Cabramatta Eats!

Who doesn't know Cabramatta? Who doesn't Lovvvveeeee the foods in Cabramatta? I'm pretty sure most bloggers would have a post about it! Me too, can't wait to share my experience from this exciting Suburb!
During my first year in Sydney, a friend introduced me to this suburb as Vietnamese Suburb. It is true to some extent though. Most people here are Viet, most shops are too but I realized that Cabra is comprised of a multicultural diversity from Vietnamese, Chinese, Laos and also some European cafes on the area.

I went here many many times already but last Saturday, I got the chance to take a proper picture of my usual go-to places in Cabra and also tried a couple of different eating spots.

One advice from me is never ever drive to Cabra on the weekend. It took me literally 30mins just to find parking :( Finally I found one in Cabramatta Inn but gotta pay $5.50 all day. Well its worth the foods that's coming hihihih..

So.. Where do I begin.. We arrived 1PM and Bebski & I were starving! So our first stop was Pho Viet. That was the first time we visited the place. As we always eat in Tan Viet, Bebski suggested to try other place to eat. I looked up through many blogs and found that this restaurant serves Mi Quang! Which is one of the reason of my visit. The place is pretty big and there was not as crowded as Tan Viet = No queue, yay!

So as my sole purpose of visit, I got the Mi Quang. Ms.N introduced me to this dish. Her mom cooked an amazing Mi quang with thick base rich soup that made me always ask for more! So I am keen to try out this dish in other places. Mi Quang is a thick rice noodle soup (tinted yellow with tumeric) served with little amount of soup and various protein such as prawns, pork slices and crab meats. It was also served with crushed nuts on top, crispy cracker and Viet veggies (lettuce, beansprouts, mint leaves)

Mi Quang $12

The soup here is light and thin but it was sooo good, packed with flavours and sweetness from the seafoods in the broth just complement the dish really well.

As for Bebski, being adventurous, he ordered a noodle soup with roast duck. From the aroma of the soup I can tell that it has a strong herby medicinal flavour and yes it did! I didn't fancy the flavour but Bebski didn't mind it.

Roast Duck Noodle Soup $12

Not to forget, a must to order spring rolls! Again, this craziness about Viet Spring roll, thanks to Ms.N that brought her mom's homemade spring rolls. It was sooo lipsmackingly delish! That's why I am always keen to try Viet's spring roll everywhere. So far the best is in Pho Toan Thang!
The spring roll here was pretty good. The fillings are full of flavour and it was so tasty that it was unnecessary to dip it in Nuoc Cham sauce ^^

Spring rolls $6

After filling our tummy with those yummy foods, I asked Bebski if he can still handle some snacks and he said yes! Which brings us to Que Hong which I heard serves a great Vietnamese pancake, Banh Xeo and also Banh Khot.

Que Hong is a very small shop but the place was filled with patrons and also many takeaways! After ordering both Banh Xeo and Banh Khot, we were given this plate full of different types of lettuce and also mint leaves along with the dipping sauce.

Not long after that, our Banh Xeo came. This is the first time I ever try Banh Xeo. At first I though it was omellete wrapping the fillings but it turns out to be this crispy rice based pancake. The fillings are pork belly, prawn pieces and heaps of beansprouts. It was so good eaten with the lettuce and the dipping sauce but I am not a fan of the dish. There was a generous amount of meats inside though!

Ban Xeo $12

A pic of the fillings ~~

While this little bad boys on the other hand is flavoursome! Banh Khot is a savoury coconut pancake made up basically from rice flour and glutinous rice flour. It was crispy and has this umami sensation I couldn't explain, it's just a must to try when you're in Cabra!

Banh Khot $12

At this point both of us were soooo full! But, there will always be a room for dessert.. That's why we moved on to the usual - Pandan Pancake!! This place also sell the custard puffs like the one in Chinatown and the famous sugar cane juice. I got the Pandan Pancake and a stick of Nam Neung! ^^

The pandan pancake was still warm and had a crisp edge that was sooo good and slightly salty. The pandan flavour comes true really good and one is never enough!

Pandan Pancake $1.80

The Nam neung, even though it has a great flavour, the meat was pretty dry, may be it has been put on the display for too long ;p

Nam Neung $2.20 / $3.20

Now it's time to digest all the foods to make room for some more! I always walked through the BKK shopping centre, looking around to other food stalls, the fish market and the fruit markets. They have heaps of fruit market around and you have to keep an eye on which one offer a better price for each goods ;p

Came to see these tempting Durians in one of the fruit market. Durian is one of my favourite fruits. Even though it may be offensive to some people but you just need to pass the smell hehehe.. Well, the smell never bothers me though!

I also came across of dates which is still intact with the stems. I never seen it anywhere before. Usually it comes in a pack without the stems :)

At the back of the BKK shopping center, there is my favourite grocery store in Cabra. They sell cheaper Panda brand oyster sauce than any other asian store, they also have heaps of cheap snacks like 12 packed of yumyum for just $10 and many others!

Every time I visited the shop, the register area always caught my attention with the display of a variety of Viet's dessert and snacks!

Now, the time has come to pay a visit to our most favourite spot in Cabra - Kaysone sweet where they sell an array of snacks from banana, taro and sweet potato chips, beef and pork jerky, papaya salads and juices. And most of all, Durian Smoothies!

This is the main reason for Bebski to visit Cabra hehehe. Their Durian smoothie has generous amount of durian fruit to mik and ice ratio, so you get what you pay for :)

I also get some chips to snack while walking around ^^

That was pretty much what we did last Saturday.
To complete this post, I will add some pics from my previous visit ,,,

First, Tan Viet. A restaurant that serves an amazing Crispy Skin Chicken and egg noodle! I always loved their dry thick egg noodle with crispy skin chicken! I also recently learned that they made an amazing pork chop as well! The queue on weekend lunch hour can be a pain in the a** but the turnover of the place is pretty quick and trust me, its worth the wait like any other restaurant with long queue :)

Secondly, I went to Battambang once just because I saw deep fried quail in their menu, hoping that the taste will be similar to Ma Brown in Melbourne. Battambang is a cambodian restaurant located inside one of the alleways in Cabra. It's not on the main street so it's pretty tricky to find. I ordered the crispy pig intestines on egg noodle and also the quail.

The intestine was not as crispy as I would've thought, and the quail is pretty dry :( The egg noodle was also average. But what I love was the soup that they serve the noodle with. It is filled with porky goodness in the broth with some tender juicy spare ribs in it.

Always my last destination in Cabra is this Dim sim place. The siumai here is the best best best. Never tasted any siumai better than theirs. Most of the dimsim are pretty cheap and so I usually get heaps to stock at home :) If u want some snacking, they also sell the warm dimsim for $1.50ea

Fiuhh... this is prolly the longest post in my blog but at least I have poured my heart and love out to this Suburb. Can never get tired to explore the foods here :)

My usual trip is Tan Viet - Pandan Pancake - Durian Smoothie - Dimsim!
What's yours? :)