Vietnamese Food Near Carrington Street, Adelaide: The Walk to Bà Năm

★ As featured in Glam Adelaide — 2025 SA Restaurant & Catering Awards finalist

Carrington Street keeps a lower profile than most of the CBD. Running east–west just south of Wakefield, it’s part of Adelaide’s quieter southern fringe — townhouses, small offices, a few long-standing locals’ pubs, and the park lands not far off. It’s a good street for living and working. It’s not, however, a street where a proper bowl of phở appears when you want one.

The nearest fix sits about ten to twenty minutes north-west on foot, depending on where along Carrington you start: Bà Năm, at 65 Grote Street in Chinatown. It’s a family-run Vietnamese kitchen — opened in 2023, built around an 18-hour bone broth and a stone bowl of phở that finishes cooking at your table. Not a luxury venue. Just very genuine. This page covers the honest walk, what to order when you arrive, and why people from the southern CBD keep making the trip.

The Walk from Carrington Street

Carrington Street sits one block south of Wakefield, so the route north is simple: head toward Victoria Square, then west along Grote Street into Chinatown. Look for number 65. Realistic times:

• From Carrington near King William / the Whitmore Square end: about 10–15 minutes north toward Victoria Square, then onto Grote Street. Spine neighbour: King William Street.
• From mid-Carrington (toward the Hutt Street direction): about 12–18 minutes north-west, cutting via Wakefield Street or angling through Victoria Square. See also Wakefield Street one block north.
• From eastern Carrington near the East Terrace / Hutt latitude: about 15–20 minutes west-north-west — a proper walk, but a flat and easy one. Eastern fringe: Hutt Street.

Victoria Square is your hinge point on almost every version of this route. Once you’re through it and onto Grote, Chinatown announces itself quickly — the paifang gates, the market crowds, and the smell of a dozen kitchens working at once. Bà Năm is in the thick of it. More on the precinct: Southern Vietnamese in Chinatown. Square-side walk: near Victoria Square.

It’s a genuine lunchtime or after-work walk — long enough to earn the bowl, short enough from the western end if you keep a decent pace. If you’re on a tight window, order ahead through the app at order.phobanam.com.au so your food is underway before you leave. There’s a small credit on your first app order.

What to Order Once You Get There

If you’ve walked fifteen minutes for this, order the thing the kitchen is known for: Phở Thố Đá, the stone bowl phở. The bowl arrives still boiling, and paper-thin rounds of rare local beef — the “red coin” cut — cook in front of you as the 18-hour broth does its work. It’s phở tái done the way it was meant to be: the beef finishes in the bowl, not in the kitchen. As a bonus, every stone-bowl tái order enters you in the Tái Club monthly lucky draw.

Beyond the signature, the menu holds its own. Bún bò Huế brings the spicier, lemongrass-heavy central-Vietnamese answer to phở. Cơm tấm — broken rice with grilled meat — is the quiet achiever for a solid lunch. Gỏi bò tái chanh, rare beef brightened with lime, suits warmer Adelaide days. And whichever way you go, a Vietnamese iced coffee is the correct way to fuel the walk back south.

If you’re weighing options across town, the case for this bowl is made in full on our best phở in Adelaide page.

The Kitchen Behind It

Bà Năm’s recipes trace back to Bà Năm Lời’s home kitchen in Trảng Bàng, Tây Ninh, in the 1970s. Founders Huynh Nguyen and Thi Gai Vo carried those recipes to Adelaide and opened the Grote Street restaurant in 2023.

The broth is the whole argument. It simmers for 18 hours on real bones — no concentrates, no powders — and the beef is local, sourced on Sunday farm runs. That’s the entire method: time, bones, good beef, patience. In 2025, the restaurant was named a finalist in the Vietnamese category at the Hostplus SA Restaurant & Catering Awards — finalist, not winner — and Glam Adelaide has featured the kitchen — but the honest measure is still the broth itself. More on Southern Vietnamese cooking in Chinatown.

Practical Notes for the Carrington Street Crowd

• Address: 65 Grote Street, Adelaide SA 5000 — in Chinatown, just west of Victoria Square.
• Walk time: about 10–15 minutes from the King William / Whitmore Square end; 12–18 from mid-Carrington; 15–20 from the eastern / Hutt latitude end.
• Hours: open seven days, 11am–9pm (until 9:30pm October–March), public holidays included. That covers the after-work walk from a southern-CBD office and the weekend wander alike.
• Peak times: expect an honest 15–30 minute wait at the busiest lunch and dinner stretches. It’s a small kitchen doing things slowly on purpose.
• Ordering ahead: the app at order.phobanam.com.au lets you skip some of that, and there’s a small credit on your first app order.
• Bookings: walk-ins welcome; you can book via OpenTable at /book/. Groups of 8+ should call ahead on (08) 8151 0106.
• Pair the trip: the Adelaide Central Market is right there — a market run plus phở is a well-worn southern-CBD ritual.
• TÁI CLUB: ask about the monthly lucky draw connected to the stone-bowl tái while you’re there — staff will explain. Details: TÁI CLUB.

Coming from Somewhere Else in the CBD?

Carrington isn’t the only street we’ve mapped honestly. If you’re starting elsewhere:

• Vietnamese near Wakefield Street — one block north of Carrington
• Vietnamese near Sturt Street — southern CBD fringe, one block south of Carrington
• Vietnamese near Angas Street — another quiet southern street
• Vietnamese near Victoria Square — the hinge point on your route
• Vietnamese near Hutt Street — the eastern fringe
• Vietnamese near Gouger Street — the dining strip we sit just off
• Vietnamese near Wright Street — closer southern neighbour
• Vietnamese near Frome Street and near Pulteney Street — the eastern CBD
• Vietnamese in Adelaide Chinatown — our home turf
• Vietnamese food across the Adelaide CBD — the full picture
• Vietnamese near the Central Market

The Short Version

Carrington Street to Bà Năm is a flat, easy 10–20 minute walk north-west via Victoria Square and Grote Street. At the end of it: an 18-hour bone broth, red-coin rare beef cooking in a boiling stone bowl, and a family kitchen that’s been doing it the same way since Trảng Bàng in the 1970s. Not a luxury venue — just very genuine, seven days a week.

Bà Năm — 65 Grote Street, Adelaide SA 5000. Open seven days, 11am–9pm (until 9:30pm October–March), public holidays included. Phone (08) 8151 0106. Order ahead at order.phobanam.com.au — there’s a small credit on your first app order. Bookings via OpenTable; groups of 8+ please call.

Frequently asked questions

How far is Bà Năm from Carrington Street?

It depends where along Carrington you start. From the western end near King William Street, it’s about a 10–15 minute walk north via Victoria Square onto Grote Street. From mid-Carrington, allow 12–18 minutes, and from the eastern end near the Hutt Street latitude, about 15–20 minutes. The route is flat and simple: Victoria Square, then Grote Street to number 65.

What is “red coin” beef?

It’s the paper-thin round slices of rare beef in Bà Năm’s phở tái. The slices arrive raw and cook in the bowl itself, as the boiling 18-hour broth is poured over them. The beef is local, sourced on Sunday farm runs.

What is Phở Thố Đá?

Phở Thố Đá is Bà Năm’s signature stone bowl phở. The stone bowl keeps the broth at boiling point when it reaches your table, so the red-coin rare beef finishes cooking right in front of you rather than in the kitchen. Order the stone-bowl tái and you’re also in the running for the TÁI CLUB’s monthly lucky draw.

What are Bà Năm’s opening hours?

Open 7 days a week, 11am to 9pm — extending to 9:30pm from October through March — including public holidays. At peak times, expect an honest 15–30 minute wait, or order ahead via the app at order.phobanam.com.au.

Why does an 18-hour broth matter?

Because there are no shortcuts hiding in it. Bà Năm’s broth simmers on real bones for 18 hours with no concentrates or powders, which is what gives it depth, body and the heat to cook rare beef in the bowl. It’s a method carried over from Bà Năm Lời’s home kitchen in Trảng Bàng, Tây Ninh, in the 1970s.