Healthy Food: SIFF 2010 'Cabramatta Allsorts Barbeque': Suckling Pig, Crispy Chicken, Sugar Cane Juice and Hot Chips, Cabramatta (2 Oct 2010)

Saturday, October 2, 2010

SIFF 2010 'Cabramatta Allsorts Barbeque': Suckling Pig, Crispy Chicken, Sugar Cane Juice and Hot Chips, Cabramatta (2 Oct 2010)

Freedom Plaza, John Street, Cabramatta NSW 2166

http://www.fairfieldcity.nsw.gov.au/siff

In search for Crispy Chicken

Thanks to 702 ABC Sydney for inviting me along to their live radio coverage of the Cabramatta Allsorts Barbeque as part of Sydney International Food Festival — also thanks to Stewart White for recommending me to them. A 10 am start got me out of bed a lot earlier than my usual weekend routine but it was worth it and I had lots of fun meeting Simon Marnie from 702 ABC, Alvin Quah from MasterChef/Cinnamon Pig and a small group of other friendly food bloggers including Andrew Rose the winner of the 702 ABC competition to become their volunteer SIFF Blogger and Reviewer. In the center marquee of the Fairfield City Council a glorious looking Suckling Pig with perfect crackling was presented by chefs from the Iron Chef Restaurant — apparently it took 24 hours to prepare and cook.

After a quick chat with Simon Marnie about blogging and eating, each of the three bloggers were given $20 to seek out a favourite Cabramatta dish to bring back and talk about. A long standing dish on my wish list has been Tan Viet's signature dish of Crispy Chicken with Dry Egg Noodle ($11) so it was an easy choice for me. Along the way I bought a delicious freshly crushed Sugar Cane Juice ($2.50 small) from Ngoc Duc — so refreshing. Thanks to Danny from Tan Viet for organising their crispy chicken dish on a tray so I could carry back to Freedom Plaza. Even after a bit of a wait the chicken skin remained crispy as hoped and the meat was moist and tasty. The flavoured dry egg noodles complimented the dish nicely although next time I'll be trying the soupy version. While waiting for Simon Marnie to come back on air with us to talk about our dishes I was keen to try the Red Lea's Hot Chips ($5 large) which have also been recommended to me. They're basic chips packed with seasoning but for extra taste there's shakers available of chicken salt and paprika to pour to your hearts content — I think this is why it's so popular.

Other blog reviews:

• Noodlies

• Cinnamon Pig

• The Heart of Food

• The Gourmet Forager

• Grab Your Fork

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: Plenty of authentic eating delights to be found in Cabramatta

CONS: Tan Viet is popular so be prepared to wait for a table

MUST TRY: Ngoc Duc's Sugar Cane Juice, Tan Viet's Crispy Chicken

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Suckling Pig