Vung Tau Street Food is a Vietnamese food truck on the Hume Highway in Cabramatta. This unassuming location next to a car wash belies the food being made here. The food is cooked on charcoals within this small but mighty food truck and their signature is a southern Vietnamese speciality: banh khot crispy rice cakes! Find out why it is worth a visit.
It had been 2 months since I last saw Monica. She had been overseas and we decided that our first adventure together after such a long time just had to be a fun adventure. She suggested Vung Tau food truck in Cabramatta and as soon as I saw the food on offer it was a resounding "YES!" from me.
Vũng Tàu Street Food is named after the city in Southern Vietnam and their signature dish are these banh Khot rice cakes. In Vũng Tàu they are flatter and white in colour whereas elsewhere they are yellow from turmeric and have deeper cups. The food truck just celebrated its second birthday and it is run by Ly Tran and her family. Her sister stands at the charcoal grill (yes they have a charcoal grill in a small food truck!) and her aunt has just delivered a batch of food that she has prepared.
The Vung Tau Street Food truck is located just near a car wash and an auto detailing business and there's a shaded eating area with tables and tiny chairs to perch on. We make our order at the truck asking for pretty much everything that catches our eye. They were also having a promotion where if you say "Happy Birthday" to them you get a 20% discount just for that week.
Monica and I take a seat and don our coats and beanies as it is sunny but a bit chilly. Ly kindly brings us over a pot of tea to keep us warm which is such a sweet gesture. It is a pot of chrysanthemum tea with pandan leaves in it that keeps us perfectly warm.
The first dish to arrive are the banh khot. These small, crispy rice flour cakes typically found with prawn in them but here they have 5 varieties including a vegetarian version. Ly offered to make us a half batch of the two most popular; pork floss and Tom Prawns and then we also get a batch of the Dac Biet special rice cakes. These rice cakes come with nuoc mam which you can pour into each cup. They're wonderfully crisp and moreish and all very different in their own respective flavours.
Pork floss is delicious but the classic prawn is too while the Bac Diet or special banh khot has prawns and squid with prawn powder on top so if you love seafoody flavours you'd probably like this. Ly also explains that when you cook banh khot on charcoal it gets much crispier than if you cooked it over gas. And even when I have another at the end of the meal, it's still wonderfully crisp.
The next dish to arrive is the three tier bamboo stand which is a platter with a bit of everything. There's vermicelli, 3 spring rolls, 2x Pork sausage (nem nurong) and 3x pork (thit heo nuang) skewers. We both love the pork sausage wrapped in lettuce leaves with the vermicelli but Ly also brings out some rice paper for us to use too that is soft enough to eat without having to dip in water.
Both Monica and I really like chickens feet and Ly explains that these are typically made with a sate that is a bit spicier but they make these milder for any kids that want them. Sate sauce in Vietnamese isn't like peanut satay, but it's a flavoursome lemongrass, garlic and shallot paste that imparts big burst of flavour. The chicken's feet are split in half and cooked and then finished on the grill and on the side is a divine sauce made with condensed milk and Vietnamese sate sauce. It's so good that we buy two extra tubs of this each.
I love Vietnamese charcoal grilled pork or cim suron nurong. It's one of the most comforting dishes especially when the pork is well seasoned with a nice sweet edge to it via the fish sauce and sugar marinade. The pork is on the bone and super juicy and really good with the rice but if I may, I'd suggest instead of the regular rice that you try pairing it with another type of rice.
The Bamboo sticky rice is served in hollow bamboo and has pieces of coconut in it. This takes me back to travelling in Vietnam and China and the bamboo imparts a lovely aroma to the sticky rice. The rice goes perfectly with the pork and there are small pieces of coconut and the occasional bean in this satisyfingly chewy rice.
The last savoury dish to arrive is the bbq corn on the cob or bap nep. The corn is so juicy and sweet it's almost reaching candy levels. It comes with sesame seeds and nuts and spring onions on top.
We have one dessert which is pandan sticky rice that comes as crispy edged logs of pandan sticky rice with fresh coconut milk and fresh shredded coconut on top. It's a textural sensation and we love the pandan and coconut. "I miss this!" says Monica, our faces grinning with happiness.
So tell me Dear Reader, do you have a favourite type of street food? Have you ever tried banh khot?
This meal was independently paid for.
Vung Tau Street Food
315 Hume Hwy, Cabramatta NSW 2166
Phone: 0468 864 883
Thursday to Sunday 12–9 pm
Closed Monday to Wednesday
https://www.instagram.com/vungtaustreetfood/?hl=en
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