Vietnamese Food Near Hindmarsh: The Short Trip East to Bà Năm

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

Hindmarsh sits just west of the park lands — Port Road, Bowden and Thebarton edges — which puts an 18-hour stone bowl of phở on Grote Street closer than most people assume.

Hindmarsh does the western fringe well — Port Road, the Bowden edge, Thebarton nearby — but it doesn’t have a Southern Vietnamese phở house simmering real bones for 18 hours. For that, you head east across the park lands into Chinatown, where Bà Năm sits at 65 Grote Street serving Phở Thố Đá — stone bowl phở — from a family recipe that started in a Trảng Bàng home kitchen in the 1970s. This is our first western-suburb guide, after North Adelaide, Unley and Norwood, and honestly the west has the easiest run of the lot. Here are the honest travel times, the route in, and what to order once you’re seated. Not a luxury venue, just very genuine.

How Far Is Bà Năm from Hindmarsh?

Hindmarsh sits just beyond the park lands on the Port Road and South Road fringe. The green belt makes it feel like a border when it’s really a short gap. Honest bands:

• Eastern Hindmarsh / park-lands edge (toward the city side): roughly 12–20 minutes on foot into Chinatown, or a 5–8 minute drive. Genuinely walkable on a good evening.
• Central Hindmarsh / Port Road strip: about 15–25 minutes walking, or a 6–10 minute drive.
• Western Hindmarsh toward the Croydon edge: walking often runs 25–35+ minutes — drive, tram or rideshare is smarter; driving is roughly 8–12 minutes.

The natural route: head east across the park lands toward West Terrace, then along Grote Street into Chinatown. You can also angle in via the Light Square or Morphett Street latitudes — either way you land within a block of 65 Grote Street.

One clarification worth making: Hindmarsh the suburb is not West Terrace. West Terrace is the CBD’s western boulevard on the city side of the park lands; Hindmarsh is the suburb beyond them. If you’re actually starting on the terrace itself, our West Terrace guide has the shorter, CBD-scale numbers.

If you’d rather skip the queue maths altogether, order ahead on the app at order.phobanam.com.au — there’s a small credit on your first app order.

What to Order After the Trip

You’ve crossed the park lands; make it count. The dishes people hop over from the western suburbs for:

• Phở Thố Đá — the signature stone bowl phở. The granite bowl keeps the broth at a rolling heat at the table, so the last spoonful is nearly as hot as the first.
• Phở Tái “red coin” — paper-thin rounds of rare local beef that cook in the bowl itself, in boiling 18-hour bone broth. Order it in the stone bowl dine-in and you’re automatically in the TÁI CLUB monthly lucky draw.
• Bún bò Huế — the spicier, lemongrass-forward central-Vietnamese noodle soup, for when you want heat.
• Cơm tấm — broken rice with grilled pork, the honest lunch plate.
• Gỏi bò tái chanh — lime-cured rare beef salad, sharp and fresh alongside a hot bowl.
• Vietnamese iced coffee — the right way to finish before the short hop back west.

Still weighing up where phở sits in Adelaide generally? Our best phở in Adelaide rundown covers the honest picture.

An 18-Hour Broth from a Trảng Bàng Home Kitchen

The recipe behind every bowl at Grote Street goes back to Bà Năm Lời’s home kitchen in 1970s Trảng Bàng, Tây Ninh — Southern Vietnam, where broth is a slow, patient thing. Founders Huynh Nguyen and Thi Gai Vo opened the Adelaide restaurant in 2023 and kept the method intact: real bones, simmered for 18 hours, no concentrates and no powders. The beef is local, and Sunday farm runs keep the supply honest. That’s the whole pitch, really — there’s no shortcut version of an 18-hour broth, which is why people make the short trip from Hindmarsh rather than settling for something closer.

Practical Notes from Hindmarsh

• Address: 65 Grote Street, Adelaide SA 5000 — in Chinatown
• Hours: open 7 days, 11am–9pm, extending to 9:30pm from October to March — public holidays included.
• Peak waits: an honest 15–30 minutes at busy times. Weekday lunches and early dinners are calmer.
• Getting there: from Port Road, head east across the park lands toward West Terrace and onto Grote Street — Chinatown and Central Market parking are nearby.
• Bookings: reserve via OpenTable at our bookings page. Groups of 8 or more should call ahead on (08) 8151 0106.
• Order ahead: the app at order.phobanam.com.au includes a small credit on your first app order.
• TÁI CLUB: order the stone-bowl tái dine-in and you’re in the monthly draw — details on the TÁI CLUB page
• Walk-ins: always welcome; honest 15–30 minute wait at peak

Coming From Somewhere Else?

Hindmarsh is our first western-suburbs guide, joining the north, south and east. If you’re starting from another part of town, we’ve mapped those trips too:

• Vietnamese near Burnside — second-ring eastern foothills suburb (Greenhill Road / Burnside Village).
• Vietnamese near West Terrace — the CBD’s park-lands edge, not the suburb.
• Vietnamese near Light Square — the west-end CBD park.
• Vietnamese near Morphett Street
• Vietnamese near Hindley Street
• Vietnamese near the Adelaide Convention Centre
• Vietnamese near North Adelaide — first northern-suburb guide.
• Vietnamese near Prospect — second-ring northern suburb (Main North Road / Prospect Road)
• Vietnamese near Unley — first southern-suburb guide.
• Vietnamese near Norwood — first eastern-suburb guide.
• Vietnamese in Chinatown — our home turf on Grote Street.
• Vietnamese food in the Adelaide CBD — the full city picture.
• Vietnamese near Goodwood — second-ring southern suburb (Goodwood Road / tram).

The Short Version

From central Hindmarsh and the Port Road strip, Bà Năm is a 6–10 minute drive east (15–25 minutes on foot); from the park-lands edge it drops to 5–8 minutes driving or a 12–20 minute walk, and from the Croydon edge allow 8–12 minutes in the car. What’s waiting on Grote Street: a granite stone bowl, paper-thin red-coin rare beef cooking in 18-hour bone broth, and a recipe from a Trảng Bàng home kitchen. Not a luxury venue, just very genuine — and worth crossing the park lands for.

Bà Năm — 65 Grote Street, Adelaide SA 5000 (Chinatown). Phone (08) 8151 0106. Open 7 days, 11am–9pm (to 9:30pm October–March), public holidays included. Book via OpenTable or order ahead at order.phobanam.com.au.

Frequently asked questions

How far is Bà Năm from Hindmarsh?

From the eastern Hindmarsh / park-lands edge it’s roughly a 12–20 minute walk or a 5–8 minute drive. From the Port Road strip and central Hindmarsh, allow 15–25 minutes on foot or a 6–10 minute drive. From western Hindmarsh toward Croydon, walking often runs 25–35+ minutes — drive, tram or rideshare is smarter (about 8–12 minutes by car). Head east across the park lands toward West Terrace, then along Grote Street into Chinatown.

What is the “red coin” Phở Tái?

The “red coin” is paper-thin round slices of rare local beef served alongside the bowl, then cooked in it by the boiling 18-hour bone broth. The coins turn from red to tender in seconds — it’s the house signature, and ordering the stone-bowl tái dine-in enters you in the TÁI CLUB monthly lucky draw.

What is Phở Thố Đá?

Phở Thố Đá is stone bowl phở — served in a heated granite bowl that keeps the broth at boiling point at your table. It’s hot enough to cook the red-coin rare beef in front of you and keeps the whole bowl steaming to the last spoonful. See the stone bowl set for details.

What are Bà Năm’s opening hours?

Open 7 days a week, 11am–9pm, extending to 9:30pm from October to March. Public holidays included. Peak waits run an honest 15–30 minutes; you can book via OpenTable, and groups of 8+ should call (08) 8151 0106.

Is the broth really simmered for 18 hours?

Yes — real bones simmered for 18 hours, with no concentrates or powders. The recipe comes from Bà Năm Lời’s home kitchen in 1970s Trảng Bàng, Tây Ninh, and the beef is local, kept supplied by Sunday farm runs.