Food Takes Centre Stage Campsie Food Festival – 4 June

Celebrity cook and 2010 MasterChef contestant Alvin Quah is one of the major attractions of the 2011 Campsie Food Festival.

Alvin Quah and Canterbury Mayor, Robert Furolo

“Now in its twelfth year, the Campsie Food Festival has become an opportunity for food lovers to satisfy cravings and their appetite for foods from all over the world,” Canterbury Mayor, Robert Furolo said.

noodlies Cabramatta Food Tour, May 2011

noodlies Sydney food blog's Cabramatta Food Tour came and went today and it was a wonderful success.  We met at a local temple and were greeted by the nuns.  Walter gave everyone a brief tour of the temple and read an exerpt from his book Destination Saigon.  And the lovely nuns and their volunteers whipped up a storm in terms of wonderful vegetarian food.



We were shown how to make our own Vietnamese rice paper rolls (goi cuon) adding our own filling which included several types of home made vegetarian 'meat', vegetables, mint, vermicelli and more!

Dong Ba Restaurant, Vietnamese, Cabramatta

Dong Ba is spreading like wildfire, there's two branches specialising in Bun Bo Hue noodles and one in Bankstown. Now they've just opened a new restaurant, the third Dong Ba in Cabramatta.  This one claims to offer more general Vietnamese food.



When noodlies Sydney food blog tried it recently, we found the menu selection, well, very broad, they still have the single serve dishes like pho, com tam, mi, but added to that are mainly seafood dishes that you order for a family meal.

Rahmen Genki, Japanese, Artarmon

Artarmon is one of my favourite suburbs on the north shore. It's villagy, great public transport and is home to some great eateries too.



Rahmen Genki is a Japanese noodle bar that serves your usual ramen nori, teriyaki and gyoza, fast and delicious.

Yu-U Japanese, Flinders Lane, Melbourne

Descend a small, dimly lit flight of stairs and you enter a stunning open expanse that is dominated by a wooden counter that encases the open kitchen. The wood glows under the discreet but intense spot light. When your eyes adjust, you see a another couple of stand alone wooden tables, each seats about eight.

Fairfield Advance: Tea Time for Thang - Australia's Biggest Morning Tea

Front page from this morning's Fairfield Advance: Tea Time for Thang: "Canley Vale resident Thang Ngo is the toast of the town after being named an ambassador for Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea..." full story below.

Manmaruya Japanese Noodle Bar, Campsie

In the weeks leading up to Campsie Food Festival on Saturday, 4th June, noodlies Sydney food blog wanted to sample some great eats in Campsie.  Manmaruya has been in Campsie for three years and is an amazingly popular local restaurant attracting both locals and visitors.



The first thing I notice about Manmaruya is that it's been properly designed. It's zen-minimalist, attractive and very functional.  And immediately I'm struck by the fact that the place is very, very popular, it's packed today for lunch.

Campsie Food Festival 2011 - Sat, 4th June 10am - 4pm

noodlies Sydney food blog remembers going to this annual event years and years ago before it was rebranded in 2004 as Campsie Food Festival.  It was good then and it's even better now, showcasing the cultural diversity of the Canterbury local government area.

I love how food has been at the forefront of bringing people from different cultures together.  This year, the Mayor of the City of Canterbury, Cr Robert Furolo is expecting over 15,000 Sydney-siders at the event who will enjoy wonderful culinary delights from all over the world: Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, Greek, Himalayan, Colombian, Turkish, and of course, Korean.

"Pick 6 dishes that represent Vietnam"...

Says my new journo friend, Daisy Dumas, she's doing a story for CNNGo.com. Oh, and they have to be in Cabramatta and we need to eat them in one sitting... I was soooo up for the challenge!

I selected six dishes that transport me back to Vietnam, dishes that we commonly eat and one or two that are just so uniquely Vietnamese... What do you think of my selection? Leave a comment...

1. Pho: at Pho Tau Bay

No list would be complete without Pho, Vietnam's most famous soup. It comes in several types: beef, chicken, vegetarian, even seafood. And Pho Tau Bay was voted Sydney's best Pho in 2010.

Dai Jang Gum Korean Restaurant, Cabramatta

We're at Dai Jang Gum Korean restaurant at least once a week and there's something comforting when it's your usual.  We have our own table at the back next to the Korean doll display and right under the TV screen that pumps out K-Pop and Korean tourism messages.



Tonight I'm on my own and the owner greets me with a complimentary Korean pancake, watch the video above and you get an idea of its huge size... and the wonderful atmosphere of Dai Jang Gum.

The old ladies of Cabramatta

I've talked about the entrepreneurial old ladies of Cabramatta before and the trials and tribulations they face at the hands of Fairfield Council inspectors.

Today, marks the 36th anniversary of the fall of Vietnam an event that has changed the lives of millions of Vietnamese.  I thought today would be an appropriate one to show my support for my lovely old ladies of Cabramatta.



Today, I stop by to get something for lunch and dinner.  Seems ridiculously cheap, each box is just $3 each.  And I've 'unboxed' one of them below, it's in the same 'family' as banh beo, but this version uses glutinous rice.

Que Huong Vietnamese, Cabramatta

Noodlies Sydney food blog has been going to Que Huong for over a decade, when they were a successful Vietnamese dessert eatery in a small Cabramatta shopping arcade. Today, they're a fully fledged Vietnamese restaurant offering uncompromising Vietnamese food.



They specialise in many home style Vietnamese dishes like banh xeo (pancake), banh hoi (vermicelli cakes) and a different type of Vietnamese fresh roll called nem cuon; instead of prawn and pork, the meat is nem, a cured pork mince that is bright red as you can see in the video above and the photos below.

Thien Truc Vegetarian, Vietnamese, Cabramatta

Vietnamese Buddhists eat vegetarian for 'ram' (the full and half moon cycles), which is roughly every fortnight. This regular demand explains why there are at least six vegetarian establishments in Cabramatta.  The Vietnamese love their food, so care is taken to make the food taste good as well as look good.



Today, we're at Thien Truc (heavenly bamboo) on Hughes street and we start off with bo bia (below), it's a different type of Vietnamese fresh rolls, made with pork skin rather than pork and prawns.  Of course, this is the vegetarian version.

La Paula, Chilean, Fairfield

Fairfield is topping my list for diverse and interesting food; Iraqi, Assyrian, Lebanese, Indian/Chinese, Thai/Lao and today, we're back at one of our favourite eateries, La Paula Chilean.

La Paula is a bakery-cum-cafe that seem to excel in both savoury and sweets.  The video above gives you a pretty complete look at the sweets options, including brand new caramel churros, caramel sponge cake and many, many more mouth watering cakes.

Jackie M, Malaysian, Concord

I was first introduced to Jackie M via the delicious nasi lemak at Malaysia Kitchen a few months ago.  I hadn't hear of Jackie M before and was pleasantly surprised to find she's located in Concord, outside the usual CBD food ring. Sydney noodlies food blog had to visit because after all, my motto is "uncovering authentic, diverse food and culture all around Sydney" - and that definitely means outside the CBD!

Radio 2UE Easter Show Live Broadcast with Tim Webster today from 5.30pm

Noodlies, Sydney food blog will be talking food on Tim Webster's Food, Wine and Dining segment on radio 2UE at their outside broadcast live from the Sydney Royal Easter.  I'll be on from 5.30pm to 6pm.  Kim Coverdale food editor of Australia's best selling food magazine, Super Food Ideas will also be joining us.

Noodlies, Sydney food blog will be talking food on Tim Webster's Food, Wine and Dining segment on radio 2UE at their outside broadcast live from the Sydney Royal Easter.  I'll be on from 5.30pm to 6pm.  Kim Coverdale food editor of Australia's best selling food magazine, Super Food Ideas will also be joining us.

Dong Ba Bun Bo Hue, Cabramatta

Bun bo hue is a fearsome, authentic and uncompromising Vietnamese soup. It demands more and it gives more. Where you would appreciate the subtle sweetness of Pho, you're whacked in the face with chili and lemongrass, as well as a congealed blood cube and a pig trotter or two.

Tan Hung Vuong, No 1 Cabramatta Centre, Cabramatta

Banh cuon has been a favourite dish of mine since I was around 7yo.  It was always such a treat for breakfast, the warm rice noodles enveloping pork mince and mushroom over a bed of lettuce, mints, bean sprouts and cha lua; a delicious Vietnamese pork devon.   Oh and the burnt onion on top gives it even more flavour.

I'd pour loads and loads of fish sauce on top of everything and devour it all in minutes.

Pho 76, Stocklands, Wetherill Park

There are Viet restaurants firmly in the Cabramatta/Canley Vale/Canley Heights/Bankstown/Marrickville Vietnamese heartland, then there are those that have taken the mainstream plunge, loud and proudly Vietnamese in the City, inner city, east and north shore.

Then there's Pho 76, that's somewhere in between, Wetherill Park is well within Viet heartland but also exposes them to a more diverse customer base.  And they're doing amazingly well.  It's a decent sized eatery that is generally bustling.

ABC 702 Sydney Radio Outside Broadcast Lakemba Mosque

Weekends with Simon Marnie on ABC 702 Sydney was broadcasting live today at the Lakemba Mosque Open Day 2011.

There were lots of loyal listeners who came along to see Simon and experience something new and different at the Mosque.  Simon tasked noodlies to do a really fun segment;  where we took two ABC listeners into Lakemba town centre, to shop, eat and bring our discoveries back to share with Simon and his listeners, live on air!  Check out the interview below, my adventures with Kate and Jack and noodlies contributor KLui!