Bún Bò Huế Đông Ba, as the name suggests, is renowned for its signature dish: bún bò huế, a favourite of D’s. While this is one of D’s top Vietnamese dishes, we don’t often order it at restaurants, as his mum’s homemade version is hard to beat.
The restaurant’s interior has the familiar look of a traditional Vietnamese eatery—exactly the kind of place where one would expect to find authentic, rather than modernised, Vietnamese cuisine.
Bún Bò Huế ($18.00). This is a dish from Huế, a city in central Vietnam known for its royal cuisine. This version was very traditional, consisting of thick, cylindrical rice noodles, slices of beef brisket, chả lụa (Vietnamese pork sausage), pork knuckle, and pig blood jelly, served in a spicy beef broth.
The broth had a moderate level of spiciness, with lemongrass and shrimp paste being the dominant flavours, creating a balanced mix of spicy, sour, sweet, and savoury notes. The lemongrass was more prominent than in D’s mum’s version, which offers a richer beef flavour and juicier pork hock. While we still prefer that homemade version, this dish makes for a satisfying alternative.
Bún Chạo Tôm ($19.00) or sugarcane prawn.
This featured deep-fried chạo tôm with a soft, bouncy texture and a good prawn flavour. Although not as juicy as the version from Phú Quốc, the two generously sized pieces were well-proportioned to the ample salad (fresh cucumber, pickled carrots, lettuce, bean sprouts, spring onion, and crushed peanuts) and the smaller, more manageable serving of rice noodles. We would return for this dish.
Both dishes were accompanied by their typical sides: a fresh salad (with thinly sliced banana blossom, red cabbage, mint, basil, lemon) for the bún bò huế and nước chấm with shredded carrot for the bún chạo tôm.
Honey Chicken ($18.00), (+$3.00/bowl of steamed rice).
As a Vietnamese and Chinese restaurant, we were eager to try one of our favourite Cantonese dishes. However, we were surprised when the honey chicken arrived with a vibrant orange coating, rather than the expected light yellow. While the batter was evenly coated, it lacked crispiness, and the thick honey sauce created a chewy texture. The coating was overly thick, with little chicken inside, which was also somewhat dry and under-seasoned. Unfortunately, this dish did not meet expectations and isn’t something we would reorder.
The Vietnamese dishes at Bún Bò Huế Đông Ba were well-executed, featuring fresh ingredients and authentic flavours. We would gladly return to reorder these and explore other options on the menu.
Bún Bò Huế Đông Ba is located at 40 Park Rd, Cabramatta NSW 2166.