Bún bò Huế is a rich and hearty alternative to pho. Photo: Tenele Conway.
The Woden Valley suburb of Curtin is the perfect case study for Canberra’s urban revival.
Locally owned businesses, such as Evoke Bakery, Curtin Pure Produce, and the popular resto-bar Two Blind Mice, sit side by side with larger practicalities, including Coles, Club Lime, and Bendigo Bank.
The convenience is undeniable, but a suburb can’t be truly self-sustaining for the local population without a solid Asian eatery, so when a Curtin resident told me that there was tremendous community support for a local Vietnamese cafe, 29 Cafe and Eatery, I wasted no time in checking it out.
What I found was an established cafe serving up absolute Vietnamese bangers and dishes that are often hard to find outside of Vietnam.
The menu at 29 Cafe and Eatery is divided into two sections to accommodate the two distinct food styles served here.
There is an extensive western-style menu with burgers, all-day breakfasts, toasties, focaccias and fried food, and when you flip the page, you are greeted with an almost polar-opposite list of Vietnamese dishes that will leave you wondering how on earth you will choose.
29 Cafe and Eatery is well-supported by the Curtin community. Photo: Tenele Conway.
If you have come for lunch, good luck in choosing between the 10 varieties of Bánh mì (baguette-style rolls with Vietnamese fillings). All the usual suspects reside here, like roast pork, lemongrass beef and lemongrass chicken, but there are some variations like garlic tofu, sunny-side-up eggs and the ‘Pork me up’ with four varieties of pork fillings that raise my heart rate and have me fast-planning my return visit.
There are seven varieties of bún (vermicelli noodle salad bowls) on the menu, including a veritable parade of pork in every form known to man. There are sausage patties, roast pork, grilled pork, pork meatballs and even grilled pork patties on the Bún Chả Hanoi, a new dish being promoted as a special.
If pork isn’t your thing — well, we can’t be friends — but there is still plenty on the bún menu that didn’t march in the porcine parade, including lemongrass beef and chicken, as well as a spring roll version where sliced spring rolls give a naughty fried crunch to what is a pretty healthy dish.
I’m surprised to see bò kho (beef stew) on the menu; in my books, this falls into the hard-to-find category of Vietnamese food. This hearty tomato-based stew is a fusion of Vietnamese and French cooking stemming back to the time of colonisation when the French brought braises with them. While the nature of it being a stew will remind you of French cooking, the whack of fish sauce found in this dish makes it decidedly Vietnamese.
Vietnamese turmeric pancake is rare on Canberra menus. Photo: Tenele Conway.
29 Cafe and Eatery also serve Vietnamese turmeric crêpes, a dish that appears on very few menus in Canberra and one that I haven’t found a good version of since Dickson’s Pho Phu Quoc took them off the lunch menu many years ago. This version has thankfully turned the tide, and I was impressed with the crispiness of the crêpe, which, if not done well, can be soggy and flaccid.
On this visit, I ordered Bún bò Huế in an attempt to prove to myself that I can order a soup other than pho. This spicy beef noodle soup is richer than pho, and 29 Cafe and Eatery have really made it their own with the quality of the meats that make up this soup. The pork loaf was deliciously peppery, the beef brisket was moist and tender, and the rare beef was plentiful and flavourful.
If all that variety still leaves you wanting, there is a full cơm (rice) menu, where grilled meats are accompanied by rice, a fried egg, a side salad, and a dipping sauce. There is also a menu of fresh rice paper rolls for your grab-and-go lunch, and, of course, a full pho menu with seven varieties, including rare beef, wagyu beef, chicken, and vegetarian options.
The extent of it is enough to make your mind boggle, and when I go to pay the bill, I gaze into the large cabinet of bakery goods and am told that they are all baked on-site. It’s quite an operation, and I’m left with no questions as to why Cafe 29 and Eatery is a linchpin in the vibrant Curtin community.
29 Cafe and Eatery is located at the Curtin Shops and is open seven days a week.
