The well-known chef behind Sydney favourites such as Porteno and Continental Deli Bar Bistro and newcomer Bar Louise takes Good Food to the suburb he grew up in.

When Elvis Abrahanowicz was growing up in Fairfield in the 1980s, the streets rang with Spanish chatter and there were shops selling dulce de leche-stuffed treats on almost every corner. It's a different story today in the western Sydney suburb after many South Americans moved out, paving the way for the melting pot of cultures it has become, with over 71 per cent of residents speaking a language other than English.

Elvis was born in Australia to Argentinian-born parents of Polish and Italian heritage. His family returned to Buenos Aires when he was one and finally settled back in Fairfield when he turned eight.

Today the chef is behind a string of cult diners. It all started in Surry Hills with a graffiti-sprayed tapas bar called Bodega, which he launched with his business partners Ben Milgate and Joe Valore in 2006. Serving up 1950s swagger and South American share plates with more rock'n'roll than the tunes spinning in the background, Bodega made a loud splash in a city weaned on a la carte. They had Sydney-siders eating out of the palm of their heavily inked hands.

I meet Elvis and his dad Adan out the front of one of the last surviving Chilean bakeries in Fairfield – Nelson Street's La Torre Cake Shop. Behind a nondescript shopfront are cabinets crammed with coconut-rimmed alfajores and empanadas, while the benchtops behind cradle fresh-from-the-oven medialunas. The croissant-like Chilean pastries are layered with halal beef fat (a local riff on the more traditional pork lard), which gives them a moreish, mouth-filling savouriness. Hovering above are trays of puffy bread laced with crunchy beef fat.

Medialunas are a rare find in Sydney partly due to their laborious three-day baking process. Adan moved to Surry Hills years ago but still commutes here for the crumbly Chilean croissants – his preferred breakfast with a cup of mate, the caffeine-rich tea loved throughout South America. Back in the day, he would come every Sunday to buy bread and facturas (Argentinian pastries) fattened with custard, before stocking up on cold cuts from the local deli.

"When we woke up, there would be deli paper spread out on the table with prosciutto and salami … we'd eat and then start on the charcoals for lunch," says Elvis.

It's been years since Elvis last visited his old stomping ground but as we wind through the streets, the father and son (who are more like good mates) recount stories about every second building we pass between jibes about who has the sweeter tooth.

We spot one of the Abrahanowicz's old apartment buildings across the road from Elvis' former primary school.

"I had just come back from Argentina and was in year 3. I remember the smells were so different – there was a Vietnamese family downstairs. It was amazing – [their food was] like nothing I'd smelled before."

In 2010, the team opened Porteno in the grand old Dimitri's building on Cleveland Street (it's since moved to Holt Street, where the group also run Humble Bakery and Italian diner Bastardo). The ground-breaking Argentinian diner, which cooked whole beasts on a cross over a glowing fire pit, was inspired by Adan's legendary Sunday garage barbecues.

Porteno was a full family affair, with Ben and Elvis in the kitchen, Elvis' wife Sarah deftly running front-of house, brother-in-law Joe suggesting wines, mum Hilda making chimichurri and empanadas, and Adan taming the flames of the asador grill pit. The whole animals are only cooked by request these days (Adan has since pivoted to pasta-making duties at Bastardo) but in Porteno's earlier years, they would often order the lamb from Ivan's Butchery in Fairfield.

We weave through Fairfield City Central shopping centre until we reach Ivan's. One wall is lined with frankfurts, which Adan would boil for Elvis and his sister as kids ("we always used continental sausages, never ones from the supermarket," he says), the other with pickles, tinned fish and Eastern European condiments. The front cabinet-proper is full of sausages, asado cuts and smallgoods from Poland, Hungary and beyond. Elvis points to a speckled pink German blood tongue sausage. "It's ridiculously good – I love it. We get stuff from here for Continental from time to time."

Home of the mar-tinny (canned martini), Continental Deli Bar Bistro was born in Newtown in 2015. "In Argentina, we lived in a corner house and there was a deli downstairs," says Elvis. "My mum would be making gnocchi and always ask us to run down and grab her some parmesan, so we would always be at the deli."

Fairfield is buzzing. Groups of men spill out of cafes and huddle over hot coffees, and frozen-in-time arcades are dotted with Middle Eastern spice shops, jewellers and kebab joints. We pass Smart St Fish Market, where the Abrahanowicz family used to buy their Christmas Day prawns before arriving at Fairfield's other Chilean bakery, La Paula on Barbara Street. It's a similar vibe to La Torre, with custard-piped sweets and Chilean empanadas, but there's also a hot menu serving lomito pork sandwiches and completo hot dogs – the Chilean dogs pimped up with tomato, avo, sauerkraut and mayo.

Elvis points to jars of a jelly-like sweet potato jam used to make his favourite Argentinian dessert, postre vigilante. "It's equal parts fresh cheese, like a young taleggio, and jam. It's one of the first and last things I eat whenever I go to Argentina."

In a blink-and-you'll-miss-it spot cosseted behind The Crescent is Baalbek Bakery. They make one thing here – Lebanese flatbreads, the fluffy, feather-light rounds flying off the conveyer belt each morning. When it opened 45 years ago, it was the only Middle Eastern bakery in the suburb before the Minas and Al Anwars rolled in.

"We'd use them to make school lunches with Nutella, Vegemite or boiled eggs," says Elvis.

A six-minute drive lands us at family-run Chilean butchery Theo's Cecinas in Fairfield West. The original Theo's opened in Surry Hills in 1931 and is believed to be the first South American butcher in Sydney. Elvis and Adan would visit the Fairfield offshoot for asado (beef ribs), chorizo, morcilla (blood sausage) and sweetbreads.

"If you put an eye fillet in front of an Argentinian, it's almost secondary to them," Elvis says. "They prefer the offal, asado and secondary cuts, which are actually harder to get than the prime cuts over there."

As we stop for a quick lunch at Fairfield institution Lao Village (don't leave without trying the crunchy, coconut-flecked fried rice), Elvis says he's excited to bring his eldest daughter back for a field trip. "I'm going to show her everywhere I lived, and tell her I shared a bedroom with my sister until I was 16. She probably won't believe me!"

The details

• Baalbek Bakery, 23 The Crescent, Fairfield
• Ivan's Butchery, Fairfield City Central: 54 Smart Street, Fairfield
• La Paula, Shop 1, 9 Barbara Street, Fairfield
• La Torre Cake Shop, Shop 1, 9 Nelson Street, Fairfield
• Lao Village, 29 Dale Street, Fairfield
• Smart St Fish Market, Shop 1, 43 Smart Street, Fairfield
• Theo's Cecinas Butchery & Smallgoods, 205 Hamilton Road, Fairfield West