Beyond Phở: A Winter Guide to Vietnamese Noodle Soups in Adelaide

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

Adelaide in July asks a lot of a lunch. The wind comes off the hills, the footpaths on Grote Street are slick with rain, and what you want — what you need — is a bowl of something hot enough to steam up your glasses. Most people know exactly one Vietnamese answer to that problem: phở. And fair enough — it’s the bowl we’re famous for. But phở is the front door of Vietnamese soup, not the whole house. Behind it sits a family of noodle soups that Vietnamese families argue about, queue for and fly home for, and three of them are sitting quietly on our menu at Bà Năm: hủ tiếu Nam Vang, mì quảng and bún riêu — each $20, each made the slow way, no shortcuts.

If you’ve worked your way through our guide to phở and graduated to bún bò huế, consider this the next chapter.

A full table of Vietnamese food at Bà Năm Restaurant, Adelaide — stone bowls, shared plates and noodles — Beyond phở: a whole family of Vietnamese noodle soups, each ladled the slow way from Grandma’s recipes.

Hủ tiếu Nam Vang — the Phnom Penh noodle soup

Hủ tiếu Nam Vang is southern Vietnam’s great crossroads dish. “Nam Vang” is the Vietnamese name for Phnom Penh, and the soup travelled from Cambodia into Saigon with Chinese-Cambodian cooks, picking up Vietnamese habits along the way. The classic bowl is built on a clear, gently sweet pork-based broth — lighter and cleaner than phở’s beefy depth — over springy noodles, traditionally topped with a generous mix of pork and prawn.

The trick regulars know: hủ tiếu comes two ways, and ours is no exception — as a classic noodle soup, or khô (dry style), with the noodles tossed in a savoury dressing and the hot broth served in its own bowl on the side, so the noodles stay bouncy from first chopstick to last. On a freezing day it’s the best of both worlds: a noodle dish and a cup of soup in one order. On our menu at $20, soup or dry — your call. We love it enough to give it its own guide if you want the full story.

Mì quảng — turmeric noodles from central Vietnam

Mì quảng comes from Quảng Nam province on the central coast, and it breaks every rule phở taught you. The wide rice noodles are tinted gold with turmeric. The broth doesn’t flood the bowl — it sits low, concentrated and intensely savoury, more sauce than soup, so every strand carries flavour instead of swimming in it. The traditional bowl is finished with fresh herbs and a satisfying crunch on top.

It’s the bowl for people who order noodle soup and secretly wish there were more noodle and less soup. Central Vietnamese food is proud, punchy and a little stubborn — the same streak that runs through bún bò huế — and mì quảng might be its most loveable expression. Ours is $20, and it pairs dangerously well with a Vietnamese iced coffee for afters.

A steaming Vietnamese noodle soup in a stone bowl at Bà Năm Restaurant, Adelaide — Central Vietnamese noodle soups run bold and aromatic — broth simmered for hours, never from a paste or a cube. See our full bún bò huế guide.

Bún riêu — the crab and tomato bowl

Bún riêu is the sleeper hit of the menu — the bowl Vietnamese diners spot from three tables away and order without opening the menu. Its broth is simmered with tomato until it turns a sunset orange, then enriched with riêu — a delicate crab paste that gives the soup a sweet-briny depth you won’t find in any beef broth. Soft vermicelli noodles soak it all up, and a squeeze of lime at the table sharpens everything into focus.

It’s tangy where phở is mellow, bright where bún bò huế is fiery — arguably the most refreshing thing you can eat that’s also steaming hot, which makes it a quietly perfect winter order. On our menu at $20. If comfort food is what you’re after this season, it sits right alongside our other Vietnamese winter warmers — including the slow-braised bò kho, the stew cousin of these soups.

Which bowl should you order?

An honest steer from the counter: if you’re new to Bà Năm, start with the Phở Tái and its red coin of rare beef — it’s the dish behind the 18-hour broth we build the kitchen around, and the standard everything else answers to. If you like phở but want it bolder and spicier, bún bò huế is your next stop. From there: hủ tiếu Nam Vang if you want lighter and cleaner, mì quảng if you want fewer ladles and more noodle, and bún riêu if you want something tangy, tomatoey and completely unlike anything else on the table. There is no wrong door — they all lead back to the same family kitchen in Trảng Bàng, Tây Ninh, where Bà Năm Lời first ladled soup in the 1970s.

Stone-bowl phở with rare beef, noodles and a herb plate at Bà Năm Restaurant, Adelaide — the red-coin Phở Tái set — The Phở Tái red coin — a paper-thin round slice of rare local beef, cooked in the bowl by boiling 18-hour broth. Start here, then branch out.

Visiting us this winter

You’ll find us at 65 Grote Street, Adelaide SA 5000 — in Chinatown, a short walk from the Adelaide Central Market. We’re open 7 days, 11:00 AM to 9:00 PM (until 9:30 PM October–March), public holidays included. We’re a walk-in restaurant, and the honest truth is that at peak times there’s usually a 15–30 minute wait — everything is cooked fresh and the broth pots don’t hurry for anyone. The cheat code is ordering ahead online, or coming slightly before noon. For groups of 8 or more, call us on (08) 8151 0106 so we can set a table. Delivery-wise we’re on Uber Eats and DoorDash, but ordering through the Bà Năm app gets you a better price.

We’re not a luxury venue, just very genuine — a Chinatown family phở shop cooking Grandma’s authentic recipes the long way, from locally sourced beef and vegetables that our manager Huynh drives out to the farms to collect every Sunday. Come hungry, bring your people, and let winter do its worst — there’s a hot bowl on Grote Street with your name on it.

Bà Năm Restaurant front door at 65 Grote Street, Adelaide — open 7 days — Bà Năm Restaurant on Grote Street — a casual, family-run kitchen serving Saigonese and central Vietnamese noodle soups seven days a week.

View the menu Order online About Phở Tái

Frequently asked questions

What is hủ tiếu Nam Vang?

A southern Vietnamese noodle soup with roots in Phnom Penh, Cambodia — a clear, lightly sweet pork-style broth over springy noodles, classically topped with pork and prawn. At Bà Năm it’s $20, served as soup or dry style with the broth on the side.

What’s the difference between mì quảng and phở?

Phở is a full bowl of clear beef broth with flat rice noodles; mì quảng uses wide turmeric-gold noodles with just a small amount of concentrated broth — closer to a sauced noodle dish than a soup. Both are on our menu.

Is bún riêu very fishy?

No — the crab paste reads as savoury depth rather than fishiness, and the tomato keeps the broth bright and tangy. If you enjoy laksa or tom yum, bún riêu is an easy jump.

Do I need to book?

No — we’re walk-in, 7 days a week. Expect a 15–30 minute wait at peak times, or order ahead at order.phobanam.com.au. Groups of 8+ should call (08) 8151 0106.