Vietnamese Desserts in Adelaide: A Little Guide to Chè at Bà Năm
★ As featured in Glam Adelaide — 2025 SA Restaurant & Catering Awards finalist
Most people walk into Bà Năm on Grote Street for the phở — fair enough, that's the family trade, and it has been since Bà Năm Lời started ladling it from her home kitchen in Trảng Bàng back in the 1970s. But if you finish your bowl and push back from the table without asking about dessert, you're missing the quiet second act of a proper Vietnamese meal. We keep it simple: three desserts, all $10, all made the way they'd be made at home. No towers, no tweezers, no theatre. Just chè.
First things first: what is chè?
If you're new to Vietnamese desserts, chè (pronounced roughly "cheh") is the word that covers a whole family of sweet dishes — sometimes called Vietnamese sweet soup, though that undersells it. Chè can be warm or iced, drinkable or spoonable, fruity or beany or jellied or all of the above. In Vietnam it's everywhere: street stalls, markets, grandmothers' kitchens after dinner. It's dessert, but it's also a cool-down, a catch-up-with-friends food, an excuse to sit a bit longer.
That last part matters to us. Bà Năm isn't a luxury venue and we've never pretended otherwise. It's a walk-in spot in Adelaide's Chinatown where the 18-hour bone broth does the talking and the desserts do the winding down.
The three chè on our menu right now
Chè Thái — tropical fruit cocktail ($10)
If you're going to try one chè first, this is the friendly handshake. Chè thái is a chilled glass layered with tropical fruit and soft jellies swimming in sweetened coconut milk — bright colour, cold spoonfuls, the sort of glass that keeps you busy between bites of fruit and jelly. It's colourful, it's cold, and on a hot Adelaide afternoon it does exactly what you hope it will. Kids love it. Adults pretend they're ordering it for the kids and then don't share.
Want the full deep-dive? Read our dedicated Chè Thái Adelaide guide — what's in the $10 glass, how it compares to the other two chè, and what to drink alongside it.
Chè Khúc Bạch — Vietnamese panna cotta ($10)
Khúc bạch translates loosely as "white pieces", which tells you almost nothing and is somehow still accurate. These are delicate, wobbly cubes — silkier than Italian panna cotta, lightly milky — served chilled in a gently sweet syrup with fruit alongside. Where chè thái is a party, chè khúc bạch is the quiet one in the corner who turns out to be the most interesting person in the room. If you had the Phở Tái with its paper-thin "red coin" beef — cooked right in the bowl by the boiling broth — this is the gentle landing afterwards.
Want the full deep-dive? Read our dedicated Chè Khúc Bạch Adelaide guide — what's in the $10 glass, how it compares to chè thái and sâm bổ lượng, and what to drink alongside it.
Sâm Bổ Lượng — longan herbal drink ($10)
The most traditional of the three, and the one that'll transport anyone who grew up with it. Sâm bổ lượng is a chilled sweet drink built around longan, with a gently herbal character Vietnamese families have sipped on warm evenings for generations. It's less sweet than the other two, more contemplative. Refreshing rather than rich. If chè thái is dessert and chè khúc bạch is a treat, sâm bổ lượng is a habit worth picking up.
Want the full deep-dive? Read our dedicated Sâm Bổ Lượng Adelaide guide — what's in the $10 glass, how it compares to chè thái and chè khúc bạch, and when the traditional herbal option is the right call.
Pairing dessert with a drink (yes, really)
There's an argument that chè is the drink. But if you want to double up, a Vietnamese iced coffee — cà phê đen đá black, or nâu đá with condensed milk ($8) — is the classic bitter counterweight to a sweet chè thái. If coffee at night isn't your thing, the trà đào cam sả ($10) brings peach, lemongrass and orange to the table, the trà tắc kumquat iced tea ($10) cuts through anything rich, and a plain nước dừa coconut water ($8) sits happily next to sâm bổ lượng without stepping on its toes.
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.
A dessert stop in Chinatown
Adelaide's Chinatown does dessert well, and we reckon chè deserves a bigger place in that conversation. We're at 65 Grote Street, right in the thick of it — part of the Vietnamese food scene in the Adelaide CBD that's grown a lot richer in recent years. Bà Năm opened here in 2023, when Huynh Nguyen — Bà Năm Lời's grandson — and owner Thi Gai Vo brought the family recipes across from Tây Ninh. Huynh still does his Sunday farm runs for locally sourced beef, which has nothing to do with dessert but tells you something about how the whole kitchen operates.
We were a finalist in the Vietnamese Restaurant category at the 2025 Hostplus SA Restaurant & Catering Awards, and Glam Adelaide has kindly written us up — but honestly, the reviews we care about most are the empty chè glasses coming back to the kitchen.
The honest fine print
We're open seven days, 11am to 9pm (until 9:30pm over summer, October to March). We're walk-in, and at peak times there's a genuine 15–30 minute wait — we'd rather tell you straight than pretend. The full menu is here, or you can order through the app at order.phobanam.com.au. Questions? Call us on (08) 8151 0106.
Come for the phở. Stay for the chè. That's the whole pitch, really. And if you're still deciding which bowl to open with, start with our guide to the best pho in Adelaide — then circle back here for the sweet finish.
Frequently asked questions
What is chè, exactly?
Chè is the Vietnamese word for a broad family of sweet dishes — sometimes called Vietnamese sweet soup. It can be iced or warm, drinkable or eaten with a spoon, and often features fruit, jellies, coconut milk, beans or seeds. At Bà Năm in Adelaide we serve three: chè thái, chè khúc bạch and sâm bổ lượng.
Where can I get Vietnamese desserts in Adelaide?
Bà Năm at 65 Grote Street, in Adelaide's Chinatown, serves three traditional Vietnamese desserts — chè thái (tropical fruit cocktail), chè khúc bạch (Vietnamese panna cotta) and sâm bổ lượng (longan herbal drink) — each $10. We're open seven days, 11am–9pm (until 9:30pm in summer, Oct–Mar). Walk-ins are welcome, and you can book online via OpenTable.
What's the difference between chè thái and chè khúc bạch?
Chè thái is a chilled, colourful mix of tropical fruits and soft jellies in sweetened coconut milk — bright and fruity. Chè khúc bạch is more delicate: silky panna cotta–style cubes served cold in a light syrup with fruit. Both are $10 at Bà Năm.
What is sâm bổ lượng?
Sâm bổ lượng is a traditional chilled Vietnamese sweet drink built around longan, with a gently herbal character. It's less sweet than most chè and very refreshing — a long-standing favourite on warm evenings in Vietnam, and now on Grote Street too.
Can I order Bà Năm's desserts to take away or through the app?
Yes — you can order through our app at order.phobanam.com.au, or drop in at 65 Grote Street, Adelaide, in Chinatown. If you have questions, call us on (08) 8151 0106. Fair warning: at peak times there's an honest 15–30 minute wait for walk-ins.