Roll into Yellow Fever for a rice paper 'rollie'

Locals in Redfern have never had to venture far to find good banh mi. Hot bread stores have been serving the traditional Vietnamese bread rolls, loaded with fresh salad, herbs and chicken or barbecue pork, for decades. 

But since September, newcomer Yellow Fever has offered a fresh, gourmet take on the banh mi and other traditional favourites, fusing inner-city cafe culture with Vietnamese street food. 

Located on the busy thoroughfare of Regent Street, the cafe was something of a risk for first-time owners Anthony Nguyen and his partner Rosie Nguyen, who began the venture with almost no hospitality experience. 

The cafe has a minimalist aesthetic with a monochrome colour scheme creating clean, sharp lines, while floor-to-ceiling glass paneling fills the space with natural light. To add a touch of personality, cuttings from Vietnamese-Australian newspapers, from Anthony's dad's personal collection, are papered across the back wall. 

After setting themselves the straightforward task of serving "simple, tasty, authentic" food, the couple closed the doors for their first extended break over Christmas, quietly toasting a successful entry into the foodie scene.

"We're Vietnamese, we grew up eating these kinds of flavours, so we were able to draw from our heritage," Rosie says.

But family input was only one element of the menu equation. Anthony, who left his job in banking to immerse himself full-time in the business, spent a year and a half refining the recipes and taste-testing different flavour combinations. 

The lunch menu is divided into three main offerings: rice paper rolls or "rollies", salad bowls with a choice of rice or vermicelli noodles, and banh mi. These dishes are only available from 11.30am, so don't aim to pick up a roll on the way to work in the early morning. 

Each dish comes with a choice of protein: chicken, five-spice pork, or nem nuong (marinated pork mince) as well as a vegetarian option of tofu, braised in garlic, and lemongrass sauce with tomatoes and pineapple. 

It is here that Yellow Fever steps it up a notch. The meats are marinated for up to 48 hours in a house-made marinade before being char-grilled each day. 

The banh mi, packed generously with strips of five-spice pork, is salivatingly good. Layered with shredded carrot, a shallot sprig, cucumber, coriander and topped with roast peanuts and fresh chillies, each mouthful is a powerful hit of fresh, sharp flavours. 

But my favourite is the chicken, served in smoky, succulent chunks in the vermicelli bowl. The salad bowl features the same fresh ingredients as the banh mi, with the exception of the noodles which are dressed in nuoc cham – a fish sauce-based dressing balanced with vinegar, sugar, lemon and garlic.

Also hitting the spot on a hot summer day is an iced Vietnamese coffee, made from beans sourced from Vietnam and prepared in the traditional way with condensed milk. Each sip takes me back to the earthy, sweet coffee served on the streets of Ho Chi Minh.

There is an inner-west theme to most of the cafe's produce, with many of the suppliers based in the surrounding suburbs. A bakery in Redfern provides bread rolls, meat is sourced from a Marrickville butcher and the Vietnamese herbs are freshly picked every few days from Anthony's father's garden. 

The espresso coffee is from Little Marionette in St Peters, and is available from 6.30am each weekday, alongside classic cafe breakfast food such as muesli and yoghurt, toasted banana bread or a bacon and egg roll in a milk bun. 

The Nguyens have plans to experiment with the menu in 2017 – look out for pho as cooler weather approaches.