Banh Cuon Ba Oanh, Marrickville

Never had banh cuon? You need to. These silky rice noodle rolls are a traditional Vietnamese breakfast staple, usually cooked at little roadside stalls as swarms of scooters zoom past. The newly opened Banh Cuon Ba Oanh is about as close as Sydneysiders can get to the real deal. That includes a tiny kitchen cloaked in clouds of steam and squishy tables with ankle-high stools (no joke) that will test your flexibility.

The proof is in the banh cuon and Ba Oanh delivers - expect thin layers of house-fermented rice batter expertly ladled and steamed until soft and silky. Peer into the open kitchen and you’ll likely find Ba Oanh herself, family matriarch and restaurant mascot, in amongst the action.


Ba Oanh in the kitchen making her famous banh cuon


Banh cuon cha que $11
Steamed rice noodle rolls with cinnamon pork

Order the classic version ($11) of this Northern Vietnamese dish and your rice noodles will be rolled with a rubble of pork mince and flecks of crunchy black fungus mushroom. Dunk them in the sweet and salty nuoc cham fish sauce dressing and savour alongside slices of cha que (a pale baked pork sausage seasoned with cinnamon), soft herbs and deep-fried shallots.


Banh cuon thit nuong $11
Steamed rice noodle rolls with grilled pork

Alternatives include plain rice noodle rolls served with grilled pork ($11) or a soft set organic egg ($4).


Banh cuon truong $4
Steamed rice noodle rolls with egg


Banh cha quat $11
Grilled pork with vermicelli and salad

Bring a handful of mates and you could easily order everything on the one-page menu. Continue the nood-fest with bun cha quat ($11), cold vermicelli noodles eaten with grilled pork, salad, pickles and nuoc cham, or hit up the sticky rice combos.


Xoi trang hay xoi xeo ga chay bo $11
Yellow bean sticky rice with free range chicken

It involves glutinous rice either cooked plain or mixed with yellow beans and boosted with your choice of poached free range chicken or sweet braised pork with pork floss ($11 each).


Xoi trang hay xoi vang thit heo kho $11
Yellow bean sticky rice with braised pork, pork floss, onion and cucumber salad


Chao $11
Free range chicken congee with fried bread and pork floss

Free range chicken congee, a restorative rice porridge ($11) rounds out the menu. It’s a terrific version, savoury soul-reviving heartiness amped up with pork mince, pork floss, fresh shallots and crunchy slices of deep fried savoury donuts. Vietnamese locals are already loving this cheap eat addition to Marrickville. We reckon you will too.


Vintage metal chairs






Banh Cuon Ba Oanh
343 Illawarra Road, Marrickville Sydney
Tel: +61 (02)

Opening hours
Tuesday to Sunday 8am-3pm; 5pm-7.30pm

This article first appeared in Time Out Sydney. Read this article online or read more of my Time Out Sydney reviews.


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Two Chaps, Marrickville

The all-day menu at Two Chaps is chock-full of temptations. Homemade hash browns. Sourdough crumpets. Croissant French toast with blood orange curd. It'll probably take you several minutes to twig that everything is vegetarian. No wonder there are so many poached eggs with everything.

Two Chaps doesn't promote itself as a vegetarian cafe. It feels more like a natural leaning, where fresh produce and terrific carbs negate any cursory inclusion of meat.


Housemade jasmine iced tea $6
Iced latte $4.50

On weekends there's always a queue, scattered across the footpath of a converted warehouse in the backstreets of Marrickville. It's worth browsing the menu while you wait, otherwise amble up to the display counter for a visual tour of their housemade breads, cakes and pastries.

Once you make it onto a table inside, it's mostly stools at heavy timber tables. There's no insulation so expect a cacophony of conversation bouncing up and around the exposed and soaring ceilings.

Drinks-wise, all your dietary intolerances are accommodated with soy, almond and macadamia milks available for your coffee or tea. We skip the beetroot hot chocolate and turmeric latte and order the housemade jasmine iced tea instead. There isn't a strong taste of jasmine but the stainless steel straw is an impressively environmentally-friendly touch.


Hash brown and green goddess sauce $20
with grilled asparagus and poached egg 

The hash brown can be summed up in one word. Glorious. A crisp and golden brown exterior surrounds a squat but generous amount of potato. For twenty bucks you score two hash browns with two poached eggs, spears of tender grilled asparagus and a puddle of green goddess sauce (a herby mayonnaise dressing).

If you need more hash brown goodness, you can add them as a side for seven dollars.


Sourdough crumpets with sauteed green beans and rainbow chard $20
with fermented hot sauce, Pecora Dairy fresh curd and a poached egg 

Sourdough crumpets are far removed from their inferior supermarket cousins. The version here is a little stodgier than I'd like, but there's still a satisfying sense of sustenance to each mouthful. Here it's the ideal vehicle for mopping up runny egg yolk, alternated with dollops of gently lactic fresh sheeps curd and the crunch of green beans.


Falafel cheeseburger $20
Frescho cheese, cumin and fenugreek brioche bun, pickled beetroot, chilli and seasonal leaves served with potato skins and salad

The falafel cheeseburger is the only disappointment, less of the Lebanese-style crunchfest I'm expecting and more of a mushy vegetable patty. False advertising, I say. The seared haloumi and crunchy pickled beetroot do provide some consolation.


Potato skins and salad with the falafel cheeseburger

And then there are the potato skins. Lordy. I'd happily eat a whole plate of these. The paper thin potato shavings are deafening in decibel-level crunch. They're a touch oily but who cares. These babies are worth every calorie.


Chocolate crumpets with Earl Grey and rhubarb curd $20
with sour cream, poached rhubarb and candied walnuts 

It's a shame that the cakes and pastries in the dessert cabinet aren't listed on the menu. We trot back up for a memory refresher but end up going with the chocolate crumpets on the menu anyway. These are fluffier than the savoury version we'd just eaten, dressed with a sliding avalanche of Earl Grey and rhubab curd and batons of poached rhubarb.

The candied walnuts are the highlight though, little nuggets of sugary crunch.

On Thursday and Friday nights, Two Chaps opens for dinner with handmade fresh pastas - vegetarian of course. The bonus? You can book for one of two sittings. They've also recently added a vegetarian pizzeria to their stable. Pizza Madre is only a few blocks away at 205 Victoria Road, Marrickville. The shortlist of five or six pizzas changes every week.






Two Chaps
122 Chapel Street, Marrickville, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9572 8858 

Opening hours
Tuesday to Wednesday 7am-3pm
Thursday to Friday 7am-3pm and 6pm-10pm
Saturday to Sunday 8am-3pm
Closed Mondays

Bookings only accepted for dinner (6pm or 8.15pm)


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