Rice Paper

Had the beef noodles
Really good
Good ambiance
Good staff
Quick service
And lunch menus is reasonable
Great alternative to cheap Thai food

The food was wonderful. Plenty of choice and everything was nice and fresh. The restaurant was quite busy but the staff were still able to provide prompt service. Maybe a little pricey for what it is but still reasonable for Newtown

What a gem of a place. The service is attentive and fast, even on a busy night.
The rice paper roles are a delicious way to start the meal and can almost be a meal in themselves. I had the lemongrass chicken which was generous in proportions but not too big.
Definitely worth a visit and I’m going back!

Two friends and I arrived at Rice Paper at about 8pm on a Saturday night with no booking, not realising how popular this Vietnamese is! Luckily, they we able to squeeze us in, but next time I will book in advance.
As we were several drinks into our evening, it was unanimously decided that fried spring rolls were needed. Fast. The service was marvellously fast, and we quickly demolished 2 plates of light, crunchy spring rolls.
There are lots of great mains to share. We went with the pepper beef, lemongrass chicken and the caramelised pork hot pot. The pork was the highlight, but really, what food isn’t improved when it is preceded by the word ‘caramelised’?
The whole meal came in at around $ 30 each, including corkage. When I go back, I’ll definitely be trying the ‘roll your own’ rice paper rolls and the phở.

Yummm this place was absolutely delicious. The boyfriend and I were out on a chillyish night and craving some Vietnamese. Enter Rice Paper. Having walked by numerous times and scoped out the menu and noted that each time i walked by it was absolutely packed, my interest was piqued enough to give it a shot.
We went on a Thursday night, quite early and by the time we were finished with our food the place was packed as per the usual. And the food… om nom nom. We got the Hanoi spring rolls (which the boyfriend said he’d had difficulty finding here and had been craving since his trip to Vietnam a few years ago). At 2 each for $ 10 they were a bit on the pricy side, and while absolutely delicious, not sure they were worth five bucks a pop.
The mains were SO good though. I went with the seafood phở and the boyfriend went with a carmelized pork hot pot. The phở was delicious — so nice and light. I’m not sure if that’s totally authentic, but it did make for more comfortable post-​meal walking around that’s for sure. The seafood was delicious, the prawns in particular were absolutely amazing. The boyfriend’s dish was also insanely good. The broth was this wonderful sweet and savourey sauce that was the perfect mix of flavours and the pork was tender and delish.
We really couldn’t have found a better place to warm ourselves up on a cool Thursday evening. We’ll be back for sure.

From the outset, we were behind the 8 ball. We turned up on a Tuesday night expecting we could walk in and snare a table. Alas, Rice Paper is a little more popular than that.
This, dear reader, is where the skill of customer service enters the scene, stage left. The Rice Paper staff couldn’t accommodate us then and there, but probably could in around 20 minutes and they would call us when ready. As a group of 5 we said ok and headed off for a beer. True to their word they called us when a table was available and we walked straight in.
Let’s get to the crux of it. The food. Wonderful. Just like in Vietnam the food is fresh, succulent and dances around the palette like Natalie Portman wished she could have in Black Swan. Sorry, I digress.
If you want conversation on a busy night, this isn’t the place. There is no sound dampening so even soft conversation for each table mounts to a deafening crescendo fairly rapidly. They would be wise to look into this.
It’s not, however, a deal breaker. The excellent food and the wonderful staff make the place.

I’m excited a restaurant like Rice Paper has finally materialised in Sydney — it’s a combination of many elements I am keen to see in a restaurant. A fan of Vietnamese food for years, it’s absolutely true that this restaurant combines the best of Marrickville Vietnamese food in more comfortable and decorative surroundings, with friendly and efficient service.
Bookings are taken and Id suggest you make one to avoid standing around waiting, something food-​seeking Sydneysiders are now a little over-​familiar with.
Rice paper is a bustling BYO restaurant with excellent service — the waiter will kindly advise if you have over-​ordered and will show you how to make a rice paper roll.
I’d encourage you to try the roll-​your-​own rice paper rolls as they are excellent value and are an engaging and social experience for everyone at the table!
There is so much more on the menu to try which will ensure I return, more than once I’m sure! The bottom line is you can eat your fill for around $ 20 and this is outstanding value for such fresh and tasty fare.

Not the cheapest phở in the ‘hood at about $ 12 a bowl, but one of the tastiest & definitely the friendliest service.
Hit up the other reviews if you want to hear about the décor (definitely more lush than most of the other Newtown/​Enmore/​Marrickville Viet joints — which was actually a deterrent for us to begin with!) but we’ve been in a handful of times since they opened and the food itself has been on point every time.
Rare beef phở comes in a fragrant and surprisingly light broth –perhaps with a tad too little grease to be truly authentic (possibly because of the lean cuts of beef served in the dish), but extremely tasty nonetheless. Fresh chopped chilli is made available at your table, definitely a plus in my book, as well as the customary chilli/​sriracha & hoisin sauces, and fresh herbs & bean sprouts.
The caramelised fish hot pot is also absolutely delicious, though beware the many fish bones lurking in there. It’s worth the hassle of picking them out, though; served hot at your table with an accompaniment of pickles and bean sprouts –the waiter advised us to add the fish and its sauce to the pickles, then to serve that on top of the steamed rice he’d insisted we order to allow the flavours to mingle. He was absolutely right and we found ourselves scraping the bottom of our bowls to make sure none of it went to waste.
If you’re after something sugary, their take on the popular three colour bean drink is great, the coconut milk not overly sweetened and packed with mung beans and strips of jelly –pretty filling in its own right.
The thing that really won us over, however, was trying our luck late on a miserably rainy night after finishing up at work –we showed up about 5 minutes before closing to find the place empty except for one table of two who were obviously finishing up. Hesitantly, we stuck our heads in and asked if their kitchen was still open. «Sure! Come in, it’s no problem!» We were welcomed in with smiles all round, and they were happy for us to take our time dining in as the staff tucked into their own communal dinner. Good luck getting that response elsewhere around Newtown at 10pm on a Monday night!

Vietnamese restaurant owned and created by an Australian lady. So you know the food will be Asian — just the way Australians like it. She takes pride in privileging the healthy aspect of Vietnamese food. The fresh ingredients and the low carb meals that can offer for a very fit and low fat existence. There are soup dishes with plenty of nutrients and rice, meat and vegetables. This restaurant would be good for a date. It seems clean and reliable, you know what you’re going to expect — no surprises. It is authentic Vietnamese cuisine for Australian

It’s always exciting when a new restaurant pops up on a familiar strip.
Just as you’re walking the street, indecision creeping through as you discuss how you know everything there is to offer, a little surprise jumps out at you from between two favourites. And sometimes, if you’re lucky, the little surprise turns out to be the perfect addition to your favourite strip.
Rice Paper was just such a discovery. Late on a public holiday we stumbled across the shiny new Vietnamese restaurant which was pulsing with people. As we looked at the menu outside, we were lured in by a satisfied customer, tempting us with «Everything is delicious». Inside, the new restaurant was the perfect balance of beautiful and basic. With an open kitchen (which always inspires trust), a combination of stone and wooden décor and chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, we felt welcomed by the newcomer instantly, and glad they’d moved in. The menu was appealing, inexpensive and, as a recently converted member of the gluten-​free gang, Vietnamese was perfect, with most recipes shunning wheat for (here it comes) rice paper.
Indeed, the helpful stranger was correct: everything was delicious. And authentic — just the smell of my Phở took me to the crazy busy restaurant on the corner of a crazy busy street in Ho Chi Minh City where I washed down corriander-​heavy Phở with litre bottles of Tiger beer to the soundtrack of beeping horns and motorbikes. So, whilst the vegetarian phở came in a chicken broth, the place was over-​lit, and the waitress brought lemon when asked for lime (in her defense, it’s possible she couldn’t hear us over the owl-​esque hooting laugh coming from the table opposite us), Rice Paper now sits pretty amongst our tasty Newtown eating options. Welcome to the neighbourhood.

This amazing Vietnamese restaurant has only been open for a few weeks, but you’d have thought it’d been open for years given the quality of the food and service. The only indication that it’s new in Newtown is the gleaming décor; shimmering chandeliers, pretty wallpaper and sweet-​smelling flowers give it a freshness that is only rivalled by their delicious summer rolls.
It was surprisingly busy, given it was a weekday night and it had only been open a few days, but we were shown to lovely table near to the kitchen, so that if we peered over the bar we could see the chefs busy at work. The menu was quite long, and would have been daunting, but it was split neatly in to different categories of noodles, soups, fresh rolls, deep fried rolls, meat and rice which made choosing much easier.
To start, we chose their winter rolls ($ 8) — a fabulous parcel of fresh vegetables, beef, vermicelli and prawn, wrapped in rice paper and then a mustard leaf, adding layer upon layer of flavour. The dipping sauce was also divine. We couldn’t resist their summer rolls ($ 8) either — rice paper filled with tofu, cabbage, carrot, vermicelli, salad and herbs, again with a silky dipping sauce sprinkled with peanuts. Finally, we ordered the chill char-​grilled prawns, but unfortunately they’d run out. Instead, we were recommended the coconut prawns — fat tiger prawns deep-​fried with a crispy bread crumbed and coconut outside. We then shared a main course — chicken with lemongrass and chilli jam which was nice, the chicken meltingly tender with a syrupy sauce. We ordered a side of steamed vegetables which I wouldn’t order again, they were bland and overpriced, and finally some rice which was, well, just rice. All in all, it was an excellent meal.
I will definitely be returning to Rice Paper, but when I do, I’ll pick a selection of fresh and deep fried rolls rather than having any proper main dishes. Their rolls are the nicest I’ve had in Sydney, and this would make the ultimate Vietnamese tapas dinner.