Chinatown comes to Cabramatta (again)
Noodlies checks out the latest new restaurant in town.
I wrote back in October 2011 about the invasion of chain restaurants including Subway, Gloria Jeans, Domino’s Pizzas, and momentum seems to be still building. Since that time, there’s been a flood of new entrants, MeetFresh, Sub Zero, Moochi, Gong Cha, the list goes on…
It’s not just the fast food and dessert chains, Chinatown is rushing west too – first it was Super Dish, now the ‘original’, Superbowl opened this month on the site of a former grocery store, up the top of John Street, near bustling Tan Viet. It’s a huge site, double fronted and deep. Long queues formed the first few weeks as locals check out the latest eatery and take advantage of the 20%-off opening specials.
A few weeks have gone by and the discount and long queues have both gone. It’s a little concerning given other eateries including Tan Viet are still packed.
Step inside and you immediately appreciate the cavernous space, deep and high, made even more stark with plain tables and walls. In fact there’s nothing on the sensible beige walls, I found it all a little disconcerting. The staff are mainly young Chinese from the mainland and speak neither English or Vietnamese. You can get away with that in Chinatown, but Cabramatta punters aren’t happy. I see what they mean, a request for a napkin required several attempts and many quizical looks before a new box of tissues arrived.
The Cantonese menu is extensive: congee, noodles, roast duck, beef, chicken, seafood, including live fish – steamed, soup or fried, actually mainly fried.
My e fu noodles (above) comes in a wide and deep, plain white dish, it’s a huge serving. It looks similar to Walter’s fried handmade noodles with chicken below.
And so we sit down to a table of golden brown.
My flat e fu noodles is not much to look at but I do like their strong, yet delicate texture, you feel like you need to handle it with respect. Chinese mushrooms and shallots together with a light soy sauce at the base of the dish cut the noodle-starchiness.
The handmade noodles are sturdier, they look pretty regular detracting from the handmade appeal. This mono-colour dish is also bound together with oil, lots of it, glistening, glossy fried oil, with bits of fried cabbage too few and far between.
Superbowl is an institution in Chinatown riding to success with cheap, cheerful Cantonese that’s open all hours. That formula is found wanting in Cabramatta, Superbowl isn’t cheep, $13.80 for my noodles is decent, but you’re in cheap-cheap Cabramatta, and judging by the service and my cashier, it’s also not cheerful. Hiring Chinese staff works when you’re in Chinatown, it’s part of the charm, in Cabramatta where the old folks only speak Vietnamese and the second generation speak with a thick Aussie accent, Superbowl is left in no man’s land.
It comes off second best in comparison to Super Dish, which has a classier decor and friendlier staff.
The late Chinatown hours, Superbowl is open seven days from 8am until an incredible 2am, is a plus. But even here, I’m not sure if there will be enough late night revellers in the ‘burbs.
Prove me wrong: have you been to Superbowl in Cabramatta? What do you think? Leave me a comment.
Superbowl Chinese Restaurant
102 John St, Cabramatta
8764 1933
Ive had a visit to the cabra superbowl in each of the first 3 weeks of opening and agree with you regarding the service, of which i must say has improved exceptionally. The staff no longer run around like headless chooks and seem more committed to smiling service. I also noticed the staff specifically assign vietnamese speaking waitresses to the older vietnamese diners and surprisingly the older managers were very fluent in english and exclusively manned the floor with friendly lame humor. The selection of food is unrivalled in cabramatta, and being not so picky with my food i have enjoyed a good feed each time. Decor is obviously not a priority for this new clean high ceiling restaurant and not the ideal place for a marriage proposal, but what else to expect from a restaurant aimed at providing quick convenient meals? I have also found the price on the menus ranging from modest to lavish, and i believe it aligns quite nicely with the cabra population, with those who are content with a simple congee and fried breadstick as a meal, or the hordes of spendthrift families who look straight to the seafood displays as they are led to their tables.
Hi Vinnie, good to see service has improved. Recently a local remarked bbq duck is $4 more expensive than other local bbq places. I still contend it’s more expensive than local eateries and the difference is not justified with a considerably better environment, service or food quality.
Hey Thang,
Agree with u there re bbq prices. It positions itself as a premium product and i expect it will have difficulty competing. However, for someone who has given up on the bbq outlets in cabra due to the low quality ducks and lack of flavour, i was pleased to see a local bbq outlet offering quality pepes ducks. The juiciness and flavour is evident and the large serving means a good feed. I wish the joint continues to improve in all aspects for the likes of those enjoy chinese food as I do, and do not mind whether a nice family meal costs a good $10 more..
Hahahhahah! Vinnie, I wonder from your comments and distinctive protection of said restaurant alludes to some greater relationship between you and Super Bowl?
With the vast spectrum of good quality, good service and great prices of restaurants in Cabramatta, Super Bowl just doesn’t cut it. It’ll go the same way as KFC did.
That’s right people, if u say anything positive about a restaurant, u have to prove you’re not associated with them. Don’t be stupid incredulous. A guy can’t give an honest opinion without people thinking its a big conspiracy, one might think you’re a waiter at a nearby restaurant too and trying to damage the reputation of others,
Restaurants improve over time and its good news for everyone.
By the way, I’m not associated with superbowl.
I just went to Superbowl for the first time tonight and I gotta say, the dishes were a hit and miss. I found their wonton noodle soup was a bit bland, but their handmade noodles in XO chilli sauce was nice. The customer service I received was good as well, they must’ve read your blog and taken your advice Thang! It’s not a bad restaurant, but not one I’ll rave about to my friends.
Good to hear service might have improved 🙂
Food and service both improved.
That’s good to hear Howard.
I was looking forward to enjoying dinner with my parents tonight for Mothers Day. The service was good, quick and friendly. I am however disappointed at the food. We ordered duck and taro hot pot – it was reasonably nice until we ate the duck. It was salty and tough. Abalone in red wine sauce – excessively salty. The fried white bait, fried rice pippies and chicken + corn soup was reasonable, nothing special. The bill was over two hundred dollars. Overall, it was a disappointing experience, the price certainly did not reflect the quality of food at all. If you or family decide to head to Cabramatta Superdish is a much better choice in terms of both quality and price. If you’re willing to spend more then my recommendation would be Dragon Bowl at Canley Vale- well worth the splurge. I most certainly will not be heading back to Superbowl.
Visited on a thursday when it seemed less crowded and noisy. XO sauce pipis were great. Coral trout congee and bread stick was what I expected. Tables were abit cramp though, 4 full dishes meant no room for much else, lucky the staff were quick with clearing space. What caught my eye was the next table, a young couple with a sleeping infant digging into a lobster, abalone and fried seafood crispy noodles. id never considered superbowl to be a seafood restaurant. i say if you are visiting, go on a weeknight, personally I never queue up for a table, especially given the choice in cabramatta.
I completely disagree with the aforementioned comments along with this blog post. Superbowl’s menu, well the ones that have been distributed to people, are written in English, Chinese and Vietnamese. Surely, this menu appeals to those who speak english, chinese and vietnamese. So I’m not sure what you’re complaining about.
To be frank, I think this post is completely bias and makes it seem as though you have something against this, as you have written, “institution”. Customers, like you and all others, come into a restaurant at Cabramatta and expect the pricing to be “cheap” & “affordable”. How about you put yourself in the owner’s position and think about all the business expenditures you’re responsible for. Their restaurant is big, but it comes with a price and not a “cheap” price. The rent of this place is over $7000 a week. How can you expect them to sell $5 per meal or whatever you consider “cheap”, to sustain a budget to pay for rent, workers and etc. It’s almost impossible. I don’t agree that the other restaurants such as “Pho Tau Bay” offers complete customer satisfaction. It is because you helped them gain recognition, that they respect YOU, but if another customer came in their attitude and the service given to them, would be completely different, almost like heaven and hell.
In addition, the comments made about having to know vietnamese, is completely patriotic. I don’t believe that just because this is cabramatta every restaurant in this god dam place needs to put the vietnamese lingual as top priority. There are other important customers from different ethnicity such as cambodian and laos people.
Finally, I would like to say that this post is completely bias and almost a direct, offensive attack to ALL chinese people.
No offense is intended to ALL (or any) Chinese people, I can assure you, though I can see you’re pretty worked up and feel like you should represent all Chinese people. By the way, I quite like Super Dish and rave about Iron Chef and they’re Chinese restaurants in Cabramatta, Iron Chef in particular wouldn’t know me from thousands of other customers they get each week.
A point of clarification, Pho Tau Bay won a readers’ poll – they didn’t know about this blog until the poll was completed and announced. You may be upset for whatever reason, but I’d suggest it’s not appropriate to bring other local restaurants and your interpretation of their motivations into it.