Saigon Supper Inn Is Manly Wharf’s New Ode to Vietnamese Nhau Culture

It’s a crisp summer afternoon and you’re sitting on Manly Wharf overlooking the water with a hazy pale ale – and a Vietnamese feast. Prawn and char siu egg noodles, Cloudy Bay clams, and Tasmanian octopus smothered in ot sate and lemongrass. Delightful. That’s the promise of Saigon Supper Inn.

The seaside spot sits within the ambitious new Felons Barrel Room, a live music venue that’s part of the brewery’s massive overhaul of the wharf, which started in 2024. Saigon Supper Inn’s captain – chef Bao La – returned to Australia especially for the project, after spending the last decade in kitchens across Hong Kong and Ho Chi Minh City, with a few European pop-ups, too. Saigon Supper Inn is his ode to nhau culture.

Nhau refers to the casual, streetside dining seen in Vietnam: plastic chairs, share plates, local beers, socialising. This vibe, minus the plastic chairs, is what’s waiting on the wharf.

“I think the Vietnamese beer-drinking culture’s really cool,” says La. “Grilled fish, grilled meats, Vietnamese condiments. Stir-fried and grilled crustaceans and clams.”

It’s a new take on Vietnamese cuisine for the northern beaches, with banh mi joints the prevailing option north of the Spit Bridge. But those are on the wharf, too.

“I think Australians are still really new to [Vietnamese cuisine],” La says, referencing sections of his menu. “Banh mi are something people are more related to.” His line-up includes less-common varieties of the beloved sandwich – and seafood aplenty. The grilled flathead is a standout in the banh mi or the build-your-own rice paper lettuce wraps.

Oysters are grilled and topped with spring onion relish or a salt-and-pepper seasoning, fried shallots and crushed peanuts. The garlic egg noodles are a Ho Chi Minh City Chinatown version, packed with prawns and crispy char siu. And the nui xao – a buttery, tomatoey stir-fried macaroni with Copper Tree Wagyu and choy sum – is close to La’s heart, reminiscent of dishes he grew up eating.

Then there are the clams, which are central to La’s memories of nhau.

“We call it oc nuong, which is a variety of clams, with a spring onion relish and salt and pepper dipping sauces,” he says.

Begin your meal with grilled Cloudy Bay storm clams, served with the same accompaniments as the oysters. Or take your pick from three styles of clams from the share plates list: tamarind and chilli Cloudy Bay diamond shell clams, lime and lemongrass clams cooked in Felons beer, or little neck clams with Thai basil and crispy chilli oil. Top tip: order a plain banh mi to mop up the sauce.

After launching the venue’s live music program late last year with free sets by Mental as Anything and Winston Surfshirt, the team has big plans for Supper Inn and the Barrel Room as a whole.

Tables are regularly shifted to the side to make room for a dance floor, and on weekends the barbeque is rolled onto the pier to serve up takeaway banh mi and skewered meats, ideal for sunset at East Manly Cove Beach. Plus, there are weekly $25 meal deals – including those grilled flathead rice paper rolls with a beer on Fridays.

Saigon Supper Inn
Felons Barrel Room, Manly Wharf, Manly

Hours:
Wed to Sun 11am–11pm

saigonsupperinn.com.au
@saigonsupperinn