First Look: Marrickville’s Alex ’N’ Rolls Site Is Open Again, With a New Team on Banh Mi Duty

From its debut in early 2019, Alex ’N’ Rolls operated entirely on its own terms. Owners Phu Cuong Nguyen and Minh Anh Ho opened and closed the shop at whim, changed the menu whenever they pleased and served customers with a scowl or a smile, depending on the day. None of it deterred their devotees. The roasted meats were so good, the banh mi so elite, that people kept queuing. That unpredictability became part of the charm.

Last November, the Illawarra Road banh mi shop suddenly shut. At first, regulars weren’t too worried. The listed trading hours were more of a guideline anyway, so much so that a Facebook group (with over 10,000 members) started up, simply to alert people when the shop was open. But when the windows were boarded up soon after, it was clear this time was different.

Alex ’N’ Rolls is officially closed, Viet Bling lives in its place.

But how do you follow a place with such a strong cult following it spawned its own Facebook group? Hank and Nancy Tran are giving it a red hot go. The husband-and-wife team ran Hot Rolls in Coogee, before selling up to take over the Marrickville shopfront.

“The recipes here are actually inspired from Alex ’N’ Rolls,” Nancy says. “The first time I ate their food I thought, ‘It’s just like my mother’s’.” So she set about developing recipes from memories – of Marrickville and her mum’s cooking.

“We didn’t really want to copy Alex ’N’ Rolls’ recipes, since it took them a long time to come up with them,” Hank says. “I just love how dedicated their customers are,” Nancy adds. “I wanted to try giving them the same experience.”

Bling’s banh mi stick to the Alex basics: the roll gets a swipe of pâté and mayo before pickled carrot, radish, cucumber and coriander go in. But there’s a big difference. Large, crusty white rolls now come from Quang Thanh Hot Bread in Bankstown instead of Baker’s Delight in Marrickville Metro. It’s lighter, airier, the crust shattering with every bite. Each roll gets a scatter of pork floss and fried onions for extra texture; iceberg stands in for butter lettuce. Then it’s your choice of protein.

The traditional is stuffed with pork, then there’s a Viet-style scrambled eggs number and barbeque pork or chicken. The roast pork and crackling is a favourite, and there’s a vegan salad option, too.

The pâté – the same one the couple made at Hot Rolls – is rich, fluffy and deeply savoury. Cleaning and preparing the chicken livers alone takes three to four hours, with the full flavour courtesy of an overnight slow-cook. (You’ll want to spread it on everything.)

Sticky rice was an Alex ’N’ Rolls fixture, and it’s sticking around. Serves are built with the same toppings as the banh mi, swapping bread for a mound of glutinous rice lavished with pâté. Scrambled eggs and roasted meats follow, slicked with a drizzle of caramelised pork belly sauce.

Nancy starts with a whole pig for her barbequed pork and caramelised pork, breaking the animal down herself. The pork shoulders, legs and belly are marinated for two days, following a recipe she’s keeping secret, before being roasted or braised. She’s now doing a roasted pork belly with crackling too, and makes the pork floss in-house. “We have to choose the percentage of meat and fat to suit customer tastes,” she says, nodding to Alex ’N’ Rolls’ famously generous serves.

Rice paper rolls, spring rolls and bao buns are also on the menu, but for now they’re taking a back seat as demand for the Alex ’N’ Rolls originals surges. “We just want to focus and be consistent,” Hank says. “Then we’ll expand and introduce different dishes.”

How did the handover happen in the first place?

“When the previous owners started out renting this place, they lived in the back and worked in the front,” Hank says. The couple have young children now, outgrowing the space and demands of the shop. “They asked if we wanted to keep it going.”

So the shutters are up again – and this time, you can trust the opening hours.

Viet Bling
321 Illawarra Road, Marrickville
(02) 9123 3840

Hours:
Mon to Sun 11am to 5pm