There’s a fair number of Vietnamese eateries opening around the city at the moment, and Tasty Bud Cafe is one of the latest to open it’s doors. Located on Gawler Place, on the former site of Mama Pierogi, the cafe offers home style Vietnamese dishes, Vietnamese rolls, snacks and sweets. The cafe is family run with the focus on fresh quality ingredients. The decor is modern and well presented, and this place has the added advantage of having two entrances.

The Vietnamese coffee here is made the traditional way, with the use of a French press. It’s essentially a single serving coffee brewer and filter that sits on top of the glass. The French press ensures that the coffee grounds are steeped for longer which results in a richer and more intense flavour. Sitting at the base of the glass is 1-2 tablespoons of condensed milk. I was informed that the coffee beans are purchased from a distributor in Victoria who imports them from overseas.

Once all the hot water has filtered through the French press, the glass is stirred to dissolve the condensed milk into the coffee. The contents are then poured into another glass full of ice to produce Vietnamese Iced Coffee. The coffee is certainly more rich and intense with sweetness coming from the condensed milk. It doesn’t get more authentic than this.

The Beef Noodle Soup here is a generous size and comes with three types of beef; thin raw beef slices, beef brisket and beef meatballs. The dish comes to your table piping hot which is required to cook the raw beef slices. The raw beef slices were lean, however there were bits of cartilage on the brisket and fat in the meatballs. I thought the beef brisket could have been more tender. The fat in the meatballs is sometimes unavoidable and will depend on the brand of frozen meatballs that have been purchased.

The dish came with all the trimmings; white onion, spring onion, coriander, bean sprouts, fresh chilli and lemon. I personally thought the lemon wedge was a bit thin, but it wasn’t a big issue. The star of the show was the broth. Typical Vietnamese restaurants have a layer of fat on top of the broth, however this place removes the fat to make the dish healthier. Having said that, the broth still had plenty of depth and flavour. The ratio of ingredients to broth was also spot on.

For aesthetic purposes, this place has the hoisin and chilli sauces in jars. While the jars look good, I find them very impractical. When you spoon the sauce into the dipping tray, it gets all over your hands.

The Roast Pork Roll was nicely presented on a plate. Like all good Vietnamese rolls, they spread a layer of pate and egg mayonnaise to add more depth. The roast pork itself was well marinated, however, some of the pork was quite fatty and there wasn’t enough crunchy skin. The pickled diakon and carrot had a nice tangy sweetness, while the cucumber added a nice crunchy texture. The coriander was fresh and the chilli provided a bit of excitement with each bite. The bread roll isn’t the best I’ve tasted. The bread should be more airy and crusty, but I just didn’t get that.

The Belgian Banana Waffle was beautifully presented on a curvy white plate. The waffle was light and airy with a nice crisp exterior. The dessert was accompanied by a scoop of vanilla ice cream and banana slices. If that isn’t enough sweetness, there’s small bowl of liquid milk chocolate that makes this dish ever so decadent. This dessert was pretty good and is similar to what you find at a specialist dessert place.

The staff were friendly and the service was very fast and efficient. The atmosphere was relaxed, even with the busy lunch hour rush. The pricing is very reasonable with most of the dishes around the $10 mark. The Roast Pork Roll was $5.90 which is about the average price in the city.

With all the criticisms aside, this place does most things right. You’re doing pretty well these days if you can get lunch for about $10. If you factor in serving size and quality of ingredients, Tasty Bud Cafe represents good value for money. Definitely worth checking out!

WHERE: 96 Gawler Place, Adelaide