Cà Phê Nam — Restaurant in Brisbane City

Review: Their Bun Bo Hue is better than flying to Hue.

There are few Vietnamese restaurants in Brisbane that I consider worthy but a few months ago, we randomly dropped into Ca Phe Nam while we were in the area.

Some other reviewers mentioned the place is pretty simple looking (ie no fancy seating here) but when you have your food speaking for you, you could serve it out of a street cart and still have a massive queue.

We ordered a bowl of Bun Bo Hue and man, doesn’t matter what the restaurant looks like. Simple and deceiving you think, “it’s just noodles in a spicy broth” but disguised underneath, it captures that balance the Vietnamese people have perfected; savoury, sweet, salty umami, bitter herbs to cut the richness, the texture of the crunchy bean sprouts. You feel the flavours roll around on your tongue and suddenly you’re on the streets of Hue (where the dish is famous in Vietnam.)

Our recent second trip back, I gave the Pho Tai a go and based on their track record it was also a winner. Closely trailing behind the Bun Bo Hue though, because that’s seriously hard to beat.

I always order their Cha Gio! I’m just amazed all their spring rolls are like all perfectly sized and rolled and my Inner OCD is so ecstatic when it comes out.

I have to say though that our choice for Bahn Mi still remains across the road (but that is a review for another day).

Sure it’s Aussie prices because we’re in West End, but you could spend so much more on flights to Vietnam and still not get it as good. So affordable for what you get, and turns out after our recommendation to our foodie brother, he’s now a regular. Good life choices.

🥢 🥢🥢🥢🥢 5/5 Chopsticks

Notes: Went on a weekday for lunch for 4. Pair with the famous Drip Coffee. Secret parking behind the building or on the street. Easy to miss if you aren’t familiar as it sits back from the main road a little. This is better than the award winning other Pho down the road, which doesn’t seem to be as good...

A no frills Vietnamese café with some pretty good food and seriously huge noodle soup bowls!

Ca Phe Nam is located along the busy Vulture St in West End, about a block away from the major intersection with Boundary St. Traffic in these parts was pretty heavy around noon on a Saturday, though thankfully we managed to find some street parking not too far away.

Tables are pretty cosy inside. There are also some outside seats. We were fortunate that a table freed up just as we were arriving.

The menu here comprises the typical things you'd expect to see in a Brisbane Vietnamese eatery, with mains centred around vermicelli, pho (noodle soup), and rice dishes. It's also pretty uncomplicated in that all mains are $18, though the noodle soups have a large(er) size option at $20. There's also banh mi (mostly $10), which I've heard are pretty good here so that'll be next time I think.

On this visit I had a large bun bo hue (spicy soup) and was pretty wowed at the size of the bowl that came out... This dish comes with beef shank, sliced pork leg, ham, and beef balls, and a whole lot of soup. I don't think there ended up being a heap of noodles in it, though it may have been a perspective issue given the size of the container they were in.

Oh and the size of the soup spoon is another jaw-dropper, though maybe I should say jaw-breaker cos if you tried to fit that thing in your mouth...

In any case, the BBH was great, and hot in both temperature and spiciness senses of the word. To top off the experience I washed my lunch down with a can of roasted coconut juice that comes with bits of coconut flesh inside.

Also pictured are a rice and pho dish my...

4.5 stars. Although this is a relatively small restaurant, they have taken the top 5 essential dishes in popular Vietnamese cuisine and put it all on one simple menu. 4 of the 5 dishes happen to be my favourites - 1. Combination pork chop and broken rice, 2. Banh mi 3. Combination rice vermicelli salad 4. Prawn rolls 5. Beef pho. We ordered the grilled pork banh mi - it was one of the best I've had in Brisbane... the bread roll has a thin layer of crunch, which is pretty much perfect, the grilled pork was pretty good, it would be better if they added more lemon grass to it. Cost$7 - (not the cheapest, but you'd had to drive out to inala or darra to get cheaper). The beef pho was generous in size and was well balanced, not too Herby or peppery (medium for$13 was large enough). The combination rice vermicelli was pretty good, not the best I've heard but certainly above average. I will definitely be back. Very good value for money, prompt and friendly staff. Parking is...