eating is best done unhurried. A Phở Bò runs $20 small, $22 large; the spicier lemongrass depths of bún bò Huế are the same. Broken-rice cơm tấm plates with grilled pork are $20, a crackling bánh xèo is $22, and a bright gỏi bò tái chanh herb salad is $25. Sharing with a group? Rolls, wontons and prawn toast sit at $14 — see rice paper rolls — and a cà phê đá ($8) or nước dừa fresh coconut ($8) rounds off a Chinatown evening properly.
The Stone Bowl, the Red Coin, the Family Recipe
Our signature is the Phở Thố Đá — phở served in a heated stone bowl at $25, with a Bún Bò Huế Thố Đá at the same price and a Stone Bowl Set at $39. The moment worth watching is the "red coin": paper-thin rounds of rare beef laid into the bowl, cooked right there by the boiling 18-hour broth. Read more on Phở Tái and 18-hour broth & the red coin — real bones, no shortcuts, the same method Bà Năm Lời used at home in Tây Ninh since the 1970s. Every stone-bowl tái dish also comes with a TÁI CLUB ticket, drawn at noon on the last Sunday of the month — a small family tradition, nothing more.
Why This Kitchen Belongs in Chinatown
Chinatown Adelaide has always been built on family kitchens, and that's exactly what this is. Grandson Huynh Nguyen and owner Thi Gai Vo opened the Adelaide restaurant in 2023, carrying the family recipe across from Tây Ninh. Huynh still does Sunday farm runs for locally sourced beef. We're not a luxury venue, just very genuine — and it's been quietly rewarding to be named a 2025 Hostplus SA Restaurant & Catering Awards finalist in the Vietnamese category, and to be featured by Glam Adelaide. If you're chasing best phở in Adelaide, we'd humbly put our broth forward.
As featured in Glam Adelaide: Chinatown family phở spot serves up grandma's authentic recipe · Named among Adelaide's best restaurants of 2025 (finalist)
Practical: Finding Us, Waits, Bookings
You'll find us at 65 Grote Street, Adelaide SA 5000 — a short walk from the Moonta Street gates. Open 7 days, 11am–9pm (9:30pm close October through March), public holidays included. At Friday and weekend peaks there's an honest 15–30 minute wait; it's the sign of broth made the slow way, and Chinatown is a lovely place to wander while you're in the queue. Walk-ins are welcome, OpenTable takes bookings via our book page, groups of 8+ should call (08) 8151 0106, and you can order ahead at order.phobanam.com.au. Next time you're under the gates, follow the steam to Grote Street.
Working the civic end of town? See also our Vietnamese near Victoria Square guide — about a five-minute flat walk north to 65 Grote Street.
Frequently asked questions
Linger on Grote Street after dinner with chè thái — the $10 tropical dessert glass that keeps tables in Chinatown a little longer than they planned — the silkier chè khúc bạch — or traditional sâm bổ lượng, the longan herbal iced drink.
Where is Bà Năm in Chinatown Adelaide?
We're at 65 Grote Street, Adelaide SA 5000, on the Grote Street dining strip a short walk from the Moonta Street paifang gates. Open 7 days, 11am–9pm (9:30pm close October through March), including public holidays.
What should I order on a first visit to Bà Năm in Chinatown?
The Phở Thố Đá stone bowl ($25) is the signature — thin rare beef cooked in the bowl by boiling 18-hour broth. Phở Bò is $20 small / $22 large, cơm tấm plates are $20, and bánh xèo is $22.
Is there a wait at Bà Năm in Chinatown Adelaide?
At peak times, honestly, yes — usually 15–30 minutes. Walk-ins are welcome, OpenTable takes bookings, and groups of 8+ should call (08) 8151 0106 ahead.
How is this page different from your Adelaide CBD and Central Market guides?
Those guides cover the wider CBD and a market-day lunch walk. This page is about Chinatown Adelaide itself — the Grote Street strip, the gates, the precinct — and Bà Năm's place within it.
What makes Bà Năm's phở a Chinatown Adelaide signature?
An 18-hour bone broth made from real bones with no shortcuts, following Bà Năm Lời's home-kitchen recipe from Trảng Bàng, Tây Ninh, dating to the 1970s — brought to Adelaide by grandson Huynh Nguyen and owner Thi Gai Vo in 2023.