A new Viet in Cabra town
Lately, new eateries opening in Cabramatta are anything but Vietnamese; think a raft of food chains like Subway and Domino’s, two sushi stores, a Malaysian, Thai/Lao… you get the point. So noodlies is a tad excited to check out this new establishment – Kimmy’s Vietnamese Cuisine, an old school Vietnamese eatery.
The menu says it all, single serve, quick fixes including a decent range of noodles (yeah, right up noodlies’ alley); rice noodles (hu tieu), egg (mi), vermicelli (bun, banh hoi) – soup and dry. There are other Viet favourites like pancake (banh xeo), rice dishes as well as spring rolls and fresh rolls – Americanised as egg rolls and summer rolls (and I roll my own eyes).
And the decor, well it’s distinctively Vietnamese, clean, simple but the fourth wall is often broken with restaurant supplies in brown boxes being very visible. For additional grittiness, Kimmy’s is on the backside of BKK Centre facing the concrete and tar glamour of Dutton Lane carpark. The Vietnamese haven’t quite mastered the knack of restaurant glam like the Thais, not by a long shot. To be fair, this small eatery doesn’t have those pretentious aspirations – I kinda wished they didn’t add “cuisine” to their name.
So what about Kimmy’s Vietnamese “cuisine”?
Beef cube rice (bo luc lac) is one of my favourite snacks, cubes of glistening marinated beef over white rice served and ready for dunking into the salt and pepper lime side dip. Instead of rice, the tender beef cubes are served on dry egg noodles. It’s a dream combination, the noodles sit in the beef juices and noodlies loves slurping on them while munching on tender beef pieces.
Banh uot is a dish not often found at many eateries outside Cabramatta. While banh cuon contains mushroom and mince filling, banh uot is without filling, just thick layers flat rice noodles usually cut into 1 or 1.5 inches wide and served with cha lua (Vietnamese pork devon) and grilled pork glazed with oil and sliced shallots. But it’s not too stodgy, thanks to plenty of fresh bean sprouts, pickles and shredded Vietnamese mints. All the ingredients come together with liberal spoonfuls of chilli and garlic fish sauce.
Kimmy’s Vietnamese Cuisine
Shop 16, 5-9 Park Road, Cabramatta (BBK centre facing Dutton Lane carpark)
(02) 9726 9213
Looks good.
I noticed a new (if not new, new to me) pork roll place in Liverpool earlier, Kimmy’s Traditional Rolls. I wonder if the two are connected, or just coincidence.
I’m not sure, but judging by the lack of banh mi on the menu, I reckon not?
Funny enough anything non vietnamese or similar in cabramatta seem to failed… That malaysian place on park rd next to Hardware store..change hands so many times..and if you are famous in another area like Albees doesn’t mean you successfully in Cabramatta, Same goes with a few thai place…one in Cabramatta mall closed down and now a new owner…so is Chote on John st a sign saying “Business for Sale”… Korean Restaurant next to Tan Viet now WTF also close down. Super bowl is going soon to go..or should i say already…closes for a number of weeks now… oh and looking at Yukguni Japanese Restaurant and SMART Sushi also will be going …and not Sushi HUB…maybe thanks to its location and food is good.
Yes, a very good summary of the changes in Cabramatta… though the other interesting thing is not many new Vietnamese restaurants are opening. The newish, large Viet near Dong Ba in Hughes St doesn’t look that busy either…