Bau Truong, Cabramatta

And so my love affair with Cabramatta continues. After my first awesome day of eating with Miss Julie, this time I was lucky enough to meet up with Betty, Leona and Lili for more excessive amounts of yummy food in this great suburb. I had been nervous the night before, the wind was howling and cold, but lucky for us there was perfect weather the next day. Perfect for pigging out haha! We got there in time for an early lunch and headed straight for Bau Truong and managed to walk straight in without waiting. Betty and Leona go here all the time, and I had heard plenty about it so I was eager to try it for the first time. It was definitely one of the shinier restaurants along the street, though I'm still undecided if I prefer the modern interior to some of the older places. The menu is huuuuge, I always have so much trouble picking things from such a huge menu. The others are much more efficient than me, picking out a good mix of old favourites and some more risky, interesting sounding ones.

Xoi chien gion - crispy sticky rice ($7.50)

The first dish Lili points out on the menu is one that had caught my eye too, "Crispy sticky rice", which had caught my eye too. Sticky rice...crispy? It must be good! And lucky for us it was. A slab of glutinous rice mixed with mung beans which had been fried and then sliced into pieces, which came with a few pieces of grilled pork and spring onions. Oh it was so good.

Ching po luong (or sam bo luong)

Custard apple shake

Soon our table is full to the brim with plates, soup, dipping sauces and drinks. Betty lets me try her ching po luong which is always yummy; packed full of seaweed, barley pearls and water chestnut. I was determined to have a avocado and durian shake at some point that day but I saved my stomach space for the time being and couldn't resist ordeirng a custard apple shake. It was more like a custard apple slushy, but it was really nice, full of custard apple slivers and super super sweet.

Nem nuong cuon - grilled meat ball fresh rolls ($7.50)

Err, I think it it was the grilled meat ball rolls that we ended up ordering, I can't quite remember! Either way they were yummy, very tasty meat rolled up in rice paper rolls with salad and vermicelli.

Goi du du tom thit - green paw paw with prawn and pork salad ($15.00)

I've already blathered on about my love of vietnamese salads. This is one of the better pork and prawn salads I've had in Sydney, with lovely fresh prawns, fatty pork slices and crunchy paw paw, carrot and fresh herbs. Plenty of chilli and fish sauce in your salad dressing is the ultimate winner in my opinion.

Ca ri de - goat curry ($10.00)

Here was our risky but interesting choice off the menu, the goat curry. It totally paid off though, it was absolutely delicious. I had a good feeling about it as soon as it was brought to our table, as it had that lovely layer of separated orange oil, which is always something that I see in my favourite curries and is hard to get at home! We were a bit surprised while ordering to find out it game with noodles and not rice, which made more sense when it arrived as it was very soupy rather than a thick gravy curry that I am used it. It reminded me of a Malaysian curry laksa, which is a favourite of mine, so I was extremely pleased. The sauce was wonderfully aromatic, especially thanks to that orangey oil on top, don't be scared of it. The goat was very tender and melted in your mouth, unfortunately there were only about 4-5 pieces of it which was a shame. There were also small cubes of blood jelly in the curry, something I've seen before but had never tried. It looked and tasted like the marrow you suck out of chicken bones,. It wasn't as metallic as I expected and quite intriguing.

By the end of the meal I was happily sucking down the last bits of my custard apple shake and though I was satisfied I was still saving room for more eating later in the day. It felt like we had ordered a huge amount of food and drink, Leona and Lili had also ordered Vietnamese coffees, but the bill was only a measley $45 for the four of us. We were very happy indeed as we walked out the front, which had a very huge lining starting to form by the door. Overall it was great quality for a very reasonable price, decent and efficient service and a very clean interior for those of you a little freaked out by the more dodgy looking places.

Stay tuned for more Cabramatta eatings!!

Bau Truong Vietnamese Restaurant
Shop 10-12, 70 John St
Cabramatta NSW 2166
(02) 9727 4492