Vietnamese Near Morphett Street, Adelaide: The Short Walk to Bà Năm

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

If you’re on Morphett Street near Grote Street or the Central Market, Bà Năm is about a 2–5 minute walk east along Grote into Chinatown, at number 65. From Morphett further north around Waymouth or Franklin, or further south near Wright and Gouger, allow 5–10 minutes. It’s a family-run Vietnamese kitchen — 18-hour bone broth, paper-thin rare beef, no theatre — sitting right in the Moonta–Grote pocket of Adelaide’s Chinatown.

Here’s the thing, though: for a bowl of phở built on broth that’s been simmering for 18 hours over real bones, that walk is not a compromise. Morphett Street is the western spine of the CBD — Central Market traffic, office lunch, parklands wind. What it doesn’t have is a stone bowl arriving still roaring hot, with raw rare beef waiting on the side.

The Walk from Morphett Street to Grote Street Chinatown

Morphett Street runs the length of the western CBD, so your walk depends on where you’re standing.

• From Morphett at Grote / Central Market edge: about 2–5 minutes. Turn east onto Grote Street, walk past the Central Market frontage and the Chinatown gates, and you’ll reach 65 Grote Street. You’re heading into the Moonta–Grote pocket — the busiest food corner of Chinatown.
• From Morphett further north — Waymouth, Currie, Franklin: about 5–10 minutes south-east toward Grote, then east into Chinatown. Separate guides cover Franklin, Currie and Waymouth.
• From Morphett further south — Wright / Gouger end: about 5–10 minutes north-east toward Grote and Chinatown. More detail in the Wright Street and Gouger Street guides.

Either way, it’s a flat, straightforward walk — no laneways, no guesswork. If you live or work on Morphett, we’re the nearest proper Vietnamese kitchen once you tip east into Chinatown. The civic hinge sits at Victoria Square; the dining strip further south is Gouger.

If you’re on a tight lunch break, ordering ahead through the app at order.phobanam.com.au means your bowl is nearly ready as you walk in. There’s a small credit on your first app order, too.

What to Order When You Get Here

Start with the reason most people make the walk: Phở Tái, our “red coin” phở. The rare beef doesn’t arrive already cooked into the soup — it comes raw on the side, sliced into deep-red coins, and you drop it into the hot broth yourself. The signature Phở Thố Đá is served in a stone bowl that holds ferocious heat, so the broth is still close to bubbling when the beef hits it. You watch the coins blush from red to rose to just-done in seconds. Theatre, yes — and also the correct way to cook rare beef: at the table, in broth that’s spent 18 hours becoming what it is. The full story of the simmer lives on our 18-hour broth & red coin page.

Prefer a plate over a bowl? Cơm tấm is broken rice with grilled pork, egg, chả and pickles. If you run hotter, bún bò Huế is the order — a spicier, lemongrass-forward beef noodle soup. Sharing with colleagues? Start with gỏi bò tái chanh, then a stone bowl or two in the middle. For the broader city picture, see our best phở in Adelaide guide.

Family Cooking, Not a Concept Restaurant

Bà Năm isn’t a concept. The recipes come from Bà Năm Lời’s home kitchen in Trảng Bàng, Tây Ninh, in southern Vietnam in the 1970s — long-cooked broths, generous herbs, food made for family. In 2023, Huynh Nguyen and Thi Gai Vo brought that kitchen to Adelaide, and they’ve kept it stubbornly the same: bones simmered for 18 hours, nothing shortcut, nothing styled for the sake of it.

In 2025 we were a finalist in the Vietnamese category at the 2025 Hostplus SA Restaurant & Catering Awards. Finalist, not winner — we’re not going to dress that up. But for a small family restaurant two years into its Adelaide life, it meant a lot. This is not a luxury venue. It’s a genuine one, and around here that’s the rarer thing. More on Southern Vietnamese cooking in Chinatown.

Practical Notes for the Morphett Street Crowd

• Real walk, honest times: 2–5 minutes from Morphett at Grote / Central Market; 5–10 minutes from further north (Waymouth/Currie/Franklin) or further south (Wright/Gouger). East along Grote into Chinatown to number 65.
• Peak waits run 15–30 minutes. Lunch rush and Friday evenings are real. The 18-hour broth doesn’t hurry and neither does the queue.
• Open seven days, 11am–9pm (until 9:30pm October–March), public holidays included — early lunch still works.
• Not a luxury venue. Family restaurant, timber tables, herbs on the side. That’s the point.
• Ordering ahead helps. The app at order.phobanam.com.au takes pickup orders, with a small credit on your first order through it.
• Bookings: walk-ins welcome; OpenTable via /book/; groups of 8+ call (08) 8151 0106.

Coming from Somewhere Else in the CBD?

Morphett Street is the western approach. If your desk is elsewhere:

• Vietnamese near Carrington Street — quiet southern CBD fringe, one block south of Wakefield
• Vietnamese near Sturt Street — southern CBD fringe, one block south of Carrington
• Vietnamese near Wakefield Street — three blocks south of Grote; southern CBD office strip.
• Market / Chinatown already: Central Market, Chinatown.
• Dining strip further south: Gouger Street, Wright Street.
• Vietnamese near Angas Street — two blocks south of Grote; honest 5–15 minute walk north to Chinatown.
• City spine and hinge: Victoria Square.
• Western office strip north of Grote: Franklin, Currie, Waymouth.
• Full picture: Vietnamese food across the Adelaide CBD.

The Short Version

Morphett Street to Bà Năm: 2–5 minutes from the Grote/Market corner (5–10 from further north or south), east along Grote into Chinatown to number 65. What’s waiting: an 18-hour broth, red-coin rare beef, a stone bowl that simmers at your table, cơm tấm, and a family recipe that started in Trảng Bàng in the 1970s. Open seven days. Expect a wait at peak, or order ahead on the app. Not a luxury venue — just very genuine.

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 Morphett Street, Adelaide?

From the Morphett/Grote corner near the Central Market, it’s about a 2–5 minute walk east along Grote Street into Chinatown to 65 Grote Street. From Morphett further north (Waymouth, Currie, Franklin) or further south (Wright, Gouger), allow roughly 5–10 minutes. We’re not on Morphett Street itself — but we’re very close once you tip east into Chinatown.

Is Bà Năm good for a work lunch if I’m based near Morphett Street?

Yes — most of Morphett Street is within a 10-minute walk. At peak times waits can honestly run 15–30 minutes, so if you’re on a tight lunch break, order ahead on the app at order.phobanam.com.au (there’s a small credit on your first app order) and it’ll be ready when you arrive.

What is the “red coin” beef?

In our Phở Tái, the rare beef arrives raw on the side as deep-red coins. You drop them into the near-bubbling 18-hour broth — especially dramatic in the Phở Thố Đá stone bowl — and they cook right at your table. The broth is simmered for 18 hours over real bones, with locally sourced beef. Huynh Nguyen does the Sunday farm runs himself.

What are Bà Năm’s opening hours?

Open seven days a week, 11am–9pm, extending to 9:30pm from October to March. We’re open on public holidays too — that covers early lunches through to after-work dinner from the Morphett Street strip.

Do I need to book, or can I just walk in from Morphett Street?

Walk-ins are always welcome. If you’d rather lock in a table, book via OpenTable. For groups of 8 or more, please call ahead on (08) 8151 0106.