As someone who eats out quite often, I see a lot of trends in the food industry. Last year, burger joints and dessert bars were quite popular, while this year there are eateries with Latin American influences and Vietnamese street food.

Sit Lo is located on the new revitalised Bank Street and is the lastest to join the street food bandwagon. The establishment is only visible from front on, and stands out with it’s bold black and white colours.

An industrial interior seems to be the norm these days, and the decor here is no different. With exposed ceilings, low hanging light fittings, and concrete and timber main walls, this place certainly has a casual relaxed vibe. The small space is efficiently used with a long communal bench running down the centre of the room and the opportunity to “sit lo” down one side. There’s not much natural light that flows in during the day, so the place can feel a tad gloomy.

The menu is fairly straight forward with all your Vietnamese street food favourites. With the exception of Pho, there are 4 main ingredients that come in the form of noodle bowls, banh mi, baos or cold rolls.

For lunch, I ordered the Crispy Skin Barossa Valley Pork Belly Banh Mi (try saying that 10 times!). The meal came out after a 10 minute wait and was nicely presented.

Before I analyse the roll, let me just say that I’m usually reluctant to pay $7.50 because I know I can get a very good one for $5 just down the road. At this price point, the roll had better be spectacular.

The roast pork was well marinated and the meat was well distributed inside the roll. The pork was lean, and there was good proportion of meat and crunchy skin. The skin wasn’t too hard and didn’t require any trips to the dentist. The meat was a tad dry, but it wasn’t a show stopper.

The coriander was fresh and the cucumber added a nice crunchy texture. The pickled carrot and diakon were sweet and tangy, while the fresh chilli provided a bit of excitement with every bite. The pate spread provided good depth while the egg mayonnaise was notably absent. The roll itself had a light and crisp exterior, with the inside being a tad soft.

It wasn’t a perfect roast pork roll but it was pretty good.

My friend ordered the Grilled Chicken Noodle Bowl. This comes with vermicelli noodles, mixed lettuce leaf, pickled carrot, diakon, condiments and Vietnamese dressing. I didn’t actually taste the entire dish but I did try some of the chicken. The meat was well marinated, tender and succulent. The flavours were really well balanced and on par with how Mum makes it.

We also shared some of their assorted Baos. From left to right, they were the Soft Shell Crab, Panko Crumbed Fried Chicken and Slow Cooked Barossa Valley Pork Belly.

The Soft Shell Crab Bao contained slaw, egg chive and dill mayo. The crunchiness of the soft shell crab coating complemented that of the slaw. There was a mild sweetness from the egg chive and dill mayo which prevented the bao from tasting too dry.

The Panko Crumbed Fried Chicken Bao contained pickled cucumber, chilli mayo, coriander and scallions. I thought the chicken was slightly over cooked with the crumb being crunchier than it should have been. The coriander and scallions were fresh and the cucumber added a nice crunchy texture. The chilli mayo provided a bit of heat and prevented the bao from being too dry.

The Slow Cooked Barossa Valley Pork Belly contained pickled cucumber, hoisin and scallions. There was a generous piece of pork belly in the bao which was well marinated, tender and succulent. The pickled cucumber added a nice crunchy texture, while the inclusion of hoisin sauce reminded me of eating Peking duck. My favourite out of the three.

The staff were friendly and the service was pretty good. As this store had only just opened yesterday, the staff were constantly looking for feedback which is what I like to see. The atmosphere was relaxed, although it did start to get busy from the lunch hour rush.

As far as pricing goes, most of their offerings are around or below the $10 mark which is fairly reasonable. The quality of their food is pretty good and some of their ingredient combinations have been well thought out. Having said that, I thought my Roast Pork Banh Mi was a bit on the pricier side. For $7.50, I expect a generous amount of filling and the roll to be perfect. It failed on both aspects but was certainly up there.

WHERE: 30 Bank St, Adelaide