Vietnamese Food in Adelaide CBD — A Local’s Guide to Bà Năm
★ As featured in Glam Adelaide — 2025 SA Restaurant & Catering Awards finalist
If you’re hunting for Vietnamese food in Adelaide CBD, walk one block off Grote Street and follow the smell of starshine and slow-simmered bone broth. That’s us — Bà Năm Restaurant, a small family phở house on the fringe of Chinatown, a short stroll from Victoria Square. We’re famous for one thing above all: the Phở Tái, a bowl crowned with a paper-thin, round, red slice of rare beef — what our regulars call the “red coin” — laid over the noodles raw and cooked in the bowl by boiling 18-hour broth. It arrives pink and tender, the way Bà Năm Lời has served it since the 1970s.
The Adelaide CBD Vietnamese scene — Grote Street on the fringe of Chinatown
Adelaide’s CBD eats well, and the strip around Grote Street and the Central Market arcades has quietly become the city’s most rewarding corner for Vietnamese food. You’re on the fringe of Chinatown — close enough to catch the lantern light and the bustle of the market, far enough from the noise to actually hear the person across the table. Victoria Square is a five-minute walk south; the tram stops a block away. Office workers come for a quick lunch, market shoppers drift in after a grocery run, and on winter evenings the whole street smells of simmering stock.
Among the Vietnamese restaurants in Adelaide’s Chinatown fringe, we’re the new-ish kid — we opened in 2023 — but the recipes we cook aren’t new at all. They came out of a home kitchen in Trảng Bàng, in the Tây Ninh province of Vietnam, half a century ago. That’s the whole point of Bà Năm: Vietnamese food in Adelaide CBD that tastes exactly like it did at Grandma’s table, because it is Grandma’s table.
What to order at Bà Năm
Start with the Phở Tái — our signature, and the dish Bà Năm is famous for. A paper-thin, round, red slice of rare beef is laid over the noodles raw; we pour boiling 18-hour bone broth straight into the bowl, and the beef cooks in front of you, turning pink and impossibly tender. Our regulars call it the “red coin.” It’s the bowl that travelled from Trảng Bàng to Grote Street unchanged. First-timers should order this before anything else — $18 to $23, depending on size, and worth every cent.
Then branch out. The bún bò huế is the spicy, lemongrass-and-shrimp-paste cousin of phở — richer, rust-coloured, with a slow burn that builds. The cơm tấm is broken rice grilled over charcoal, topped with pork, a fried egg and the sweet-savoury dressing that makes it a Saigon street-food icon. The bánh xèo is a crisp, turmeric-golden crepe stuffed with pork and prawns, wrapped in lettuce and dipped in nước chấm. Finish with a Vietnamese iced coffee — cà phê sữa đá — slow-dripped over condensed milk and poured over ice. It is the only correct way to end a bowl of phở.
The Bà Năm story — from a Trảng Bàng kitchen to Grote Street
Our grandmother, Bà Năm Lời — “Grandma Nam” — started selling phở from her home kitchen in Trảng Bàng, Tây Ninh, in the 1970s. She cooked for neighbours, for the families passing through on the way to the border, for anyone who was hungry. The recipes she used then are the recipes we use now: the same spice mix for the broth, the same cut of beef for the red coin, the same way of pouring the boiling stock so the meat cooks exactly pink. Nothing has been streamlined, because there was never anything to streamline — it was already right.
Her grandson, Huynh Nguyen — our manager — and owner Thi Gai Vo brought those recipes to Adelaide and opened Bà Năm Restaurant in 2023. The name is a tribute and a promise: cook it the way Grandma did, no shortcuts. When a regular tells us our phở tastes like the bowl they remember from their grandmother’s house, that is the best review we can get. We are not trying to reinvent Vietnamese food in Adelaide CBD. We are trying to set it down exactly as it was.
Local sourcing — Huynh’s Sunday farm runs
Good phở is mostly good broth, and good broth is mostly good bones and good beef. We use locally sourced South Australian beef — the same farms, the same cuts, week after week — and our recipes are authentic because we never swapped a cheaper ingredient in to save time. Every Sunday, Huynh drives out to the farms to pick up fresh vegetables for the week. It’s not a marketing line; it’s just how a small family kitchen keeps the produce honest. He’s back at Grote Street by afternoon, crates unloaded, prep started for Monday.
That’s really the whole operation. As Huynh puts it: “Not a luxury venue, just very genuine.” We don’t have linen tablecloths or a wine list. We have big bowls, fast service, and a broth that has been simmering since before you woke up. Come ready to be fuelled up for a big, enthusiastic day — hearty comfort food, generous portions, the kind of meal that carries you through to dinner. That’s the Bà Năm brief.
Press — 2025 SA Awards finalist & featured by Glam Adelaide
In 2025, Bà Năm was named a finalist in the 2025 Hostplus SA Restaurant & Catering Awards for Excellence in the Vietnamese Restaurant category — one of the family-run phở spots named among Adelaide’s best restaurants of the year. We were featured by Glam Adelaide, who wrote about a Chinatown family phở spot serving up Grandma’s authentic recipe — the same story we tell at every table. You can also find us in the Glam Adelaide business directory and under the Bà Năm Restaurant tag on their site. The awards feature noted the Sunday farm runs and the unchanged family recipes — the two things we’d rather be known for than any plaque on the wall.
Practical info — getting a bowl on the table
We’re at 65 Grote Street, Adelaide SA 5000, open 7 days a week, 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM (9:30 PM from October through March), including public holidays. Phone us on (08) 8151 0106. At peak hours — weekday lunch and weekend evenings — expect a 15 to 30 minute wait for a table. We won’t pretend otherwise: everything is cooked fresh, no shortcuts, and the broth only pours when it’s ready. If you’re short on time, order ahead at order.phobanam.com.au and walk straight to pickup, or get delivery through Uber Eats and DoorDash.
Frequently asked questions
Where is good Vietnamese food in Adelaide CBD?
Bà Năm Restaurant, 65 Grote Street — on the fringe of Chinatown, a short walk from Victoria Square. Famous for Phở Tái (the rare-beef “red coin”), bún bò huế, cơm tấm and bánh xèo.
What should I order at Bà Năm?
First-timers should order the Phở Tái — paper-thin local rare beef cooked in the bowl by 18-hour broth ($18–$23). Add bún bò huế or cơm tấm and finish with Vietnamese iced coffee.
What are the opening hours?
Open 7 days, 11:00 AM – 9:00 PM (9:30 PM October–March), including public holidays. Phone (08) 8151 0106.
How long is the wait?
15–30 minutes at peak hours — everything is cooked fresh, no shortcuts. Order ahead at order.phobanam.com.au, or get delivery via Uber Eats and DoorDash.
Has Bà Năm won awards?
Bà Năm was a finalist in the 2025 Hostplus South Australia Restaurant & Catering Awards for Excellence (Vietnamese Restaurant category) and has been featured by Glam Adelaide.