Our Food
The Food We Grew Up With
Every dish at Xin Chao has a story — where it comes from, why it matters, and how it made its way to Bakewell. This is Vietnamese food in Palmerston the way our family has always cooked it.
Vietnamese Food, Made Our Way
In our family, food was never just fuel. It was how we celebrated, how we said sorry, how we welcomed people in. The dishes on this page aren’t recipes we found — they’re the ones we grew up eating around a crowded table, passed down and quietly perfected over forty years of family cooking.
We don’t chase trends and we don’t cut corners. We make the food we know, the way we know it should taste — and we serve it in Bakewell, for the whole Palmerston community to share.
Bánh Mì — Vietnam Between Two Halves of a Baguette
“Vietnamese history in a bread roll.”
Where Bánh Mì Comes From
The baguette arrived in Vietnam with the French — but what Vietnam did with it is the interesting part. Street vendors took the crusty bread and made it their own: pâté and mayonnaise, quick-pickled carrot and daikon, fresh coriander, chilli, and marinated meats hot off the grill. A colonial leftover became one of the world’s great sandwiches.
It’s All About the Balance
A good bánh mì is a balancing act. Crunchy bread against soft filling. Rich pâté against sharp pickles. Savoury meat against fresh herbs and a kick of chilli. When it’s right, every bite has a little bit of everything — and you understand why people queue for it on street corners across Vietnam.
Our Bánh Mì at Xin Chao
We bake it fresh and fill it to order — grilled chicken, grilled pork or crispy roast pork, with all the classic trimmings. Quick enough for a workday lunch in Palmerston, made with the same care as everything else in our kitchen.
Phở — A Bowl That Takes Time
“Good broth can’t be rushed.”
More Than Noodle Soup
Ask anyone from Vietnam about phở and you won’t get a description — you’ll get a memory. Breakfast phở on a plastic stool before school. A late-night bowl after a long shift. Phở is the dish Vietnam is known for around the world, but at home it’s simply part of daily life.
The Broth Comes First
Everything in a bowl of phở depends on the broth. Beef bones, charred onion and ginger, and warm spices — star anise, cinnamon, cardamom — simmered slowly for hours until the flavour runs deep and clear. There are no shortcuts. If the broth is rushed, the whole bowl knows it.
How We Serve Phở at Xin Chao
Our phở comes with rice noodles, your choice of beef, and a plate of fresh herbs, bean sprouts, lime and chilli on the side — so you can build the bowl exactly the way you like it, right here in Bakewell.
Bún Bò Huế — Bolder, Richer, Spicier
“The louder cousin of phở.”
A Dish From Central Vietnam
Bún bò Huế comes from Huế, the old imperial capital in Central Vietnam — a region famous for food with attitude. Where the north keeps flavours delicate, Huế turns everything up: more spice, more lemongrass, more depth.
What Makes It Different From Phở
People often meet bún bò Huế thinking it’s “spicy phở” — it isn’t. The broth is built on lemongrass and chilli rather than star anise and cinnamon. The noodles are thicker and rounder. The whole bowl is richer, punchier and unapologetically bold. If phở is a quiet conversation, bún bò Huế is the friend who talks with their hands.
Our Bún Bò Huế
We make ours the traditional way — a slow-simmered, lemongrass-forward broth with a proper kick. If you already love phở and you’re ready for something stronger, this is your next bowl.
Rice & Vermicelli — Everyday Vietnamese Comfort Food
“The food Vietnamese families actually eat every day.”
Grilled Meats, Fresh Herbs & Vietnamese Flavours
Not every Vietnamese meal is a bowl of soup. On most days, in most homes, dinner looks like this: something grilled and smoky from the charcoal, steamed rice or cool vermicelli noodles, a pile of fresh herbs and vegetables, and a small bowl of nước chấm — the sweet-sour-salty dipping sauce that ties it all together.
Rice or Vermicelli?
It’s the happiest decision you’ll make all day. Rice makes it a hearty, satisfying plate. Vermicelli makes it lighter and fresher — perfect for the Top End heat. Same grilled meats, same herbs, two different moods.
At Xin Chao
Choose grilled pork, grilled chicken or crispy roast pork, served over rice or vermicelli with fresh vegetables, herbs and house-made nước chấm.
Vietnamese Iced Coffee — Strong Coffee, Darwin Weather
“Made for the Top End.”
The Vietnamese Coffee Tradition
Vietnam is one of the world’s great coffee countries, and it drinks its coffee like nowhere else: strong, dark robusta, brewed slowly through a small metal phin filter, one deliberate drip at a time. Watching it brew is half the ritual.
Why Condensed Milk?
Fresh milk was once hard to come by in Vietnam, so condensed milk stepped in — and it turned out to be a perfect match. Thick, sweet and creamy against the intense, almost chocolatey coffee. What started as a workaround became the signature.
Made for the Top End
Here’s the thing: cà phê sữa đá was invented for hot, humid weather — which makes it possibly the most Darwin-appropriate drink ever created. Strong coffee, sweet milk, a glass full of ice. On a build-up afternoon in Palmerston, there’s nothing better.
At Xin Chao
We serve traditional Vietnamese iced coffee all day, alongside barista favourites — flat white, cappuccino, latte and long black — from 7am.