Banh Cuon Ba Oanh Marrickville — Restaurant in Sydney

EDIT: Had to change it from 4 stars to 1 after being given the wrong dish 4 times.

My sister and I dropped by to grab some take away for Father’s Day because my dad is currently on crutches and can’t leave the house. We tried to order what we wanted but my dad’s and sister’s order was sold out. That’s was no issue, we understand that things sell out, especially on a public holiday. We ordered whatever replacement dish they each wanted and were told it would be a 20 minute wait.

It ended up being a 40 minutes wait - once again, we were fine with this because it is freshly made to order. But seeing people who ordered after us be served before us because they were dining in is a restaurant ick of mine.

We drove home unboxed everything and what do you know. They gave us 4 orders of the cha lua & cha que. The ratio is still an issue but I swear there was double the amount of Cha this time.

Perhaps they knew they ran out of our grilled meat banh cuon dish because they had served it to the people who had ordered after us and decided to give us double the amount of Cha. Not to mention, my sister’s box had no cucumber and pickled carrots in it.

The basics of customer service is; if you can’t fulfil an order just let the customer know. I want my refund.

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I used to love watching the aunts make the rice rolls growing up, so being able to watch them in the open kitchen was a treat.

My only issue is I find that the meatloaf to rice roll ratio is off. More rice rolls would be nice or less meat loaf. Otherwise everything is perfect, down to the service.

We had come a little over 1/2 hour before close (we are quick eaters; please don’t do this if you’ll eat past closing time) and we were still served as they hadn’t closed kitchen yet. Very grateful there is no cut off time for orders!

The sugar cane we wanted to order was out of stock so we ended up getting the green apple kiwi aloe Vera drink which I think we would’ve liked even better than sugar cane. Highly...

2nd visit: we noticed the rice noodle sheets had lost their soft tender slipperiness. A peep behind the counter confirmed our suspicions - the sheets are now made in advance and kept under cling film. This resulted in stiffer rolls that stuck together, and were chewier. Tip: ask for your rolls to be made à la minute if you like them soft and slurpable.

The sticky rice is a generous serve and best shared. We opted for the version with mashed mung beans (the yellow version). I prefer the way this dish was served in Hanoi (where the mashed mung beans came in a dollop, warm and soft like mashed potatoes), and didn’t quite bond with Ba Oanh’s “shavings” of stiff mash. Tried the rice with some bamboo shoot pickles from the array of condiments on the counter - that added a nice spicy-vinegary edge to the dish.

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Banh Cuon was one of my favourite street food in Hanoi, so I was really excited to try Banh Cuon Ba Oanh. The rice noodles were made to order and were thin, light, silky, slippery sheets of yumminess. Will be back to try their sticky rice which was another of my favourites in Hanoi.

The space is tiny in true Hanoian style; the best seat in the house IMO is the window bench where you can slurp away happily while watching the world go by. There is free flow hot tea flavoured with pandan, or cold water flavoured with mint. They are opened from 8am which means you can have banh Cuon for breakfast, with a coffee from Cornersmith across the street...

Bánh Cuốn Bà Oanh. They are a tiny place and they spill onto small tables and chairs on the road side, an almost Vietnamese street side experience. The line can get long so go early or go late, avoid the midfle of the lunch rush. They specialize in freshly steamed Bánh Cuốn (rice flour rolls) with sides of grilled pork and Chả (a kind of Vietnamese sausage/ham/meatloaf). You won't see this in Sydney much - they are pouring in the fermented rice batter, steaming then peeling off fresh rice paper rolls one by one all throughout the breakfast/lunch service - fresh as you can get. Good variety of sides including a fried cinnamon chả quế. Also try the Xôi vàng with braised pork at Marrickville at Bánh Cuốn Bà Oanh - yellow sticky rice, coloured by mung bean, you flavour the rice with some of rich sauce from the braised pork spooned over on top, a comfort food. They have a tall pyramidal banana leaf wrapped thing, Bánh giò, that will be on the counter available for eating in-house or take home and it's not on the regular menu and only available weekends - this pyramid shaped dumpling is a beautiful savoury texture with pork meat inside, for me it is like Vietnamese lasagne, also a total comfort food (no tomatoes but same kind of satisfaction of eating as you dig through the textures). Anyway, can't get fresher for this type of food, try it if you haven't so that you know if you need it in your life. Super...