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January 8, 2020
Habits

Vietnamese Laundry II opens on Grenfell Street

The much-loved Sturt Street restaurant has opened a second, takeaway-oriented shopfront in Da Costa Arcade.

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  • Words and pictures: Johnny von Einem

In a tiny former hairdresser space on Grenfell Street, just inside Da Costa Arcade, Tin Chu and Alex Fahey have opened their second Vietnamese Laundry.

The shop is just 20-square-metres, smaller even than the original Vietnamese Laundry on Sturt Street, and will be geared towards the area’s office worker clientele, focussing on fast, healthy and well-priced Vietnamese food.

Remarks


Vietnamese Laundry II
Shop 28, 68 Grenfell Street, Adelaide 5000
Mon-Fri: 11am ’til 3pm

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“It’s slightly different [to the original store]. The food needs to be as quick as possible,” Alex says.

“People haven’t got the time to wait around here. I think a lot of people probably go back to the office and eat there, or they go to the park. But they need their food as quick as possible, so we’ve tried to streamline the way that we’ve set it up.”

The inaugural menu presents a selection of banh mi, salad boxes, spring rolls, dim sum, cold rolls and wraps.

 

While the original Vietnamese Laundry’s aesthetic was largely driven by the heritage of the building itself – a 19thcentury horse stable – at the Da Costa Arcade store, Alex and Tin have created an identity of their own in the space, taking design cues from an actual laundromat.

“It’s a different building, it’s a more modern building, it had to be a little bit different. It still has a vintage feel to it. This is meant to be the ironing kiosk in a laundromat,” Alex smiles.

“The design is still tied to our original one. It is pretty fun, but still tied together,” Tin says.

Branding elements were created by Frame Creative.

There’s a Sriracha Baby in us all

 

The couple has been looking for a follow-up to their Sturt Street spot for years but became distracted by taking over a pub on Grote Street, Hotel Longtime, and the birth of their son.

With both Vietnamese Laundry I and Hotel Longtime now well established, the time felt right to continue the pursuit. And while the main draw for the space was the high volume of foot traffic in the area, Alex also intends the space to make the Vietnamese laundry brand more accessible.

“We’ve always got a lot of people who have wanted to come to us but never been able to come to us over on Sturt Street, because they’re from the other side of the city. Likewise, a lot of people that used to come to us that have moved offices,” Alex says.

“It’ll be a bit of a different ballgame around here with the foot traffic, whereas at Sturt Street we’re definitely a destination.”

Vietnamese Laundry II is located at shop 28, 68 Grenfell Street, and opens Monday to Friday from 11am ‘til 3pm.

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