Vietnamese Food Near Norwood: The Trip West to Bà Năm

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

Norwood has The Parade; Chinatown has an 18-hour bone broth — here’s the honest distance, the route west, and what to order when you arrive at Bà Năm on Grote Street.

Norwood does food well — The Parade is one of Adelaide’s proper dining strips, and the Kent Town and Magill Road edges have their own pockets of good eating. What the eastern suburbs don’t have is a phở house simmering real bones for 18 hours. For that, you head west 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 guide covers the honest travel times from Norwood, the route in, and what to order once you’re seated. Not a luxury venue, just very genuine.

How Far Is Bà Năm from Norwood?

Norwood sits east of the park lands, so this is a genuine cross-town trip rather than a stroll. Here are the honest bands:

• Western Norwood / Kent Town edge (toward the CBD, Dequetteville Terrace and the Payneham Road fringe): roughly 20–35 minutes on foot, or an 8–12 minute drive.
• The Parade dining strip / central Norwood: roughly 30–45 minutes walking, or a 10–15 minute drive. A tram or rideshare is often smarter than the full walk, especially on a hot day.
• Eastern Norwood toward Magill Road and further east: walking is often 45–60+ minutes — realistically a 12–18 minute drive.

The route is straightforward: head west along The Parade into the CBD (it feeds the Rundle, Grenfell, Pirie and Flinders Street latitudes, or you can cut down via East Terrace or Hutt Street), then continue west until you hit Grote Street in Chinatown. One clarification worth making: Norwood the suburb is not East Terrace. East Terrace is the CBD’s eastern boulevard on the city side of the park lands; Norwood is the suburb beyond them. If you’re actually starting from the city’s eastern edge, our East Terrace guide has the shorter numbers.

If you’d rather skip the queue maths altogether, you can 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 drive in from the eastern 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 drive back east.

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 trip from Norwood rather than settling for something closer.

Practical Notes from Norwood

• 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 The Parade, drive west into the CBD and onto Grote Street — you’re in Chinatown territory, so Central Market parking is 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?

Norwood is our first eastern-suburbs guide, joining the north and south. 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 North Adelaide — the trip in from the north.
• Vietnamese near Prospect — second-ring northern suburb (Main North Road / Prospect Road)
• Vietnamese near Unley — the southern-suburbs counterpart.
• Vietnamese near East Terrace — the CBD’s park-lands edge, not the suburb.
• Vietnamese near Hutt Street — the south-eastern CBD corner.
• Vietnamese near Frome Street — the east-end laneway route.
• Vietnamese near Rundle Mall — mid-shop phở logistics.
• Vietnamese in Chinatown — our home turf on Grote Street.
• Vietnamese food in the Adelaide CBD — the full city picture.
• Vietnamese near Hindmarsh — first western-suburbs guide (Port Road / Bowden / Thebarton edge)
• Vietnamese near Goodwood — second-ring southern suburb (Goodwood Road / tram).

The Short Version

From central Norwood and The Parade, Bà Năm is a 10–15 minute drive west (30–45 minutes on foot — tram or rideshare is usually the smarter call); from the Kent Town edge it drops to 8–12 minutes driving, and from Magill Road eastwards allow 12–18. 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 Norwood?

From the western Norwood / Kent Town edge it’s roughly a 20–35 minute walk or an 8–12 minute drive. From The Parade and central Norwood, allow 30–45 minutes on foot or a 10–15 minute drive — tram or rideshare is often smarter than the full walk. From eastern Norwood toward Magill Road, driving takes roughly 12–18 minutes. Head west into the CBD, 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.