Vietnamese Winter Warmers in Adelaide: Soups and Stews to Get You Through July
★ As featured in Glam Adelaide — 2025 SA Restaurant & Catering Awards finalist
When a proper Adelaide winter sets in — grey skies over Victoria Square, a cold wind funnelling down Grote Street — there is one cuisine built precisely for the job. Vietnamese cooking has spent generations perfecting the art of the hot bowl: long-simmered broths, slow-braised stews and gently spiced curries designed to warm you from the inside out. At Bà Năm, in the heart of Chinatown Adelaide, that's exactly what we do all winter long, seven days a week.
Everyone knows phở — and yes, a bowl of our Phở Tái, with its 18-hour bone broth poured boiling over paper-thin rare beef, is about as warming as food gets. But Vietnam's cold-weather repertoire runs much deeper. Here's our guide to the winter warmers on our menu that Adelaide hasn't fully discovered yet.
Bò Kho: Vietnam's Answer to the Winter Stew
If you grew up on beef casserole, bò kho will feel like coming home — just with lemongrass, star anise and a gentle chilli hum. This southern Vietnamese beef stew braises chunks of beef with carrot until the meat gives way at the touch of a spoon, in a sauce that's rich, aromatic and made for dipping.
That dipping matters, because the classic way to eat bò kho is with a crusty bread roll (bò kho bánh mì, $18) — tear, dunk, repeat. Prefer something more substantial? Have it over broken rice ($19) or with egg noodles, sticky rice noodles or vermicelli ($20). On a wet July evening, it's hard to think of a better feed in the CBD.
Cà Ri Gà: Vietnamese Chicken Curry, the Gentle Warmer
Vietnamese curry is milder and more fragrant than its Thai or Indian cousins — coconut-sweet, golden with turmeric, and loaded with tender chicken and potato. Like bò kho, cà ri gà comes with your choice of a bread roll ($18), broken rice ($19) or noodles ($20), and the bread-roll version is the sleeper hit: the sauce soaks into the crust in a way that makes the walk back out into the cold entirely worth it.
Hủ Tiếu Nam Vang: The Southern Noodle Soup You Haven't Tried
Phở may rule the north, but in Saigon and the Mekong Delta, hủ tiếu is the everyday bowl. Our Hủ Tiếu Nam Vang ($20) is the Phnom Penh style: a clear, savoury pork-based broth over chewy tapioca-rice noodles with a generous mix of toppings. You can also order it "dry" — noodles tossed in sauce with the hot broth served alongside — which is its own kind of winter comfort: one hand on the noodles, one hand wrapped around the soup bowl.
Bún Riêu: Tomato, Crab and Pure Comfort
Bún riêu ($20) is northern Vietnam's great cold-weather bowl: a tomato-based broth deepened with crab paste, ladled over soft vermicelli. It's tangy, savoury and subtly sweet all at once — the Vietnamese bowl most likely to convert a minestrone lover. If you've worked your way through our phở menu and want somewhere new to go, start here.
Mì Quảng: Central Vietnam's Golden Noodles
From Quảng Nam province comes mì Quảng ($20) — wide turmeric-yellow rice noodles served with just a small amount of intensely flavoured broth, more sauce than soup. Topped with pork, prawn, roasted peanuts and fresh herbs, it's the pick for anyone who wants deep winter flavour without a full bowl of liquid. It also happens to be one of the most photogenic dishes on our menu.
And the Fiery Option: Bún Bò Huế
No Vietnamese winter list is complete without bún bò Huế — the spicy lemongrass beef and pork noodle soup from Vietnam's old imperial capital. Ours starts at $18, or $23 in a sizzling stone bowl that keeps the broth piping hot to the last mouthful. We've written a full bún bò Huế guide if you want the whole story before you order.
Why Broth Matters More in Winter
Every soup on this list rests on the same foundation: broth that isn't rushed. Our beef bones simmer for 18 hours — the way Bà Năm Lời made it in her Tây Ninh kitchen in the 1970s — drawing out the collagen and depth that make a winter bowl genuinely restorative rather than just hot. That's the difference you can taste between a broth built overnight and one built from a cube, and it's why we say: no shortcuts. Read more about our 18-hour broth and the red coin.
Visit Us This Winter
You'll find us at 65 Grote Street, Adelaide — open seven days, 11am to 9pm through winter, including public holidays. We're a walk-in restaurant; at peak times there's usually a 15–30 minute wait, and in July the queue itself tells you something. For more on what to eat nearby, see our guide to Vietnamese food in the Adelaide CBD, or skip the wait and order pickup at order.phobanam.com.au.
Adelaide winters are short. Make the most of this one, one steaming bowl at a time.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best Vietnamese winter warmers in Adelaide?
At Bà Năm on Grote Street, our cold-weather favourites are bò kho (beef stew), cà ri gà (Vietnamese chicken curry), hủ tiếu Nam Vang (Phnom Penh noodle soup), bún riêu (tomato and crab), mì Quảng (turmeric noodles) and bún bò Huế (spicy lemongrass beef soup) — plus, of course, our 18-hour-broth Phở Tái.
What is the most warming dish at Bà Năm?
Our Phở Tái, with 18-hour bone broth poured boiling over paper-thin rare beef, is about as warming as food gets. For something heartier, bò kho beef stew with a crusty bread roll is hard to beat on a cold July night.
Is Bà Năm open in winter?
Yes — we're open seven days, 11am to 9pm through winter (until 9:30pm October to March), including public holidays, at 65 Grote Street, Adelaide.
Do I need to book, or is there a wait?
We're a walk-in restaurant — no bookings needed. At peak times there's usually a 15–30 minute wait, and in July the queue itself tells you something. To skip it, order pickup at order.phobanam.com.au.