Fresh Bites is one of two Vietnamese street food stores in the Adelaide CBD. The store that I visited today was in the Citi Centre Arcade which at the eastern end of Rundle Mall. While their signage says they do Vietnamese cuisine, there are a lot of Japanese influences incorporated into their menu. Customers have the choice of bread rolls, salads, noodle salads, bento boxes, beef noodle soup and a selection of side dishes.
For a food court stall, I don’t mind the fit out of this place. Everything looks clean and well presented, and the use of bright orange and lime green does well in brightening things up. Seats are plentiful, however, they are shared with all the other stalls in the food court.
For lunch, I ordered the Crispy Roasted Pork Roll. The roast pork was well marinated and the meat was tender and succulent. The pork skin was crunchy but a little on the hard side. I had to bite carefully to ensure I didn’t crack any teeth.
The carrot was provided in generous amounts but wasn’t very well pickled. It was missing the sweet tangy taste that I come to expect. All the other vegetables were conservatively applied. There was one slice of cucumber, a tiny shred of coriander and two bits of chilli.
As a standard, I expect egg mayonnaise and pate to be spread within my roll. This place doesn’t do this, but instead add a tangy mayonnaise. While it prevented the roll from being too dry, it was no longer an authentic Vietnamese roll. The bread was nice and crusty, and of a standard size.
The staff were friendly and the service was good. The pricing at this place is fairly reasonable, however, we are dealing with a food court here. The Roast Pork Roll set me back $6 which is the standard price across the city. The most expensive dish on their menu is the bento box which comes in at just under $11.
The roast pork skin was too hard, there wasn’t enough vegetables in my roll and then the inclusion of mayonnaise ruined the authentic flavour. Lunch wasn’t up to scratch I’m afraid.
WHERE: Shop 6, Citi Centre Arcade, 141-143 Rundle Mall, Adelaide
ADELAIDE FOOD CENTRAL 
Certainly not enough vegetables. Thanks for the good review!
You need to be fair and consistent with your food and prices. When you first opened your cold rolls were a good size and came in a container on their own, now they are smaller to fit the container of choice of sauce in the same container, BUT now you are charging the original price for smaller cold rolls. Same prices but less food….You are now doing the same with your container of salads. The quality of your food is very good but no consumer wants to pay full price for less product.