ÔNG
VIETNAMESE
KITCHEN

go straight to the restaurant review

ÔNG VIETNAMESE KITCHEN
287 Rundle Street
Adelaide
South Australia 5000

lunch: Thursday, Friday and Saturday 12.00 pm – 3.00 pm
dinner: every night from 5.00 pm
bookings : 
telephone : 61 8 8223 7575
email: not available
Facebook: click here
Instagram: click here

owners: Quang and Thy Nguyen
chef: Quang Nguyen

AO 23 SEPTEMBER 2024

rare waygu 7 pho

Two weeks ago, I returned to Ông with just one thing on my mind their Rare Wagyu 7 Pho $22. Eaten once before I had been dreaming about it ever since. The most perfect silken exquisite broth scattered with minuscule yellow fat dots from the Wagyu, a generous amount of fine wagyu slices and the usual accompaniments of marinated red onion, chilli, bean sprouts, shredded spring onion and coriander, a wedge of lime. At this time of year, the Thai basil is noticeably and forgivably missing. Whilst the Thai basil does add another level finding it in Winter in a decent condition is a virtual impossibility.

enthusiastic service

At the second lunch, I was served by the same charming young man as my first lunch visit. Jason is the type of front-of-house person every restaurateur dreams about. Polite, thoughtful knowledgeable but so enthusiastic about the menu in his place of employment. Jason also manages quite a number of lunch guests with good-humoured efficiency; he hands me the menu and the daily specials and I tell him I don’t really need the menu I know what I want and why. Jason points at the Brisket Pho Dip Bahn Mi, slow cooked brisket, aioli, pickled red onion, herbs & bowl of pho broth $18 on the lunch specials and tells me it is so, so good. I’m tempted but not sold and he tells me, “Well next time you come in for lunch you should try it, it’s really, really good!” The power of suggestion, of course then I couldn’t think of anything else.

at dinner

At dinner, we chose to share some dishes starting with Smoked Pulled Pork crispy Rice Paper [Vietnamese pizza [gf] $18. having tried unsuccessfully to serve something as a canapé on crisp rice paper I know that these can only be made a la minute as they go soft in seconds. Crunchy, tasty with a nice, but not overwhelming amount of pulled pork it comes topped with a spicy mayo and a smattering of white and black sesame. This dish must be devoured as soon as it hits the table as the rice paper softens quickly.

We followed this with their Waygu Boneles Ribeye 400g [gf] $88 with pho jus, sate mustard & charred spring onion, Wok Tossed Greens [gf][v] $18, Asian greens, wok tossed with chilli, garlic, sticky fish sauce & fried shallots and simple Jasmin rice. The beef was perfectly cooked rare, no blood and the flavoursome meat was not drowned in an overpowering sauce…delish. The rice and Asian greens perfectly allowed the Waygu to shine.

The point is what’s not really, really good at Ông? The dessert at dinner was a disappointment. To be fair a staff member did warn us that they had run out of some components of their Vietnamese Sticky Date Pudding and we still opted to have it. So perhaps, more our fault than theirs. Four visits, three for lunch and one for dinner, all have been excellent. I’m guilty of having the same thing for two lunches. The evening meal choices were guided by my dinner companion, a city dweller, who names Ông as one of his favourite locals along with The Jasmin Indian Restaurant and Ding Hao…clearly a man of good eating appreciation. I might also mention that David Hay and Michael Speers of Thorn Park on the Island fame were also having dinner, and rate Ông as one of their city favourites.

A side note Corn Ribs are also on the menu at Ông and whilst people seem to go bananas for them, and I have not ordered them at Ông, I think they are generally pretty average. Anyone who has eaten simply steamed or boiled seasonal summer corn slathered with butter, garlic, salt and pepper [even a bit of finely chopped chilli] and gnawed it off of the cob will surely agree.

Brisket Pho
Dip Bahn Mi

Of course, I returned for lunch to have their Brisket Pho Dip Bahn Mi…oh my! Oh, so good! Astonishingly, when I said I’d like a glass of sparkling, Jason said the same as last week….bloody amazing!!! Amazing good!!! My picture doesn’t do the brisket justice…smokey flavoured, moist and succulent it was perfect. It was also huge and I took half of it home with me.

One of the reasons I love eating by myself is that as an old person, I can be an eavesdropper. Two guys sit down at the table next to me clearly tradies, clearly regulars they have not been presented with the menu or wine list. “Yes we’ll have the Chablis again.” Jason [note no wine list in hand], “we’ve got two vintages at the moment”…they wisely chose 16 and then had a two-second conversation with Jason about what they could eat and they returned to their iPads and discussed the jobs they were working on.

I never despair about the next generation of diners, their parents have introduced them to dozens of different cuisines, from all corners of this planet, and they’ve made their own call. Yet more and more I see these same young diners eating at the places in Adelaide I most love and respect. There will always be a percentage of the population that prefer somewhere like MacDonalds, that’s the way it is.

the team at Ông

Ông Vietnamese Kitchen must be a good place to work…some of the girls have been working there for four years since they first opened…studying and working. Front-of-house staff can currently have their choice of establishments and pretty much name their price. The benefit of long-term enthusiastic staff is obvious to any business, but it is also an indication of good management. Four visits, all of the staff are enthusiastic about the food…no one needs to go back to the kitchen to ask chef anything and they seem to know just about everyone who walks through the door.

And, just so you know, Jason is returning to Thailand to visit his father for two weeks and promised me that his stepmother knew all the good places to eat.

Ông doesn’t have the 500k fit-out, it doesn’t have a chef with their head up their arse, or condescending front of house who don’t understand the meaning of the word ‘hospitality’ and the food is delicious…so so refreshing!

REVIEWER’S NOTE
I think vegetarians and vegans would both be able to find a tasty and delicious meal here and although it is impossible to say 99% of restaurants do safe gluten-free for severe coeliacs there is a nice smattering of gluten free throughout their menu.

"

love your local

favourite
restaurants

I have been eating at China Town Café, Moonta Street, Adelaide Central Markets for over 30 years and it remains a favourite. I usually have one of three dishes, Hianese Chicken Rice [no extra green veg], Singapore Noodles or Prawn Dumpling Soup.

PICTURED LEFT PRAWN DUMPLING SOUP AT CHINA TOWN CAFE

ABOUT

We have 42 years history at the highest level
in the food and wine industry and the passion for our craft remains undiminished…
read more

ON cuisine-extreme

NEWSLETTER

Subscribe to our newsletter
to get the latest news, tips, and advice.
Click here TO SUBSCRIBE
 
.……… ann_oliver

COPYRIGHT © TEXT AND IMAGES ANN OLIVER 2024 UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED