what to eat in the cabramatta area

One of the most common foodie-related questions I get asked about are my recommendations for food in the Cabramatta area. FEAR NOT!! I’m listing them out here for your future reference the next time you want a quick trip to Vietnam without flying there (lol)

This post will be quite different to my previous food post for a few reasons:

1.     The vibe of most of these restaurants are similar and they’re all around the same level of Instagramability so I will not talk about these

2.     Additionally, all these are recommended for fast and budget dinners/lunches, typically you wouldn’t stick around for a really long time.

3.     I go to restaurants in Cabra/Canley Heights for particular dishes rather than by preference of any particular restaurant so the list isn’t REALLY ranked…but the ones at the top are the ones I’d recommend if you only had one meal in the area

CABRAMATTA RESTAURANTS

Cabramatta is good for lunch or snacks and generally isn’t very lively at night – I suggest going during the day

Pho Ann – Pho

Food: Pho (obv). This is defs my favourite place to get pho and their sate sauce is pretty great as well. Soup is fragrant and doesn’t taste like MSG and the beef and noodles are a proper thickness.

Price: $11-15 depending on what you order and if you get drinks

Review: A family favourite hahah I luv it. You may notice it has a similar name to Pho An in Bankstown. Legend has it that the couple that ran it split and started two different restaurants that sound mildly the same. I’ve never been to the Bankstown one because I like to pay close to $10 for my pho hahahhahah

Pho Tau Bay – Pho

Food: Pho! Typically, Pho Tau Bay is the preferred restaurant of the more Chinese among the Vietnamese community. The soup is a little sweeter and Chinese tasting. Several of my Chinese friends say they prefer Tau Bay which is fair enough but my Dad insists that Pho Ann is “real Vietnamese pho”. My tip is to try both and see which one you prefer.

Price: $11-15

Review: I only eat here when I don’t want to walk to Pho Ann but it comes highly recommended from others

Viet Hoa Hot Bread – Pork Rolls

Food: Pork rolls!! A bit of a walk so I don’t go often but the pork rolls are ON POINT – not too greasy but still tasty. They also have pandan waffles if you’re into that.

Price: $4 I think

Review: A funny story is that when I made it into NSG my Dad asked me what I wanted as a reward and I asked for a pork roll from this place…I got to high school and other people had gotten phones or laptops…mad regrets

Various stalls – Sugar Cane Juice

I have to say I haven’t done much research on these since I only discovered the beauty of sugar cane juice on my last week in Singapore (haha don’t judge) but so far, my favourite has been this one near Freedom Plaza (the arch place) because they add lemon in for you and its like…$3

Bau Truong – Miscellaneous Vietnamese food

Food: Good for miscellaneous Vietnamese food when you’re not looking for anything in particular. If I go, I’d usually get black pepper beef and rice. Well known for their Banh Xeo (Vietnamese pancake) – it’s good, give it a try.

Price: $15ish

Review: I would recommend this place if you’re looking for Vietnamese food that isn’t your typical pho or Bun Bo Hue. I don’t go often since most of the food is stuff I’d eat at home but it has quite a lot of space and is easy for big groups.

Some place in a shopping centre I don’t know the name of – Banh Beo

Food: Banh Beo is kind of like a little rice cake thing with prawn powder and yellow stuff I don’t know the name of on it. I grew up eating it without knowing what it is and I’m frequently asking for it if my parents go out to Cabramatta. In Vietnam they give it to you in individual servings whereas here they chuck it in a box but that’s for another blog post…

Price: $5ish??

Review: Not a well-known dish but honestly one of my faves. It looks like this:

Tan Viet Noodle House

Food: CHICKEN NOODLES. The fried chicken here is consistently crispy like ALL THE TIME I’ve never had an off day. You can choose your noodles and type of chicken as well which gives a good variety without losing its specialty. I usually go for the crispy chicken and drop noodles.

Price: $15ish

Review: I don’t go here often simply because it’s quite crowded (a little overrated if you ask me) and pricey compared to other places in Cabramatta. By overrated I don’t mean bad AT ALL. It’s actually quite good, just not THAAAT good to be crowded all the time you know? Also has branches in Canley Heights and Eastwood.

JJ’s Steak Kitchen – Steak

Food: Steak! Chips! Sauce! Drinks!

Price: $11

Review: The beauty of this place is that it’s $11!! And soft drinks are around $3?? It’s a good place to go when you don’t feel like Asian food but don’t want to pay a fortune. The steak isn’t amazing but hey it’s $11. Open for dinner so good when everything else is closed. Not sure it’s worth coming ‘all the way’ to Cabra for though…

CANLEY HEIGHTS RESTAURANTS

Canley Heights has a really good night life so if I’m going out for dinner in the area I’d go here. Note: Canley Heights =/= Canley Vale, keep driving up the road.

Huong Xua – Spring rolls and chicken noodles

Food: The thing I love most from here is their spring rolls – and by that I don’t mean the Chinese pastry ones I mean deep fried rice paper rolls. They’re really good and crunchy when fresh and I usually get it with vermicelli and grilled pork. The other thing I get (usually in winter) is chicken soup with noodles (you can choose what kind of noodles you want) and a plate of fresh chicken MMMMM

Price: $13-20 depending on what you order

Review: They have daily specials, sometimes cheaper drinks or some kind of discount deal with the food. There are also branches in Cabramatta and Liverpool

Diem Hem – DIY rice paper rolls

Food: When I come here the special thing they do is DIY rice paper rolls but with a hot plate so you eat your meat FRESHLY COOKED and wrapped in rice paper rolls hehe

Price: Okay tbh I don’t know but I’m guessing like $25…

Review: Wouldn’t say I’m a regular but I definitely enjoy it a lot.

Gia Hoi – Misc. dishes and pho

Food: The pho here is not bad but since I have a go-to for that already I usually get the Banh Canh with pork (not the crab one) which is really great. Either that or this dish called Ca Kho To which is like sweet and salty fish – highly recommended give it a try.

Price: Okay honestly (again) I never pay for this myself so I don’t know

Review: Not my absolute favourite but if my family is getting takeaway we’ll get it from here since it satisfies everyone’s taste buds. Also branches in City, Cabramatta and Eastwood

Pho Hien – Salad and pho

Food: My absolute favourite thing to eat here is their prawn, pork and jellyfish salad MMM. Their pho isn’t bad either.

Price: $15-20

Review: A go-to with family since everyone likes it – would recommend for a quieter dinner.

Red Sichuan (Canley Vale) – hot pot

Food: All you can eat hotpot!!! What more could you ask for tbh???? They also have really good lamb skewers. The stand out are the sauces, they have a really good Sichuan sauce that just makes it THAT much better. They give you potato to put in your hot pot as well which is real great.

Price: $35-40 (pricey lol)

Review: My main memory from here is having big group dinners which is really nice because you’re cooking out of one pot together. It’s a little like KBBQ when you cook for each other aww

Steak on the Rocks – Steak

Food: Okay I know this is the second steak place I’m listing but for reals it’s so good. It’s cook-your-own steak but you get your own hot plate so you’re literally cutting up your steak as you cook it which works really well for me since I like my steak medium-rare and sometimes it just doesn’t happen when it’s cooked in the kitchen (also because I enjoy control over the cooking of my steak lol). The chips are beer battered and are uh-mazing, super crunchy but soft in the middle mmm

Price: $20-35 depending on the cut of steak you get

Review: A good place if you’re feeling like steak, I wouldn’t take a day trip for this but if you’re already in the area you might as well. A good place to take kids as well – I’ve been here with my brother’s friends’ families so there were like 10 kids and it was fine.

Holy Basil – Thai Food

I wrote about this place on my other post. I recommend Canley Heights because it’s the original but honestly if you’re going to trek it to Canley you might as well eat from the other ones above.

V Lounge – Dessert or Western food

Food: Pretty decent savoury food and dessert. I would recommend the waffles and wedges. I’ve also had the pasta and the Nutella pizza which was pretty decent.

Price: $25-30 ish

Review: A good place to go if you’re eating out late and nowhere else is open. Also good for dessert after dinner.

What the Fudge? – Dessert

Food: Highly recommend the deep fried Golden Gaytime, it’s amazing. I’ve also heard that their chocolate lava cake (or whatever they’re called) is really good. Drinks are good too!

Price: $15-20ish

Review: I would recommend the Canley Heights one over the Cabramatta one since it’s been there longer and has more variety.

Enjoy this list!!!! Let me know if you go to any of these places J