How a childhood train trip opened my eyes to new possibilities

While I don’t live in Cabramatta, it is undoubtedly my favourite part of Sydney.

Growing up in Tamworth during the 1970s and 1980s, for the always hungry Hornery family the Nan Ping lunch specials, comprising 20 corn-starch thickened dishes of varying shades of brown which all tasted remarkably the same, was the most exotic fare we could get.

Local Vietnamese grocers, fresh food markets and restaurants along John Street and Dutton Lane in Cabramatta. Credit: Katherine Griffiths

And so that first tip to Cabramatta, as a young boy during the school holidays with my family in the early 1980s, was quite an eye-opener, not to mention prising open my nostrils and taste buds too.

At that time Cabramatta had garnered a less than enviable reputation as being a crime and drug hotspot. Unperturbed, my adventuring parents figured it was worth the risk and bundled us all onto the train to try the gourmet delicacies of Vietnam.

Cabramatta dining: Spring rolls, sugar cane prawns, fresh rice pastry and accompanying fresh herbs and dipping sauce.Credit: Wolter Peeters

I’ve been hooked ever since, and still catch the train, always returning with full shopping bags.

Today, my Cabramatta addiction stretches from richly aromatic steaming beefy bowls of Pho (Pho Viet at 11 John Street does an excellent one) garnished with fresh mint and lime juice.

Nor can I resist the deliciously zesty rice flour and turmeric pancakes stuffed with sprouts, pork and prawns and drenched in salty sweet Nuoc Cham dipping sauce (the best are at Bau Truong, a family run treasure tucked behind the banks of pokies at Mounties in Mt Pritchard).

But Cabramatta is much more than the vast array of eating options it presents. It is also a great shopping precinct, like the myriad of exotic culinary options that fill the groaning shelves of Asian supermarkets like Eastland Supermarket (109 John Street).

There are dozens of butcher shops and fresh fish markets, flower stalls and produce markets, along with the sweet Vietnamese ladies who bring their squeaky shopping carts packed with neatly bundled packets of fresh Asian herbs from their gardens to sell on the footpaths of John Street.

Addictive: Beef Pho in Cabramatta.Credit: Wolter Peeters

Cabramatta is teeming with life and colour.Credit: Steven Siewert

September’s moon festival is an especially good time to visit. It’s loud, colourful and teeming with life, from lion dancers and firecrackers, to street stalls dishing up tasty delights and makeshift karaoke performers vying for attention.

There are fantastic fabric shops like Van Hung (46 John Street), tailors, dressmakers, kitchen and electronic gadget shops, tattoo parlours, barbers, day spas and even the occasional fortune-teller plying their wares around Freedom Plaza.

Gough Whitlam at his Cabramatta home in 1969.Credit: Merv Bishop

Nearby is Dutton Plaza. The public open space fronting the main entrance on the eastern side of the plaza was named Gough Whitlam Place, in honour of the former PM who represented Cabramatta as the member for Werriwa from 1952 to 1978 and lived nearby for many years.

There is an excellent commemorative wall featuring glazed tiles featuring the rich tapestry of Cabramatta’s diverse, multicultural history. It’s well worth a visit.

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