Luke is the chef/owner of Red Lantern Restaurant, cookbook author (Secrets of the Red Lantern and The Songs of Sapa was released on 10/1/09), and a travel-TV show host. He's also giving back to his community of Cabramatta by being its unofficial spokesperson. For months on email he'd been telling me how keen he was on taking me to his Little Saigon in Sydney.
First off, it's not in Sydney proper like lots of Little Saigon's I've been to. Cabramatta is highly unusual as it reflects an Asian-Western sensibility as I've not experienced. It felt oddly like a cleaned up version of Saigon. The shops, food and liveliness made me feel right at home. My kind of people.
I was so impressed with the vibrant community as it’s had its fair share of challenges in the past. Luke recounted how unsafe it used to be browing up with gang and drug trafficking problems in this area. Sydneysiders (it’s a strange term) were scared to go to Cabramatta (or Cabra as the locals say it). But when we went on Thursday, it was nothing but bustling with shoppers, food and amazing produce. I spent time in Los Angeles during the post-riot era and there was no sense of fear or impending doom in Cabramatta. It was mellow. We met with city managers who have various campaigns going to highlight Cabramatta's cultural and culinary offerings to the urban Sydneysiders. Nowadays, it's not so much a public safety issue but of of a distance. Convenience? Okay -- the train takes you directly from downtown Sydney to Cabramatta and the toll roads are even faster.Cabramatta is located 45 minutes away from downtown Sydney. It takes longer to get to Saigon itself!
I don’t have time to go into all the details but wanted to post some photo highlights here for you.- The local population is 67% Vietnamese – that’s 2 out of 3 people!
- The condensed area is lively with shops, alley ways, and markets that say, “All Viet All the Time” but in an oddly Australian-Vietnamese-Asian kind of way. Look at the banh mi vendor stall that looks like a super cleaned up stall in Saigon.
- Great bun mam noodle soup made with a mam nem, a funky, murky, sludgy anchovy fish sauce. Tastes much better than it sounds.
- Shopkeepers are Viet, Lao, Cambodian or Chinese. See the text on shops.
- You can get kangaroo meat, which tastes kinda like buffalo and venison, Luke said.
- There are separate vendors for meat, seafood, and produce like in Vietnam. Totally cool in an old-school way.
- Just as I had heard – the produce is super fresh (perky, just-harvested herbs) and the fruit is gorgeous (mangosteen, jackfruit, and 3 or 4 types of mangos).
- Crazy good seafood in the form of fresh fish, giant tiger prawns, tiny raw school prawns (sorta like tom tep, I think), mud crabs, blood clams, and new things like spanner crab.
I’ve been eating very well but I wished I had a kitchen to cook some of these ingredients!
Have you been to Cabramatta? What are your favorite shops and restaurants? I'm going to Melbourne next week, so let me know your insights there on Viet stuff too!
Hi, Welcome to asutralia. You will also love the little Saigons of Melbourne. There are a three different Vietnamese suburbs- Springvale, Richmond and Footscray and each one has its own character. I prefer Springvale for a truly authentic Vietnamese hit, but it is further from the centre of Melbourne. Make sure you go there. If you would like to read an old blog of mine about restaurants in Springvale, check out my site and go to the 2006 archives. Its easy to find.
Posted by: morgana | October 10, 2009 at 08:08 PM
Cabramatta is great, my wife (Viet Kieu) and I moved from the North of Australia (Darwin nearly half way to Saigon) just so we could live near Cabramatta. We now live 50 minutes from Cabramatta in North of Sydney, yet we make the trip nearly every weekend, for Shopping, lunch or dinner.
Our fave restaurants are Phu Quoc for Chao Tom, Bau Truong a good all round, and Dong Ba Bun Bo Hue for a great Bun Bo Hue.
Bankstown is another vibrant Vietnamese community about 20 minutes closer to Sydney, but not quite as big as Cabra.
Posted by: Asia Travel Magazine | October 11, 2009 at 12:10 AM
Morgana, THANK YOU for the tips.
Asia Travel Magazine -- I saw Phu Quoc the other day. Someone mentioned Dong Ba BBH too, in Bankstown.
Posted by: Andrea Nguyen | October 11, 2009 at 12:20 AM
I have just seen your blog from grabyourfork and I am absolutely delighted. My family were first generation Vietnamese (my Grandparents are from China) and they love the cuisine and I love it too. I've been to Cabramatta only a handful of times as I live in the CBD so the train ride can get a bit tiresome. My favourite is Bau Truong. The food is wonderful, it does remind me of a cleaned up version of Ho Chi Minh. Have you been to Bankstown? My family live there and there are a few good Viet places out there there is a very good Pho place. In Melbourne I went to Richmond and the food there was pretty good. You will be spoilt for choice!
Posted by: clekitty | October 11, 2009 at 06:15 PM
Clekitty -- I'm planning on heading to Richmond. I've been eating lots of rich foods but I need my Viet fix to even things out! I didn't get to Bankstown as today (my only free day) was spent doing regular tourist stuff, opera house, botanical gardens, etc. Lovely city you live in.
Posted by: Andrea Nguyen | October 11, 2009 at 11:16 PM
oh my, the bun mam looks delicious!
Posted by: Anh | October 12, 2009 at 10:00 AM
Welcome to Australia Andrea! I hope you have a pleasant stay here. I've lived in Cabramatta my whole life and never really looked at it with so much interest as you have explained. I guess I just see as a place where I can get authentic Vietnamese food - maybe once I move away from it all I'd appreciate what I had.. Like Clekitty, I also think Bau Truong serves wonderful food too.
I've dined at Red Lantern as well and meet Luke and his sister Pauline (the other author of Secrets of the Red Lantern) and the food that I had bought back so many fond memories of me growing up with beautiful Vietnamese food and I was happy to share it with my boyfriend (who is not asian).
What else are you involved in for Sydney's International Food Festival? And how long will you be sticking around for?
Posted by: Phuoc | October 13, 2009 at 06:44 AM
Hello Phuoc, I'm leaving today for Melbourne, after having tasted way too many good things in Sydney. Great to hear from you.
Anh -- the bun mam was good.
Posted by: Andrea Nguyen | October 13, 2009 at 01:00 PM
Well it would only get better.. Unfortunately I've been to Melbourne only once but I loved every moment of it! I didn't get to go to the vietnamese districts as I stuck around the CBD. What I loved the most about Melbourne is the vast amount of cafes in the alleyways where you can grab delicious brunch if you're having a lazy day..
Posted by: Phuoc | October 13, 2009 at 08:53 PM
Hi Andrea, great to hear you enjoyed our home town, there is no place like Cabra and I've been around!
My favourite noodle place is actually egg noodle at Tan Viet, if you're ever back again, please try www.noodlies.com/2009/10/tan-viet-noodles.html!
Also you might be interested my partner Walter Mason as a new book out about Viet Nam, Destination Saigon, published by Allen & Unwin if you're interested http://www.destination-saigon.com/
Posted by: Thang | October 16, 2009 at 05:19 PM
Hi New to your blog, but I love it!
This is great, i am always very intriguged by Little Saigons in other countries. It's always an interesting mix when the two cultures merge as such. Saigon influence with Aussie cleanliness? Perhaps one day I'll be able to travel to all the Little Saigon's in the world and Cabra will definitely on the list.
Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: David | November 01, 2009 at 12:17 PM
I love to eat the Saigon food. Its really good news there is Cabramatta restaurant which is very famous for the Saigon food. I will visit this restaurant in near future.
Posted by: acai berry | November 06, 2009 at 07:14 PM