Battambang Restaurant, Cabramatta

Howard — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 15:30:00 +0000

We all have one, that favourite shirt or pair of jeans we always wear no matter how worn out it is. The same can be said about a restaurant or a dish from a restaurant, you’ll keep going back and paying for it regardless of how much things change. The food at Battambang in Cabramatta invokes such feelings. I’ve been eating here for nearly 20 years, it was one of the first restaurants which my parents took me to because it was the only thing we could afford at the time, eating a $3.50 bowl of noodles at this restaurant was a big deal.

Fast forward 20 years and nothing much has changed in the restaurant. The dodgy looking tables are still there, a packed restaurant with people speaking everything from Cantonese to Cambodian and honest food cooked by honest people. Come to think of it the only thing that has changed is the price. It might have creeped up to $6 a bowl but it’s still a bargain for Sydney standards. Mind you, I am blogging from their second “newer” store which is on the John St side of Cabramatta. The original Battambang is on the other side of Cabramatta train station.(...)
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Bayon Noodle, Cabramatta

Howard — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 23:17:51 +0000

Every now and then, a new restaurant opens in Cabramatta. Being a local, immediate doubts are cast over it. Will it succeed? Or will it end up being just another average restaurant? You see, regular visitors of Cabramatta are extremely loyal to their local eating holes. It’s not enough to be a jack of all trades and master of none if your restaurant is in Cabramatta. Most restaurants, if not all, have a ‘franchise’ dish. The dish which every purposely rocks up for. At Bayon Noodle, I’m searching, but do I succeed?

Bayon Noodle looks like a new Chinese and Cambodian restaurant. Cambodian food is difficult to find in Sydney, however if you are in Cabramatta, there are atleast half a dozen decent ones.

Green papaya salad

This is the Vietnamese version with a generous array of fresh papaya, mint and basil, fresh prawns, crushed peanuts, pork belly. The best way to eat this is to pour in the bowl of fish sauce and toss the salad altogether. In terms of taste, it wasn’t too bad, lacking a bit of ‘kick’ but then again I am comparing it to Thai/Lao papaya salads which are extremely pungent and flavoursome.

Khmer bbq herb beef w/ pickles

Tender beef grilled with unidentified herbs and spices and a side of cold pickles, what more could you ask for ? It’s the perfect contrast of smokey warm beef with the cold and crunchy pickles.

Nom Ban Jok (Khmer herb fish paste w/ vermicelli noodles)

This was surprisingly one of my favourites. A spicy coconut based soup with copious amounts of pungent fish paste and other ingredients touched every one of my taste buds. What makes the dish is probably the side of salad with it’s different textures. Off the top of my head I spotted cabbage, cucumber, bean sprouts, and chives.

Salt and pepper squid

A very light batter compared to other versions I’ve eaten, which is great. I could spot and taste huge bits of freshly cracked black pepper, definitely putting the ‘pepper’ in salt and pepper calamari. Though one thing I did notice was a few prawns on the fish, maybe they ran out of calamari ? But I’m not complaining too much. This was another dish served with a side of their house pickles, great combination. The sourness of the pickles offsets the saltyness of the calamari perfectly.

Chive dumplings

I don’t have a picture of the internals, but imagine a sea of green chives and not much else. Being of Teo Chew descent, we live and breath chives (literally). While they are detrimental to our breath, they are bloody good. Pungent chives are encased in a dumpling and then lightly pan fried to give it a bit of crunch and texture.

Salor Gor Gor (Khmer hot pot)

This was another traditional khmer dish and one of my favourites as well. It’s a soup based dish with braised vegetables such as eggplant, tender pork belly and some berries/beans which I’ve seen in some Indian dishes. It’s a hard dish to describe, but flavourwise it’s full of different herbs and spices which touched every corner of my taste buds. It’s a dish you’d be hard pressed to find anywhere apart from a Cambodian restaurant.

Stewed duck noodle soup

The perfect winter dish, fall off the bone stewed duck in an amazing soup full of duck flavour. The duck leg is braised in different herbs and spices, I can taste star anise, cinammon and 5 spice amongst others. On the side is a crunchy piece of prawn cracker, it’s all about the textures.

Bayon Noodle is the new kid on the block in Cabramatta. There are about 2-3 very good Chinese Cambodian restaurants within the vicinity and you’ll see locals dressed in their home clothes slurping away at noodles or hearty rice dishes. It’s going to be tough for Bayon to differentiate themselves, but I think they are on the right track. The decor inside is a lot cleaner and modern than the other places and they have the advantage of Merrick Watts and his family eating there a few months ago!

Bayon Noodle
233 Cabramatta Road, Cabramatta NSW 2166
Tip : It’s in an alleyway off John St, on the same side as Commonwealth Bank and Gloria Jeans.

eatshowandtell » Cambodian

Battambang Restaurant, Cabramatta

Bayon Noodle, Cabramatta