It's the aromatic smells that first let you know you've reached Cabramatta. The air is thick with spices, garlic, ginger and peanut oil. More than 75 per cent of Cabramatta's residents were born outside Australia, and between them they form a melting pot of all things Vietnamese, Chinese, Laotian and Khmer.
A tangle of restaurants, grocery stores and produce markets dominate the streetscape, and food has become the main lure in making the hike west of Sydney. There are even gourmet day tours that filter through the vast array of fresh taste sensations on offer.
Whether you're tasting on the run, buying to cook at home, or sitting down to it, to eat well in Cabramatta you need to start early. A good place is at the heavily carved, red Pai Lau Gate, which overhangs Freedom Plaza in Park Road. Here you can grab your first quick taste of Asia with freshly juiced sugar cane from Kaysone Sweets.
Sipping on your juice, you can stare out at the bronze, copper, marble and granite sculptures and statues that stamp the plaza, and take in the smell of peanuts roasting at the outdoors grocery stall next door.
After this, you'll be fortified to make the quick walk up through John Street, the spinal cord of Cabramatta. Don't even try to take in the buzzing pavements yet, more important is getting to the Golden Star Palace seafood restaurant in Hughes Street to sample the sort of yum cha even the locals crow about.
With an Asian brunch in your belly, you'll be ready to take in some of the ways of entertaining yourself between meals. Wander back along John Street and you'll find yourself ducking and weaving in and out of the seemingly endless vortex of bargain shops, all mini-explosions of colour.
Plastic storage containers, candles and cookware appear half the price they are in Sydney. Eastland Supermarket has a great range of Chinese knives and chopping boards, as well as lots of noodles and other Asian food products. Across the road at The New One Giftshop you can stock up on bulk size wrapping papers and ribbons.
Fashion fabrics are another of Cabramatta's great finds for anyone who appreciates colour and texture. Surprisingly low-priced quality silks, intricate laces and brocades are best found at Van Hung Fabrics, and all fabric shops are happy to measure and make you up an outfit in the material of your choice.
By now the crowds are filling up the street and you can sometimes feel like a salmon swimming upstream. The chaos and the banter of voices in Vietnamese, Mandarin and Cantonese create a hum that is unmistakably Asian.
If you've got children in tow, duck into the Good World Store inside John Street Arcade. Shelves stuffed with cute Hello Kitty-style bags, pencils, notebooks and cases make this a magic box of excitement. But what you'll probably be more interested in is just across the walkway at Pho Ga Tau Bay restaurant. Here you can taste what is hailed as the best pho noodle soup in the country. And it must be lunchtime by now, after all.
Even if you're full it will be hard to pass by the exotic smells coming out of the hot bread and cakes shop at New World Centre. This soon leads you back around into Park Street where BKK and Lucky plazas are fresh-food pleasure zones full of vegetables you'll have to be told the name of as well as glistening piles of fish, prawns, crabs and pipis.
It's possible to spend the whole afternoon steeped in food sensations. However, to capture the soul of Cabramatta, it's worth bringing a bike to travel further afield. You can start a 20 km bike track at the Hume Highway or neighbouring Canley Vale station.
The track meanders along the peaceful eco-reclaimed Cabramatta Creek. At St John's Park, it's worth a stop to get a sense of just how multicultural the area is. Within 1 km you can find Khmer and Laotian temples, a Muslim mosque, the Assyrian Club and the Hungarian Club. The circuit also passes near Fairfield Showground, Fairfield City Farm, and the Olympic 2000 mountain-bike track. But make sure you return back to the heart of Cabramatta as the best has been left until last.
Do away with any sore limbs or flagging energy with a trip to one of the many Chinese herbalists and apothecaries such as Phuoc-An Chinese Herbs. Once recovered, make the short stroll to take in your next treat - dinner at the award-winning Than Binh Vietnamese restaurant in John Street.
The English menu has a whopping 253 dishes, and sugar cane prawn wraps along with stuffed tofu never tasted so good. It's the ultimate feasting finale to your trip.
I love shopping for fabrics at Cabramatta. There is a lot of choice at fantastic prices and the shopkeepers are friendly. I often take my guests from overseas for a yum-cha lunch at the Golden Star Palace Restaurant followed by shopping at those fabric shops in the main street of Cabramatta.
Margie, Kariong.
Fairfield City Farm is a great place to take the kiddies, they can get hands on experience with farm animals, right in the heart of Sydney.
Melanie, Moore Park.
4WD
