Battambang Cambodian, Cabramatta (Secret Sydney)

Battambang restaurant in Cabramatta is on the eastern side of town (sometimes even called Khmer side).  It's  much quieter and sleepier, most people don't even notice this side of town it's so discreet.  Dong Vu, Won Kee (although it's Chinese-Cambodian), Dong Son and even the relatively new Bayon are all on the western side of town and have much greater awareness and visibility.  Don't confuse this with the sister Battambang restaurant on the western side of Cabramatta, that one is off John Street.



Battambang restaurant in Cabramatta is named after the second largest city in Cambodia, known as the leading rice producer of the country and a commercial hub attracting Thais, Laos, Chinese and of course Cambodian traders.

Many have heard of Phnom Penh noodles and that's the dish that I love here - the 'dry' version where the soup comes separately.  As you can see in the video and photo above the lovely glutinous rice noodles come out dry with many types of meat and offal and congealed blood (you get alot of it in many south east Asian food).  The noodles are flavoured by a nice, salty dark sauce and the meat is also saltier than usual - it should be this way because dry noodles do not get the benefit of flavour that comes from the soup.

Speaking of soup, that comes in a separate bowl, it's clear with some coriander and shallots as garnish.  You can take a mouthful of the noodles at the same time a mouthful of soup.  Or you can take them in separate mouthfuls.  I prefer the latter because you can fully appreciate the dry noodles and meat.

This is another Secret Sydney post. Secret Sydney is a new noodlies Sydney food blog project to uncover authentic, diverse food and culture all around Sydney.

Battambang Cambodian Restaurant
Shop 4, 156-158 Cabramatta Rd, CABRAMATTA
Phone: (02) 9724 7307

PS: In the video, the fried breadsticks brought out is an optional extra, not a complimentary side dish.

Battambang Cambodian Restaurant, Cabramatta

I have been trying to find this place for ages, it's in an alley on the busy side of Cabramatta.  Noodlies Sydney food blog has been to the sister restaurant on the quieter side and loved it.



Luckily for me. there was very decent signage on John Street pointing the way. Battambang is so typical of the old style Cabra restaurants, three rows of tables, smallish with mirrors on either side to create a sense of space, menu written in several Asian languages (don't think there was English) on coloured cardboard. It's busy and noisy - during peak times you'll be asked to share a table. Basically, it's everything I love in a restaurant.

The menu is typical home style dishes but of course, when in Rome.. I order hu tieu - Phnom Penh noodles.  I choose the glass noodle (dai - hard noodles) as opposed to fat rice noodles (mem -soft), the soup had strong fish sauce flavour and you can tell they're not compromising for the tourists - of which there weren't any, all around were Cambodians and Vietnamese.  You might be disappointed in the range of meat that there wasn't a prawn, it's not a big issue for me.. not much of a prawn fan.

Battambang is honest, authentic you either take it or leave it - this Sydney food blogger will take it any day.

Battambang Cambodian Restaurant
15/73-79 John St, Cabramatta
(02) 9754 2120

Battambang Cambodian Restaurant, Cabramatta

Battambang restaurant in Cabramatta is named after the second largest city in Cambodia, known as the leading rice producer of the country and a commercial hub attracting Thais, Laos, Chinese and of course Cambodian traders.

Battambang restaurant in Cabramatta is on the eastern side of town (sometimes even called Khmer side).  It's  much quieter and sleepier, most people don't even notice this side of town it's so discreet.  Dong Vu, Won Kee (although it's Chinese-Cambodian), Dong Son and even the relatively new Bayon are all on the Western side of town and have much greater general community awareness.  I hear there's a sister Battambang on John Street, but have yet to find it. Google battambang cabramatta and you'll find a few listings for it but I couldn't even find any recent food blogger reviews.

Cabramatta Moon Festival 2010: Progressive Eating!

Yummi Desserts

Cabramatta Moon Festival 2010 was on and we intended to eat our way through it.  Starting at 11am we eased ourselves in with coffee and sweets at Yummi on Park Road.  Walter had custard apple shake, while I had a Vietnamese iced coffee, which was sweeter than I'm used to, but very, very nice.

Banh Uot

Barely an hour later, lunch was at Que Huong in the Belverdere Arcade.  Walter had banh uot, which was thick rice noodles, with cha lua, nem, bean sprouts and other vegies topped with fish sauce.

Hu Tieu

The owner recommended hu tieu and that's what I had.  Glass noodles with a combination of meats, pork, prawns (quite a common mix).  The soup had a strong salty flavour which I really liked and the burnt garlic and onion really lifted for me.

Fruit salad

Only another hour later, we had dessert at a new place, Cafe The Duyen in a laneway off John Street. After so much eating I settled for a cleansing fruit salad.  It was fresh and tangy.  Washed it all down with Vietnamese hot coffee (made with a layer of condensed milk).

Vietnamese coffee

Yummi Sweets
Park Road
Cabramatta

Que Huong Restaurant
16/70 John St
Cabramatta NSW 2166
(02) 9723 9916

Cafe The Duyen
4/98 John St
Cabramatta NSW 2166
(02) 8764 8394

Dong Son, Cabramatta

I can see why it might be bewildering to go into a small, humble local eating house in Cabramatta like Dong Son.

The clientele are all Asian and most of the menu aren't in English.  There's at least three languages on the walls here, Khmer, Chinese and Vietnamese.

If you're around and wondering where to eat in Cabramatta, you should try one of these places.  And if you like soup and rice noodles, as them for a special hu tieu - rice noodle soup.  You'll get noodles with a range of meat (be warned some are offal, but I think you should try it as they're not bad!) and in delicious clear soup.

Add fresh sprouts, lemon, chilli and your favourite condiments - all provided free.

Of and you might find it hard to work out who the waiter is, as there is no official uniform, but it's not hard to see, they're the only ones standing up (as per the pic above).  And besides, the minute you walk in the door, they'll identify themselves and take you to your table.  Enjoy!

Dong Son, Cabramatta

Quick lunch today at Dong Son, it was fast and definitely satisfying.

I had the "boiled chicken" which I think is a plain version of Hai Nam chicken.  But the chilli, garlic, ginger sauce really does make a difference.  The free soup was nice too.

Walter had the Hu Tieu Xao Bo, fried rice noodles with beef.  It looked delicious.